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Dell Vostro 420 Refusing to Power Up
Hi..I just recent acquired an old Dell Vostro 420 pc. It has BIOS 1.3.0, and a Core2Quad Q8300 cpu.
The issue I am having is that most of the time it refuses to power up. I press the power button and the blue led comes on for one second then goes off. The green led on the power supply is lit the whole time it is plugged into the wall outlet. After unplugging the system from the power outlet for about two minutes and plugging it back in, the machine will power up.
I ran Dell diagnostics on this machine and it reports that all hardware is good. Could it be that I have a faulty power supply?
locp
1 Message
1
February 14th, 2015 16:00
I was not able to power up my Vostro 420 after the AC main was interrupted briefly. The symptom was after I pushed the power button, it clicked once and power button light flashed yellow briefly once. And that was it. The machine stayed power down.
After working on it for a couple of hours, I noticed that I can consistently power up the machine if I unplug the USB mouse and ethernet cable. Once the machine powers up, I plug the mouse and network cable back in, it runs just fine. Very strange!
This feels like a motherboard problem?
shesagordie
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April 18th, 2014 07:00
Because the Vostro 420 has an open back panel, a power supply with or without the on/off switch can be used, you should be able to buy a replacement from most local and online computer stores.
A power supply, with six SATA power connectors, is required.
Dell420User
1 Message
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May 25th, 2014 18:00
Hi,
I am also Dell Vostro 420 owner bought it in 2008. at times I too have power issues. power light remains amber and PC would not start. Called up Dell and they suggested it could be mother board issue. workaround which works 95% of time is to keep power button pressed (remove power cable before this) for 20 sec to allow motherboard to reset/discharge power and then restart it..
give a try and see if it works.
dwsii
3 Posts
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May 26th, 2014 01:00
I discovered that my problem was definitely the result of a faulty power supply. I was able to replace the power supply and the issue went away.
shesagordie
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May 26th, 2014 08:00
dwsii
Please to hear that replacing the power supply resolved the issue.
Bev.
gongqin
6 Posts
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October 20th, 2015 08:00
Can a standard ATX PSU be used to replace the U345D original PSU in a Dell Vostro 420? Will the mounting screws in the right place?
Thanks!
speedstep
8 Wizard
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47K Posts
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October 20th, 2015 10:00
Standard PFC EPS12V works fine. Corsair CS750M works fine from specification as well as dimensions.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/425477/CS_Series_CS750M_750_Watt_ATX_Modular_Power_Supply
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Series-Modular-Efficient-CS750M/dp/B00GH9NA0A
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/cs-series-modular-cs750m-750-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-psu
shesagordie
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October 20th, 2015 10:00
Yes, providing it has 7 x SATA power connectors.
Please read my post Here:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19578830/20616970#20616970
Bev.
dwsii
3 Posts
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October 22nd, 2015 14:00
Just to dispel a little misunderstanding about the power supply requirements of the Vostro 420 I must mention that the service manual is incorrect that the replacement power supply must have 7 SATA power plugs. The reason they say to have 7 SATA power plugs is because the motherboard has 7 SATA ports. I only have 2 SATA devices and have no immediate need to add any more. So I could have put a 2 SATA plug power supply in the machine. In fact at one time I did put a power supply that only had 2 SATA temporarily until I bought a much better quality power supply for permanent use in this machine. One year ago I purchased the Coolmax ZX-600 600w power supply for this machine. It has 6 SATA plugs. I have had no problems out of it yet. Nor out of the temporary replacement that had only 2 SATA plugs.
I like the Vostro 420. I like how it is built. I like how it is configured. Its six years old but has a speedy Core2Quad chip in it, 4GB RAM, and a 1TB HD. Windows 10 works on it beautifully. I'm using it to type this message.
Dragonluna
1 Message
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January 5th, 2016 21:00
Thanks...your post helped solved the problem. I disconnected my mouse and key board and it started up like a charm. I would never of thought to do that. So does this mean I will need a new mother board?