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Delayed boot while LED flashes amber
My Vostro 400 delays booting up for several minutes. When not in use, all power is cut off from the system. Normally, when power is plugged in, it should boot right up. What it has been doing lately is the LED will blink, but nothing else happens - no sound of the fan or HD or anything like that - just the LED blinking amber. Then, a few minutes later, the blinking amber LED will change to solid blue, and it will start up as though nothing happened. Once that happens, everything works as it should.
There are no external devices other than mouse and keyboard connected - not even a web connection or printer unless I manually plug it in.
I'm worried that at some point, it simply won't start up. Suggestions? Thank you!
RoHe
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July 3rd, 2014 13:00
If you reboot without disconnecting from the power, after it started once, does it reboot immediately?
When was last time you replaced the motherboard battery? CR2032, 3-volt lithium ion battery, ~$2.00 at discount stores.
If a battery doesn't fix it, then you may want to consider a failing power supply...
RoHe
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July 3rd, 2014 17:00
Since you get a blinking amber power button, at least until it goes blue and boots, you may want to consider these items from the manual, too:
If the power light is blinking amber, the computer is receiving electrical power, a device might be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed.
A PSU for the Vostro 400 needs to have:
There's one here, and you can probably also find it at some of the other reliable sources for Dell OEM parts.
stephencm
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July 3rd, 2014 19:00
Thank you, Ron.
My plan is to try the following in sequence and see which (if any) fixes the problem:
1) replace the battery on the motherboard.
2) remove and reinstall anything I can unplug (and use compressed air to blow out accumulated debris at the same time). Sometimes that's all it takes to remove any corrosion that may have developed on the contacts.
3) replace the power supply.
I'll leave this as "Not Answered" until I get at least the first two items done tomorrow and can report back the results. I'm hoping that's the proper protocol here so that a final resolution can be posted - or can I still post after it has been marked as "Answered" (if so, I'll mark it as "Answered")?
RoHe
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July 4th, 2014 21:00
Glad that fixed it.
Reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup. Look for the Diskette Drive controller option and set it to OFF (disabled). Save the change and exit setup. That will fix the diskette drive seek error.
And if you really appreciated my help so much, why did you mark your own post as the verified answer instead of mine? :emotion-4: :emotion-3: :emotion-2:
stephencm
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July 3rd, 2014 13:00
Yes, it boots right up if the power is left connected.
The motherboard batter has never been replaced - never even thought of that one. I'll replace it even if that's not the issue.
I have a power supply that I salvaged from another Dell, so if that's needed, I'm ready to go.
Thank you so much for the help - I deeply appreciate the assistance. I'll post any follow-up in case someone else has a similar problem. Again, thank you.
stephencm
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July 4th, 2014 16:00
I removed the graphics card to get to the battery, replaced the battery, then pulled and replaced the memory cards and whatever plugs I could reach. I also used compressed air to blow out a pile of dust and junk that had accumulated inside the case.
That did the trick. The only problem I have now is that when it boots up, I get a black screen with the following message:
Diskette drive 0 seek failure
Press F1 to continue, F2 to enter Setup.
Pressing F1 causes it to continue booting up normally. I'd like to get this corrected though. I assume that removing the battery caused it to lose some settings. I tried changing the boot sequence to CD, then main HD, but that made no difference. System has only a DVD drive and two hard drives (only one is enabled - the other is a mirror image of a "known good" system).
Any suggestions? I have not yet tried searching the forum for a solution. Again, THANK YOU for all the help - I greatly appreciate it!
stephencm
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July 5th, 2014 07:00
Reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup. Look for the Diskette Drive controller option and set it to OFF (disabled). Save the change and exit setup. That will fix the diskette drive seek error.
That fixed it!
And if you really appreciated my help so much, why did you mark your own post as the verified answer instead of mine?
Because I'm a forum dummy and didn't know how that works and didn't take the half a minute that it would have taken to figure it out...:emotion-5: Gotta get that fixed. Again, thank you!
RoHe
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July 5th, 2014 12:00