Fans in my Inspiron 546 are racing

OK, got the new power supply, installed it and the speeding fan issue is solved, so I guess the switch in the old power supply went bad.

Glad the new PSU solved the problem. More likely the PSU itself failed, not just the switch, but at least it's fixed now.

:Yes:  :Yes:

Please mark this thread as Answered - thank you.

What was solved with the new power supply was the racing fans which is another post. Yes, I did all of what you suggested and more than once. Only thing left now is the hard drive or I got a defective motherboard which is refurbished. So, how can I check that without spending any money. I'm in for $150 so far.

I don't think I ever mentioned that when I turn the unit on I do get a couple of those buzzes that go along with the unit booting. But that's all. Don't know if that helps.

And I thought your problems were solved after you replaced the power supply...  :TongueTied:

You've replaced the motherboard and CPU, so unless you're really unlucky, there isn't much left to test.

Are you using onboard video or an add-in video card? If using an add-in video card, physically remove it and switch over to one of the onboard video ports. If using onboard video now, do you have PCI-e x16 video card you can test?

Have you stripped it down to bare essentials? Disconnect all drives, except boot drive, removed all PCI cards, except video (but see above), removed all RAM except the one in slot 1? Then clear BIOS by removing the motherboard battery and pressing/holding power button for ~30 sec before reinstalling the battery.

Examine all USB ports with a flashlight to see if any of them is damaged or shorted.

No, you never mentioned getting "buzzes" when booting. Are they buzzes or beeps?

Beep codes come in a diagnostic pattern, that usually repeats, so count them and look up the error code on page 29, here.

I guess it's possible the replacement board or replacement CPU is faulty, but since you're getting the same symptoms as you got with the old ones, that would be a very unlucky coincidence.

Strip the motherboard down completely. Disconnect everything, except CPU fan, and remove all cards and RAM. Reset BIOS by pulling the battery and pressing/holding power button for ~30 sec. Reinstall the battery and power on. You should get 2 beeps, meaning no RAM detected. If no beeps, the motherboard is likely bad....

I did that test and got no beeps. I contacted Dell and am sending the board back for replacement. 

Geez, I guess you are unlucky.

Hope the new board solves the problem. Post back and let us know what happens...

Got the replacement motherboard today and there is no change, still got steady amber/yellow light. Only thing left is the hard drive and consensus says that it shouldn't cause the problem. Possible cable  problem, but what. I'm going to ask what is probably a stupid question but here goes. Should everything be hooked up to the computer? My computer is open with nothing hooked up and I just plug it in and turn it on. 

Can I assume you installed a known working CPU and heatsink+fan, and connected the front panel to the motherboard... ?

Do you see a (yellow) LED on the motherboard when the PC is connected to a working outlet, even if the PC is off?

You don't need the hard or optical drive, but I'd put in one RAM module in Slot 1, and the video card. And then reset BIOS by removing the battery and pressing/holding the power button for ~30 sec before reinstalling the battery to make sure BIOS sees the hardware correctly. Then connect monitor, mouse and keyboard and see what happens

Without the hard drive you should get a "no bootable drive found" or similar message, but at least that gets you beyond "not booting".

Did you examine all the USB ports from the outside with a flashlight for any damage? A shorted USB port might cause this type of problem.

And now there's the question of whether the I/O circuit board in the front panel has failed...

Is it time to call it quits..?? 

Solid Amber power button is Dead CPU/Motherboard.

NON EPS12v  80 percent efficient power supplies WILL NOT WORK and will present with this issue.

Its also possible that the "new" power supply fried the cpu.

I gave in and took my computer to a repair shop. I have my fingers dressed and tried to protect myself to come extent by asking only for an analysis for a fixed fee rather than a carte blanche "fix it". We are already at odds about what direction a cpu fan should be blowing,

If they charge more than $75 total you would be better off finding a working used model.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPlex-Athlon-Professional-Mini-Tower/dp/B0048IA8K2/

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0094MT4QG/

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Precision-T3500-Ram-Windows-installed/dp/B00CLJHG78/

JUST GOT MY COMPUTER BACK FROM THE SHOP AND APPARENTLY, I AM DEALING WITH ANOTHER BAD REFURBISHED DELL MOTHERBOARD. C'MON DELL WHAT'S GOING ON?