Update.
From the linked website “When the DELL™ logo appears, press <F12> immediately.”
I tried this but it did not work. At this point I guess I will have to wait for the professionals. Grrrr…
I would reseat all the cards on the motherboard, and push the cables for the drives to make sure they are seated properly. make sure the computer is unplugged for the operation. Be sure that the memory is properly seated too. A loose video card is the first suspect for a immediate failure to boot, followed by memory problems. The BIOS could have reset to default, and the wrong startup data is being used to try and start the system.
The light code is given by a set of four lights and they need to be watched when the power is applied. They are not the power lights.
Consider paying somebody for coming in, and bill the other guy for the service call.
If you’re really in a hurry and need your data before the computer can be fixed, you could take the hard drive out and put it in another computer as a secondary drive so that you can copy files off of it. If you just want to quickly grab files, there’s no need to even mount it in the other PC, so long as you have cables long enough to lay it on the desk next to it with the case open.
dell has pretty good support… they’ll walk you through the troubleshooting either by phone or in an online chat window. They also have an automated troubleshooter at their website which uses the above mentioned diagnostic lights. I wholeheartedly recommend taking advantage of one of these options, regardless of your own skill level.
My guess is that you have a bad memory module, but using one of the support options should get you to the root of the problem in less than an hour.
FINALLY! Up and running. Thanks all for your input. I went to the Dell support team. They had me tearing this thing down to the smallest of pieces. A VERY scary prospect for someone who is not that mechanically inclined nor computer hardware savvy. But to their credit I did get it all back together just fine.
The problem was a stuck ‘on’ button (groan). After 40 minutes of working on the guts of it, I stuck a pair of scissors behind the faceplate and popped it back out. This was after I (we) had ruled out all of the other possibilities.
And what was on the screen after I restored the desk top? That’s right - porn. Said dipstick had been using my computer to surf porn so as to not get caught himself. Words cannot describe my anger right now.
Thanks again.