Yet another E510 with blinking amber light

Looks like my problem was not a result of a faulty MOBO but it was with the Power Supply...

Initially I called Dell to replace the MOBO but once replaced the problem was more apparent and the machine would not startup anymore without removing the CMOS battery...Even once started up, I would still get the occasional flashing amber light unless I've unplugged all the USB cables and ethernet cable. However once the power supply was replaced with a new one everything has now worked fine.

I have read that the problem can also be a problem with the front I/O panel because of the pins in the USB ports might be damaged.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/index.htm

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/parts1.htm#wp1371329

 Unresolved Issues
https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/outstanding_issues?c=us&l=en&s=gen&redirect=1

Dell Spare Parts 1-800-357-3355 ext. 69938

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/DellPartsFamily.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs

I find 2 part numbers for the Front panel although I cannot say if they work or not.

Front panel would need replacement if the USB ports are shorted out.

The Part refers to the MR SMITH Case

Dell X8543/Y6791 Front I/O & Control Panel Assembly, Dimension, MT, 2.0 ASSY,PNL,FRT,I/O,
Dell X8543 ASSY PNL FRT I/O DIM MSMT 2.0 (ROHS) 
Description:ASSY /PNL /FRT /I/O /MSMT
Comments:Front I/O Panel Assembly / MATRIX /SMITH /MINI TOWER

The MR Smith Tower looks like this

24 hour phone support at 800-822-8965

PANEL

POWER Supply

BATTERY

My wife's computer has recently started having this problem as well.  I searched the support forums looking for a fix and found this thread.

So let me see if I have things correct.  Dell has manufactured a computer with faulty parts.  Evidenced by the fact that so many people are having the exact same problem.  So when their customers start having this problem rather then doing the honorable thing and repairing their faulty hardware, they are requiring the customer to purchase the parts and pay for the labor?  Seriously?  Even Microsoft paid for the red ring of death incident.

I recently bought a Dell for myself that I am using for gaming and so far I have enjoyed it, but I am starting to regret my choice of going with Dell.  I have three other friends that are looking to buy new gaming pcs and I had been encouraging them to look at Dell, however if this is how Dell treats there customers who have a problem that is so clearly a hardware defect, I can not in good concious refer my friends to Dell just to have them run into poor customer service as I am starting to see here.

My wife's computer has recently started having this problem as well.  I searched the support forums looking for a fix and found this thread. So let me see if I have things correct.  Dell has manufactured a computer with faulty parts.  Evidenced by the fact that so many people are having the exact same problem.  So when their customers start having this problem rather then doing the honorable thing and repairing their faulty hardware, they are requiring the customer to purchase the parts and pay for the labor?  Seriously?  Even Microsoft paid for the red ring of death incident. I recently bought a Dell for myself that I am using for gaming and so far I have enjoyed it, but I am starting to regret my choice of going with Dell.  I have three other friends that are looking to buy new gaming pcs and I had been encouraging them to look at Dell, however if this is how Dell treats there customers who have a problem that is so clearly a hardware defect, I can not in good concious refer my friends to Dell just to have them run into poor customer service as I am starting to see here.

To be fair I found Dell after sale service to be one of the best out of other manufacturers.... Considering you are open to options of either email, online chat or telephone service when your Dell computer breaks down.

For me I opted myself to replace the faulty PSU myself, since I was not willing to take another day off work to supervise a Dell engineer to replace a faulty PSU which I could easily do it myself.

But I agree that Dell computers aren't the best quality comparing other manufacturer but like I said before Dell have one of the best customer service I have experienced.

I have the same problem and been looking for answers with no avail. After reading some of the posts here and looking and the troubleshooting guide, I desired to do a good visual inspection. One thing I noticed when looking at the blinking amber light was, that it look very dim.  I took another power supply, plugged it in and everything was good.

Just a pointer. If that blinking light is dim, chances are that your problem is the power supply.

Just sharing my experience and results.

Good luch all!.

I do think Dell should me liable for something that was clearly built with a problem.  Everyone is having the same exact problem, so, I don't think we are to blame for the defective machines. We should be compensated for repair expenses. We paid very good money for them.

Maybe Obama will step in and straighten out some more of the big manufacturers that won't take resposability for their mistakes, continue to take advantage of the customers, taime after time. Things like this is why this country is what it is now. The big destroys the small,. No fairness at all.

Try this.  On the main Power Connector going to the motherboard from the Power Supply,  use a straightened paper clip and short the Green Wire to one of the Black Ground Wires and then press your power switch.  As the machine powers up, remove the paper clip. 

If this works, you could connect a momentary contact SPST Switch to these two points and mount it in the front of the pc.

To start the PC simply Hold the SPST switch in and press your regular power button and then let go of both switches.

Looks like my problem was not a result of a faulty MOBO but it was with the Power Supply... Initially I called Dell to replace the MOBO but once replaced the problem was more apparent and the machine would not startup anymore without removing the CMOS battery...Even once started up, I would still get the occasional flashing amber light unless I've unplugged all the USB cables and ethernet cable. However once the power supply was replaced with a new one everything has now worked fine. I have read that the problem can also be a problem with the front I/O panel because of the pins in the USB ports might be damaged. Try This,  On the main power plug from the Power Supply to the Motherboard, Use a straightened paper clip and short the Green Wire to a Black Ground Wire on either side of it and after doing so, press the regular power button on the front of the machine.  As the PC starts up, remove the paper clip.  If this works for you, make it permanant by installing a push button, momentary contact, normally open SPST switch connect to the two points.  Mount the switch in one of the empty drive bay knock out panels.  To start the machine all you do is hold the pushbutton switch and press the regular power button.  As the machine powers up, release both buttons. This apears to be a design problem but this makes a good work-around. Edited 07/08/2009 by LC

This appears to be a common problem. In my case, my E510 began to refuse to boot after about 14 months of minimal use (typically only a few hours per week), protected the entire time by a UPS with power conditioning. Unlike most of the other posts on this issue that I've read, my E510 with blinking amber light can periodically be coaxed to boot. (Note: There are NO diagnostic lights visible. And once it IS running, the button is steady green -- as though everything is just fine.) Whether it boots or I get the blinking amber light is starting to feel like a voodoo thing. I plug and unplug, plug and unplug, drain the remaining current by holding in the power button, walk away for 15-30 minutes, spin around, hug the dog, and OCCASIONALLY I'll get the steady green power light. Most recently, after running through one of the Dell troubleshooting Web pages, I discovered that if I disconnect every external cable, drain the remaining current, and then wait 5-10 minutes, it will usually allow me to boot. While booting, I can reconnect the cables and everything works fine. (Well, not everything. The DVD drive seems to have a miserable time spinning up to speed. Eventually, it works, though.) Other things I've tried: (1) Replaced the internal battery. (That worked for one boot.) (2) Plugged the system into different outlets. (Initially, it was plugged into a power strip that was connected to the UPS. After reading that somehow that might affect the power getting to the system, I plugged it directly into the UPS. That worked for one or two boots, too. All that remains plugged into the power strip is the monitor and speakers. (Side note: Since when did using a power strip or UPS become a no-no?) Since the system CAN be tricked into booting, is there any reason to think that my power supply has problems? I really hate the idea of tossing money at this without knowing for sure that the problem will be corrected. Frankly, for a $1,000 computer (I added a bunch of upgrades when it was ordered), I'm really dismayed that it's having hardware problems this early on. Either my luck is bad or this is a badly cobbled together system. Given the number of people that have the same problem, is their any chance that Dell will step up and take responsibility for the repairs? Steve Message Edited by zapt on 01-23-2008 09:08 AM

Try this.  On the Main Power Connection to the motherboard, use a straightened Paper Clip and temporarily short the Green wire to a Black Ground wire on either side of it and press the regular power button.  As the machine starts to power up, remove the paper clip.  If this works, you can make it a permanant fix by using a momentary contact SPST pushbutton switch and mount the switch in a Knock Out panel of one of the empty drive bays.  Press and Hold the new switch then press the regular power button and then release both as the machine powers on.

I believe this to be a design problem.  Since Dell is not doing an ESN to the Motherboard or Switch Board, This seems to be a good work-around.

Message Edited by LC 07/08/2009 

This appears to be a common problem. In my case, my E510 began to refuse to boot after about 14 months of minimal use (typically only a few hours per week), protected the entire time by a UPS with power conditioning. Unlike most of the other posts on this issue that I've read, my E510 with blinking amber light can periodically be coaxed to boot. (Note: There are NO diagnostic lights visible. And once it IS running, the button is steady green -- as though everything is just fine.) Whether it boots or I get the blinking amber light is starting to feel like a voodoo thing. I plug and unplug, plug and unplug, drain the remaining current by holding in the power button, walk away for 15-30 minutes, spin around, hug the dog, and OCCASIONALLY I'll get the steady green power light. Most recently, after running through one of the Dell troubleshooting Web pages, I discovered that if I disconnect every external cable, drain the remaining current, and then wait 5-10 minutes, it will usually allow me to boot. While booting, I can reconnect the cables and everything works fine. (Well, not everything. The DVD drive seems to have a miserable time spinning up to speed. Eventually, it works, though.) Other things I've tried: (1) Replaced the internal battery. (That worked for one boot.) (2) Plugged the system into different outlets. (Initially, it was plugged into a power strip that was connected to the UPS. After reading that somehow that might affect the power getting to the system, I plugged it directly into the UPS. That worked for one or two boots, too. All that remains plugged into the power strip is the monitor and speakers. (Side note: Since when did using a power strip or UPS become a no-no?) Since the system CAN be tricked into booting, is there any reason to think that my power supply has problems? I really hate the idea of tossing money at this without knowing for sure that the problem will be corrected. Frankly, for a $1,000 computer (I added a bunch of upgrades when it was ordered), I'm really dismayed that it's having hardware problems this early on. Either my luck is bad or this is a badly cobbled together system. Given the number of people that have the same problem, is their any chance that Dell will step up and take responsibility for the repairs? Steve Message Edited by zapt on 01-23-2008 09:08 AM

Try this.  On the main power connection from the Power Supply to the Motherboard, use a straightened Paper Clip and short the Green Wire to one of the Black Ground Wires beside it and then press the main power switch.  As the PC starts to power on, remove the paper clip.

If this works, install a Push-Button, Normally Open SPSP momentary contact switch connected to the Green wire and the Black wire at the motherboard.  Mount the switch in a Knock Out Panel in one of the spare drive bays.  To start the macine, Hold the new switch and press the regular power switch.  As the machine powers up release both switches. 

Try this.  On your main power cable that connects from the Power Supply to the Motherboard, us a straightend paper clip and short the Green wire Temporarily to a Black Ground wire on either side of the Green Wire and then press the front power button on the machine.  As the PC starts to boot, remove the paper clip.

If this works, you can make this a permanant fix by installing a momentary contact SPST pushbutton switch in one of the knockout panels of one of the empty drive bays.  Then just Hold in the new Button and press the regular power button and let go of both.  The machine should power up.

I believe this to be a design problem.  I had a machine that was doing the same thing.  Flashing amber would not power up.  Put in a Bigger Dell Power Supply, Still the same, Installed a New ATX 350 watt 3rd party supply, still the same, Installed a 450Watt ATX, still the same problem. 

On the 350Watt PSP, I found that if i kept holding and pressing the power button, it would finally come up.

The below fix worked with all of the power supplys, including the original power supply that was supposedly "bad".

Try this fix.  The main power plug going to the motherboard has one Green Wire.  Use a short wire or straightened paper clip and short the green wire to a black ground wire on either side of it.  The power supply will power on and then press your regular power button on the front of the machine and now disconnect the short wire.   I think you will find that the PC will come up.  If this works, mount a small Push-button switch in one of the front drive bay Knockouts.  The switch should be a Momentary Contact, SPST switch.  You can buy a box of 4 of these switches from Radio Shack for about $3.00.

To start the machine, Hold the new switch on and then press the regular power button and let go of both. 

This is just a work-around but since no one seems to be making any modifications to the circuitry that starts the PC, this should make it work.

I wonder how many motherboards and power supplys have been changed needlessly?

It must be thousands of these 510's that have this problem. Dell could replace these boards and I will bet the company stock would go up. I will never recommend a Dell to anyone again. I work on computers everyday and I have seen about 5 of these 510's and all have the same exact problem. If Dell would only admit that these were bad computers. I see them selling everyday on ebay and I would never bid on this model in a million years. I bought one myself in late 05 that is sitting in my basement collection dust. Maybe Dell will read all these posts and wise up. Until they do no more Dells ever for me. trig

i have an E520 FLASHING AMBER LIGHT WONT BOOT OR POST

like the power swith panel is bad i replaced power supply still same prob control panel next ?

its my aunts computer im a computer tech\gamer\mechanic

im prtty sure its the front control panel so i need parts help

im out of warranty  tech support  hot line i  was told they couldent help me or her .

that this isnt a prob and they didnt know any thing about this concern

and that a mother board alone was 375.00

thats crazy  so i have it sitting here waste of parts has 2 gig mem not sure what the cpu is on acount it wont boot lol thx dell

she looking to just buy a new computer and it prob wont be a dell

so should wee give up or is dell helping fix this prob this computer is like brand new but not under warranty time

My dimension 510e started having the "blinking amber light of death" about two months ago.  I read the forums here and elsewhere and popped out the CMOS battery.  The pc started up and I just left it in standby mode instead of turning it off every night.  I went out and bought a Verbatim hard drive and started backing up all my data every day, waiting for the end.  Btw, that stupid Verbatim came with Nero Back  It Up Essentials 2, which turned out to be really old and unreliable software - beware!

We lost power a few times recently and the pc powered back up without too many problems.  Then we had a thunderstorm that knocked out our power for a few hours on Sun and when I came down Mon morning, the pc was dead.  I tried the usual tricks - unplug all the peripherals, drain the power, get a cup of tea, come back and see if it starts and still nothing but that annoying blinking light.  I fussed with it for a few hours and still nothing.  I installed a new CMOS battery, hoping that would help, but it didn't.  I finally decided that it was really dead and I was going to take it to a pc place (I'm not very technical) to see if I needed a new power supply or motherboard or maybe they can take the hard drive and put it in a new pc. 

I checked the forum one last time and saw that digital11 had posted his paperclip fix about a dozen times.  I figure I have nothing to lose, plus the post that follows it is too technical for me to understand, so I tried it.  It worked!  I have no idea if it'll work again because I've only tried it once (the pc is up and I don't plan on shutting it down...).  The good part is that I can get a proper backup or boot disk using something besides Nero while the pc is up.  I don't know what an "SPSP momentary contact switch" is but you can bet I'm going to find out and put one in!  Thanks for the fix, digital11,!  Even if it does turn out to be temporary, it's a big help.

~Louise