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Dimension515o.E510 Blinking Amber Light
I have just developed this problem over the last few days but have managed, so far, to restart by gently massaging the start button for about 5 mins.How long this will continue is questionable so I am thinking of leaving my computer on standby permanently when not in use as it starts up OK from standby.
I am not confident enough to start delving into my computer's internals so my question is will this stress my computer to the point of causing it to fail for reasons other than those connected to the Flashing Amber Light problem?
Any help would be appreciated
JohnEH
fireberd
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December 15th, 2011 09:00
I have an E510.
We have had a very high power supply failure rate with the E510 and identical 5150 models. I would suspect that is the problem with yours. We have had one front panel switch and a two or three motherboards that I recall seeing posted here, but the overwhelming majority of the failures have been power supply.
The big problem with a defective or failing power supply is that potentially it could fail and cause damage to other parts.
If you don't feel confident to get into the PC, you are going to have to take it to a "reputable" PC repair shop. Fortunately the power supply in this model is a standard ATX type power supply, not a Dell special, so there is no problem with availability. The E510 needs a minimum of a 350 watt power supply (a 400 watt replacement is better) with a 24 pin or a 20 plus 4 pin main power connector, a 4 pin Molex for 12VDC, two SATA connectors for hard drive(s) and two PATA (IDE) Molex connectors for CD/DVD drive(s).
fpwillson
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December 15th, 2011 11:00
An hour ago the electric company pulled our meter and installed a new one (Without telling us). Power went off for maybe 3-5 seconds. At power up, one computer came back on line fine, but the E510 will not power up. All I have is a very faint amber light at the bottom of the power button. It blinks once every (approx) 2 seconds. There is a small amber (round) light on the back which is lit.
Do I need a new power supply or is it something else? Thanks. Live in Las Vegas
fireberd
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December 15th, 2011 15:00
Disconnect the AC power cord for the PC from the AC power outlet for about 2 minutes. Plug back in and see if it helps. The power failure can cause many different problems but with the suspected power supply problem to start with it may have "done it in".
I don't run ANY PC without a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Source). I connect the UPS to the AC power line and then the PC to the UPS. Then if there is a short or momentary power interruption it won't affect the PC. Surge Protector type power strips are useless (and worthless) for these types of interruptions.