Unfortunately this problem is most likely a bad motherboard. This is a very common problem with Dell Dimension 5100 and other Dell desktops made around that same time. Dell is very familiar with this problem but you will probably get little or no help from their technical assistance because your computer is most likely out of warranty. I owned 2 Dell desktop computers manufactured about the same timeframe as yours, one of them was a Dimension 5100. The motherboards died on both of them. I fixed them by replacing the motherboards. Unfortunate the Dell case required a custom Dell motherboard. Therefore, I decided to replace the case with an off the shelf model and then I could use a standard off the shelf motherboard too. I was able to reuse the microprocessor, the hard drive, the video card, the RAM, and the CD ROM. However, I also needed to buy a new power supply and a new CPU fan for each computer. It ended up costing me about 120$ per computer plus my time to retrofit each of the Dells into a more standard, off the shelf, desktop configuration. Both computers are working well now for tasks like surfing the web or working on Microsoft Office documents. However, these machines are getting a little old for CPU and graphics intensive tasks like gaming. I hope this advice helps you out.
The problem is caused by a bad power supply module, it is important that it be replaced with at least the same power rating or higher.
Check your PSU / power supply if its not working, then if its not working you should replace it. Then your good to go.
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