I’ll keep this simple for now and provide more info if needed. The power went out today at my house. When it came back on, the power light on my dimension e510 was blinking amber and the computer would not power up. A quick google search told me that it was either the power supply or the motherboard that burned out. Is there any way to tell which one it is?
Usually if it is the power supply you would not hear the fan. If it is the motherboard the power supply fan would still run.
Or it could be both.
Well, there’s no fan so I’ll just cross my fingers and hope that’s the problem. Is replacing the power supply difficult?
Not if you can find the right power supply. Dell is notorious for using proprietary power supplies with extra connectors. These guys are a good place to start. After that all you do is unplug the old one, and plug in the new one.
Here’s where I stand now. I’ve gotten two refurbished power supply units and one refurb motherboard from Dell. Turned everything over and I’m still getting the blinking amber light and no power fan. Is Dell sending me junk parts? Could there be some other issue?
Could it be a bad CPU? (I’m assuming you transferred the CPU to the new motherboard.) And make sure everything is reconnected correctly. There are a couple of connections where you can accidentally hook them up backwards (i.e 180 degrees twisted).
I know Dell often gets a really bad press but when I bought my Dimension 8400 it came with an owner’s manual that I think is second to none for basic information. It itemises all the combination of diagnostic lights and their suggested resolution of any problem.
Power outage hits are notorious for trashing lots of stuff. In my shop we plug everything together sitting on the workbench before putting it all in the case to make sure the components work. A bad stick of ram can prevent powerup as well as a bad CPU. When I bid out jobs like this, I usually estimate it for new mobo, cpu, ram, and power supply. Even at $300-$350 per job its usually a pretty hefty upgrade in speed/ram in the process so they add a few years to their computer that way as well.
I drive around and replace parts on Dell PC’s. The symptoms for a bad MOB and a bad PS are pretty much the same. I’d say about 2/3 of the time the problem is with the MB, and 1/3 it’s with the PS.
First, take out the dial-up modem and see if that fixes the problem. IME, the modem is the most fragile part, and a bad modem can stop a PC from starting up. Also, lightning strikes tend to hit the phone line more often than the power line, IME. (However, in these cases the light on the front is usually off, not blinking amber).
I’d bet that the motherboard is bad.
PS. In my years of experience, I’ve seen 1, maybe 2, processors go bad (not counting pins being bent all to hell.)
Sorry, I completely missed that you had gotten a motherboard to replace. Unplug everything except the PS, MB and processor and see what you get. If things are working correctly, you should get some beeps (1, then 3, then 2, IIRC) indicating that the memory is out.
Not really, at least not on the Dells that I’ve worked with, unless you force them enough to push in or bend a pin. I think that pretty much every connection has a missing pin/slot that is different from other connections, or has the pins too far to one edge to facilitate plugging it in incorrectly.
I brought this up because two weeks ago a new employee did exactly this and reported the replacement motherboard was bad. This was on a GX270.
What got plugged in backwards? (I’m curious, not challenging.)
There is a white two-by-two connector near the ethernet port where one of the power supply connectors goes. He was able to force it in enough to convince himself that it was properly connected. With more experience, he would have known the latch was supposed to click when it was hooked up.
OK, I guess I should amend my previous statement. If you’re slightly careful, you won’t plug anything in wrong.
I hope that this experience will be all that it takes.
Okay. I pulled the plug on everything but the indicated (and a cd-rom cord that was being difficult). No beeps but the fan came on. I began plugging stuff in and things seemed to be working fine…until they weren’t. A solid amber light came on followed by a blinking followed by bupkis. No lights. No fan. No nothing.
Any thoughts on what I apparently just broke?
I had a similar problem with a Dell Dimension last year. My take on what is happening with you (and what happened to me) is this:
Power failure/surge damages motherboard (and maybe the power supply as well)
You replace power supply (because the symptoms are the same, and it’s the easy fix)
New power supply gets damaged by bad motherboard
You replace motherboard (because the power supply obviously wasn’t the problem)
New motherboard gets damaged by now-bad power supply
Repeat as needed.
After going through the cycle only once (one power supply and one motherboard), I convinced Dell to send another one of each, and replaced both at the same time. Problem solved.
I just realized that my advice was horribly vague and incomplete. Did you still have the processor’s heatsink attached? What about the processor fan? You can turn on the PC for a few seconds with the fan’s power cord unplugged from the motherboard, just long enough to see if that’s causing a problem. However, you need to leave the heatsink attached.
Please tell me you were not plugging things in while there was power to the board.