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Hardware Malfunction
I bought a Dimension 8400 on 3/21/05. While playing War Craft III yesterday a blue screen popped up with the following message:
Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check/Memory Parity Error
System has halted
So I rebooted it and it did the same thing again.
This is were it got scary. When i tried to turn my computer on again it did not boot up and it started to rev up like it was going to explode. I hit the power switch to shut it off. I let it set for a few minutes and then tried it again and the same thing happened. I called dell support and after about 15 minutes I finally talked to someone that I could not understand very well and she told me to turn on my computer. This time it worked. I did not get very far with her because i had to leave by that time.
i searched for parity error on this site and it came up with a bunch of different subjects all talking about ram but none of them reported the noise and fan sounding like it was going to take off. Any direction to go in with this would be great.
Thanks
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Posted September 21st, 2005 12:00
Thanks! Does that cover the computer sounding like it was going to take off when i rebooted it?409
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Posted September 21st, 2005 13:00
The sound is coming from the back of the tower, not around the cd or dvd drive. Plus there was nothing in either of these when i tried to reboot. I turned the computer on, nothing came up on the screen. You can hear it start up but then it just gets really loud like something really bad is going to happen. After letting it set for a little it started up fine again.409
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Posted September 21st, 2005 13:00
The loud noise sounds like the PC trying to read a CD unsucessfully - eject this and see if the noise disappears.409
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Posted September 21st, 2005 16:00
If the noise is at back of the PC, it's probably the video card fan. What color are 4 LEDs (A,B,C,D) on the back of the tower? Look at this link for key to 8400's LED code which might point you at the problem. Report the code to Dell when you call for support.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/SM/adtshoot.htm?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19#wp1052387
RonMessage Edited by RoHe on 09-21-2005 10:46 AM
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 11:00
I talked to tech support about this last night. It turns out that when the noise is happening the lights are yellow green yellow green. I told this to tech support and they had me tack out my ram and reset it. Then we did a diagnostic hardware check and hard drive check. I guess everything came back fine and he said i should be all set. But then when i look at the guide to the lights it suggest that it is a graphics card problem and we never checked that.::smileyindifferent:409
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 16:00
Is the problem solved now? Are all the lights green and no more crashes? Bad RAM could cause the video card fan to go crazy so it's possible the memory was just not seated correctly.
If it starts again, you may need to get the RAM replaced and look at the video card too.
Ron
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 16:00
You know everything is running fine now. Hopefully that did fix it. Thanks for explaining about the ram and the video card. Opening the computer and working on it was actually fun and the tech guy did a good job of guiding me through it.:smileyhappy:181
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 17:00
NP, and STOP being so stingy, buy a quart of half and half and give it too the kittys.:)181
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 17:00
Yes, yes you were right. But when the computer gets so loud that you have to shout and your cats are hanging on for dear life it kind of freaks you out. Thanks again for all of your responses. :smileytongue:
Lonewolf_m
101 Posts
409
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Posted September 21st, 2005 12:00