Yesterday, a staff member told me one of the public-access computers was on the fritz – specifically, the screen was black and the fans were on full. Going over to investigate and try the basic troubleshooting, it looked like it had a dead motherboard, so I took it back to my work bench for further troubleshooting.

As the system was a Dell, it had a set of Diagnostic LEDs on the front to help diagnose the problem. Unfortunately, looking up the Optiplex 745 manual, it didn’t list the particular code the lights were showing: 1 3 4.

Looking through the listed codes, most of the ones related to 1 or 3 4 were for either faulty RAM or a bad memory controller, so I started there. I tried removing one stick, then replacing it and removing the other, using a completely different stick, and then none at all. Each time I was met with the same diagnostic code, 1 3 4.

Convinced I had the problem pin-pointed, I tried to get on to Dell’s Live Chat Hardware Support to get a replacement motherboard as the system was still covered by Next Business Day parts. The site, unfortunately, was down, so I was forced to call Dell instead.

Now, there’s a reason that I typically use Live Chat instead of the phone. The main reason is on Live Chat, I can quickly bang-out the troubleshooting I’ve already done, and 9 times out of 10, the tech will just send me the part. Phone support is rarely that easy, and this time was no exception.

The wait time was average (maybe about 5 minutes), and once I got the agent on, I quickly rattled off my troubleshooting and told him the diagnostic code. He put me on hold for a few minutes and when he came back, told me that the diagnostic code 1 3 4 on an Optiplex 745 means the video card isn’t working. Figuring it would be easy enough to test, I pulled out the PCI-E video card and switch to the onboard video. Sure enough, it worked.

At this point, I figured we’d be done. I didn’t have another PCI-E card to make sure it wasn’t the slot, but I supposed out loud that if I got the replacement card and it didn’t work, I could always send it back, make another call, and get a motherboard sent out. The ‘tech’ had another idea, though.

Him: There’s actually one more troubleshooting step I’d like to try.

Me: Okay, what’s that?

Him: Well, leave the video card out, boot in to Windows, go to Device Manager and remove the device. Then turn the computer off, put the video card back in, and see if it work.

Him: I just want to see if the driver is the problem.

Me: …what?

At this point, I nearly hung up the phone. Instead, I figured a little education would be in order.

Me: Okay, I think you might be a little confused. The problem is that, with the video card in, the system won’t even POST properly. I fail to see how a Windows driver could possibly be the problem, because at this stage in the boot process, the computer has no clue what operating system is on the hard drive. It hasn’t even looked to see if there’s a hard drive there. How can a driver possibly be the problem.

Him: Sir, it’s just part of my troubleshooting process.

Me: Okay, I’ll humor you. I’m going to pretend to boot my computer.

Him: No, I need you to actually–

Me (interrupting): Now I’m going to pretend to open Device Manager. Oh, would you look at that! Because the video card isn’t present, it’s not showing in the list.*

Him: …oh. Well, I guess we can send you a replacement video card….

Me: I thought so.

This morning, I received a call back from Dell asking me if I’d received the video card. I said no, and he told me that the card had been delivered and signed for. Figuring that maybe Purolator had delivered it to the wrong office, I put the agent on hold and checked around, but nobody had received anything today. Going back to the agent, I asked who signed for it, at which point he informed me that it hadn’t been delivered yet and would likely arrive this afternoon. Gee, thanks for that.

*Note: I’m aware that you can make Device Manager show non-present device by following this KB article, however that would have only confused the poor agent and wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.