Computer won't turn on, solid orange (amber) light

Question

I know this topic has been stated before, but there are no threads that explain the step by step workflow to discovering the cause of the problem. This should be our goal. The probIem: In my case: my Inspiron 620 desktop won't turn on, no light on button, solid orange or amber if you prefer, on board. No whir, no fan. Worked fine yesterday. It's happened before, quite often actually, in fact, part of me thinks that if I go upstairs and press the button right now, it would whir to life. Sometimes it goes months without being weird, then it becomes unresponsive, save the steady light, that orange light, like a heartbeat, 'I'm still here...' A bit ago I had to get a new power unit, but I attributed that to a storm, at the time I was fortunate enough to still have the computer under warranty, but this is no longer the case. When I spoke with the very pleasant man on the phone, he walked me through some steps to figure out what the problem was. I no longer remember those steps. So the question is: What are the steps to determining the problem my computer is having? Thank you

DELL-Nat M · Answer

Hi all, If you're experiencing power issues with your laptop, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. You can use the Get Help Now chat feature to chat with an agent.

DELL-Saharsh K · Answer

Hi BC Taylor,

Please follow the below shared instructions to identify the point of failure. First we will try to release the residual charge from the system to check if it powers on or not. 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, try swapping the system power cable with monitor power cable if they are identical, else you may try powering on the system using a good known power supply. It can be an issue with the power socket as well, test it on another working power socket too.

If you are still not able to get the system powered on, then most likely the motherboard has failed, and hardware replacement may be required.

Hope this helps. Please reply if you have any questions, I'll be happy to assist you.

Video with Extra Details:

holychild111 · Answer

I turned off the PC, disconnected the power and unplugged every peripherals such as key board, pendrive etc. , I pressed the power button for about 20 seconds and connected the power back and it started booting.

This actually solved my problem.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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