How-To Motherboard Repair - Dell All-in-One Inspiron 2305 (2205) Won't Turn On

2 Updates:

1) The power button will in fact do at least two things, flash orange or being lit steady orange.

2) I would recommend, with all plastics (wires, etc) moved out of the way, to hold the heat gun on longer. You will not hurt the board and I think you will get a better reflow. I held the gun on the board for approximately 2 minutes and had no signs of any sort of damage and the repair seems to be holding better.

Brief description of the problem: When you press the power button you get an orange light, hear the hard drive spin up, and hear the CPU fan turn on. But nothing else. Other than the lack of activity and orange light, there's no sign that there is a problem, no video at all, including backlight.

As described in the video I used a heat gun (hair dryer WILL NOT work because it doesn't get nearly hot enough) to heat the entire main board (motherboard) slowly and methodically. When I put it back together, it worked for several months with no problems. But ... it inevitably failed again. While doing the initial repair I made a mental note of the lack of good thermal grease between the heat sink and cpu/gpu. Where there was a fair amount of paste (on the CPU) it was dried out and had lost all liquid/paste properties. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to act on that mental note and I just put it back together and went about my business. The second time it failed I did the same thing, but this time the repair 'worked' for less time.

The third time (a few days before the making of this video) I decided to try baking it. I was more concerned/side-tracked with melting the solder all over the board than focusing in on the actual cause of the failure. I believe the failure was actually caused because a few months before the initial failure I had changed the computer settings to allow the computer to stay in a rest mode with the screen saver on for an extended period. I think that swirly line screen saver caused the gpu to get too hot. So ... this time it kind of had a little eureka moment where I decided to diagnose the failure more accurately and ONLY heat the gpu. It worked. So heating the entire board was not necessary because the cause was 1) lack of quality thermal grease on cpu/gpu which led to 2) cold solder joints that needed to be reflowed.

So to wrap this up, take the back of the computer off (2 screws), then the bottom stand (3 screws I believe), then the two covers over the mother board. Technically, I think you can leave the smaller cover attached to the larger cover. I think there are 4 screws holding the larger metal cover. Next remove the heat sink. There are 3 or 4 screws holding it down on the motherboard and then 3 I believe holding the fan down (when you lift the fan up at the foil tape line, you'll see another screw). remove any cables in the vicinity of the gpu and use the heat gun to heat the gpu. I held it for probably 10 seconds and then pulled it off. CAUTION: the heat gun gets extremely hot, I'd recommend cycling on and off the GPU in no greater than 10 second stints in order to prevent damage to the board and components. When you're done, turn it back on to test. Do NOT leave it running with the heat sink off! If successful, immediately turn the computer back off and put everything back together. But ... use thermal grease this time. Make sure you clean the old grease off. It scrapes/wipes off really easy. And I'd recommend removing the cpu from the board to wipe it off. No need to get all that old crusty paste on/in the motherboard.

Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any questions.

[stantonvignes]

Just watched your video as I was about to trash my 2305. I followed your instructions word for word. You made it sound so simple I had to try it. They worked perfect, ly the 2305 started up as if there was never a problem. I can't thank you enough. When I first purchased this machine it was shipped with a bad sata cable as were many others. Dell sent a tech to my home, he replaced mother board and hard drive still didn't work. I placed it in storage for two years until someone like you figured out the $1.63 cable was at fault. Thanks again.

[anglwing]

thank you!!! had the steady orange light and after watching this I checked the thermal grease and it was yuck! cleaned and replaced and now it's working like a charm! thanks for this vid!

[jessewelsh]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad I don't have to replace this machine. I borrowed this computer from a friend, and the first time I tried to turn it on it didn't work, but then randomly started to after a bunch of power cycles. What was worse, though, was that the whole computer took a topple off the coffee table, causing first a checkered screen, then no screen at all after resetting. I don't have a heat gun, so I ended up using a small butane torch (very carefully for only about 10 seconds) and it did the trick! I hate the fact that this is an "all in one" machine with absolutely no useful ports, making it an expensive fix for a problem like this, otherwise.

[jazzycookies]

THANK YOU!!! My son was pretty bummed when this went out, but I felt like a hero with this easy fix! 😊

[melvinjones]

I always tell everyone to check YouTube for doing repairs on their items themselves before paying someonewant to do a simple fix. This video is a reason why. I did just as you said and the computer has been working fine. I was just getting ready to go buy a $2000 IMac.Thank you very much Sir

[SiliconsurferGB]

Big thank you! I had exactly the same problem, now easily fixed by your GPU heat gun method. It was caused in my case by thick dust completely blocking the heat sink fins, causing the over heating damage you describe in this video. Thank you very much!

[luvmygzuz]

Great video! Worked great! I took it to a shop (before finding this video) and they wanted to replace the motherboard and charge me over $400!! Thanks very much!!

[richardbolling]

Thanks Shawn this heat gun trick worked for me on my wife's computer, also take a look at the heatsink in front of the fan, mine was full of dust, I'm sure that contributed to the problem.

[methodflux]

Just wanted to pop in and say you were 100% correct. Thanks for the tips and uploading the video. Replacing the thermal paste did the trick.

[donnaleflore]

Turns out since I had it unplugged for a couple of weeks another battery that charges by being plugged in, but with computer off was drained. I plugged it in and left it sitting for a few days and this morning it booted up without touching the motherboard. Thank you very much.

[michaelammann]

Thanks!!! Saved the Inspiron One from the garbage!! Your fix with the heat gun on the GPU and new thermal grease did the trick!! Cheers, Mike

[kirkembradura]

Very helpful i owned inspiron one 2205 and i follow this video and thats it. Its work 👍

[leftyazul]

Thanks so much for this video. I follow all instructions and works perfect. You saved my mom's computer. Best. Luis

[alanhosack]

Dude, worked the very first I heated the GPU, thanks brother!

[antoniovinciguerra]

gracias, me funciono lo que muestras en el video, lo hice con dos computadoras dell del mismo modelo. es mas te escribo en una de ellas.
si no tienen la pistola calentadora lo pueden hacer con una vela a una distancia de 2 pulgadas, claro tendrian que sacar la tarjeta madre del case. no es complicado.

[Sol]

It worked thank you very much for this video God bless you.

[chayanneburgos]

I'll fix it thanks men your awesome bro god bless you

[elite_fitness]

Change the thermal paste to get the heat away from the board

[pxl.itachi]

I did not have a heatgun so i used a flat iron and it didnt work :'(

[boogieboogs]

2305 design to do this same trial and error also cut and epoxied a mesh screen in 1st cover over the cooling fan because there is no ventilation for fan to breathe just circulating hot air if any air at all no type of air flow in this desktop at all which is what prob played a big role in drying out thermal paste I also used silicone grease which worked pretty good but only because I didn’t want to wait a week for shipping