Dell Studio 540 won't power up

Xpari

You should be able to buy a power supply from Frys, the 530 Mini Tower does not use a Dell proprietary unit.

A standard ATX power supply units can be installed, with either a 24-pin or 20+4-pin main motherboard power connector, with or without the on/off switch.

Note: A power supply with four SATA power connectors, is required.

Bev.

Xpari

Have you tried pressing 'Shift + F10', it should open a 'Edit Boot Options', what is listed? 

Bev.

Hi Bev,

I have been trying to keep the PC running.  I think the best way to describe the situation is that even after changing the motherboard the computer is giving me the same problems but a little less often.  It still shhuts down randomly and struggles to go on and off and on again until the unplug the power cord.

Do you think it might be some thing other than the motherboard?  I have not yet tried Shift + F10 as it does not stop from booting up and I am worried that I press that, and computer shuts down, it may not be a good situation.

Xpari

I have the same problem as the original poster. Is there any way to diagnose the problem using any kind of tools. I read about the POST tool , but it seems to be working only if system is powering on. Just like the original poster my system is not booting at all. Green light in the back. PSU works, tried removing all the cards, etc but nothing. I don't want to spend $100 + on new mobo if it's the CPU. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to test the motherboard for sure. I would not mind buying a diagnostics tool of some kind if it exists for issues like these. Thank you,

Last fall our 540 had this problem, I replaced the motherboard with a new one and it has been working fine since then.  I seem to recall, it was about $225 for a new board.

Rob

 Thos19

A Dell OEM Studio 540 refurbished motherboard can be purchased @ $99 from HERE

Bev.

I too have this problem. Following the suggestions on this thread I did the jumper trick on the main power supply connector. As others have noted here, the power supply and hard drives started working so I figured it was not the power supply and ordered the $99 replacement motherboard also suggested in this thread. I just installed it and tried powering it up. Same result. Green light is on on the power supply but that's it. Trying to get through to Dell support now so I can let them clean my wallet out. Massively bummed out.

I just tried tonight to install a refurb motherboard and got the identical result.  Green led lights on the back, I press the power button and the fans spin briefly and then go dead, as does the LED on the back.  The LED on the on/off button never lights any color at all.   Very frustrating.  I hope Mr. Tubridy posts again with a report of how he fared with Dell Support.

Thos.

I guess that's my next step.  OMAKAD: Can you tell me the make and model of the PSU you purchased for your 540?

Thanks,

Thos. 

I guess the good news is that they didn't charge me the $59 fee since my system is out of warranty. They bad news is that they were not very helpful. They basically told me to call Geek Squad and have them look at it. They felt it was a power supply issue but had no comment when I described the test that I ran jumping the pins on the main mother board. Based on some of the other comments in this thread my next step will be to re-install the original mother board and replace the power supply. That's what my first gut reaction was when it failed last weekend. It's just that in all of my other experience with computer problems (including several bad power supplies, memory and graphics cards) I have never had such a hard failure like this. I'll let the thread know what I find out.

Its' by Diablotek. DA 400 Series. 400 Watt ATX PSU.

Nope, it fit right in. No issues. No cutting, five min install.

Thanks, OMAKAD,  Was it difficult to get it to fit in the Studio case, especially with that toggle switch?

Replaced the PSU - booted fine. Anyone need a refurbished motherboard?