Power box failure or what else?

Question

Hello everyone,

I have a Dell studio Desktop that refuses to turn on. I have a pretty good idea of what it probable is but I am not sure and I do not want to have to spend the money to buy the replacement part just to have to potentially return it so I was hoping a few of you out there could lend your two cents.

The problem is the computer does not power on anymore.

The observations I could make of it was on the back of the computer located on the power supply there is a little green light, this light turns on when I plug in the computer. When I go to try and turn on the computer the little green light on the power supply turns off. I than have to unplug the computer and wait for the little green light to flash once (and it doesnt even completely turn back on) before I can get the light to turn solid green again.

Is this the power supply?

Hope to hear from you guys soon

DELL-Saharsh K · Accepted Answer

Hi neon1001,

You may refer to the Service Manual for the steps on removing and reseating the CMOS battery. Please follow the safety guidelines before you replace any component. If the issue still persists, first point of failure is power supply and then the motherboard. I would recommend replacing the power supply first and then the motherboard.

Please reply if you have any questions.

speedstep · Answer

Take the CMOS battery out. Press the power button with the adapter not connected and the Battery Out. See if it powers on without the battery but attached to the AC adapter.. It should. If it does not the power jack may be broken or the power brick/Supply may be bad. There should be some kind of light on the power brick/Supply to indicate that its getting power. There is no way to tell about the power adapter/supply without trying a known good adapter/supply. All in one systems have a power brick like a laptop.

DELL-Saharsh K · Answer

Hi neon1001,

Try releasing the residual charge from the system. Here are the steps:

Disconnect any external peripherals (flash drives, printers, external hard drives) from the computer including the power supply.
Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds.
Reconnect the power supply. Try to restart the computer and check.

If the issue still persists, please try swapping the power cables of monitor and desktop, if they are identical. This will help you isolate is there is an issue with the power cable or not. Further you can try using an alternate good known power supply to turn on the system. If the system powers on change the power supply, if not they first suspected part is power supply and then the motherboard.

Hope this helps. Please reply if you have any questions.

neon1001 · Answer

I am a bit confused on what a CMOS battery is, I have a desktop. Is there a CMOS battery in the power supply (in your case a supply brick) that could be removed, I do have a pencil that can melt sauder along with electric wire.

shesagordie · Answer

by External peripherals meaning flash drive, mouse, keyboard, cd rom, hard drive, but not the motherboard? So pretty much everything but the motherboard right? neon1001   Wrong, this means you need to disconnect everything connected externally to computer, eg 'flash drives, printers, external hard drives', but leave the monitor, mouse and keyboard connected, everything inside the case, is left 'as is'. Bev.

neon1001 · Answer

by External peripherals meaning flash drive, mouse, keyboard, cd rom, hard drive, but not the motherboard? So pretty much everything but the motherboard right?

shesagordie · Answer

I am a bit confused on what a CMOS battery is, I have a desktop. Is there a CMOS battery in the power supply (in your case a supply brick) that could be removed, I do have a pencil that can melt sauder along with electric wire.

neon1001

The CMOS battery is located on the motherboard, it is a round silver quarter size CR 2032 battery, that looks like this:

http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?SKU=70197035&mkwid=sqt3vOHpb&pcrid=27416521170&pkw=panasonic%20cr2032&pmt=b

For more information please post your exact computer model, as Dell has several Studio models listed.

Bev.

neon1001 · Answer

After taking out the CMOS battery it did not fix the problem. The light on the power brick still comes on and than repeats the same process as described above.

neon1001 · Answer

.I do believe it is a studio 540 desktop if I remember correctly.

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Power box failure or what else?

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