Studio 540, PSU issue

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@AnthonyMark wrote:
Hey. Just wanted to get opinions on this before I invest in a new power supply unit. My studio 540, when I press the power button is Amber. It powers up (fans) for about 10 seconds, switches itself off then powers up again on its own and the Amber light just stays lit and fans running. I’m assuming this is the psu struggling to get going, rather than a motherboard problem ? I’ve reseated all the cards and removed peripherals but still the problem persists. Thank you everyone

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I also appreciate that this is an ancient desktop now but it’s served me well since 2008 and never been a problem really. I can’t afford the latest gear just yet. 

But as it’s quite an old machine to psu can be quite pricey now. So just want to make sure it is an issue with the power 

Have you read this thread with some suggestions about similar problems?

As long as you get a compatible supply you should have no issues.

An EVGA 700B1 will fit and work without issues.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-BRONZE-Warranty-Tester-100-B1-0700-K1/dp/B018JYHBE6

Well, I have ordered a genuine dell studio 540 PSU, so wish me luck. Hopefully my pc will boot up when I install the new power unit.

As stated in my original post, i think all my symptoms point to a faulty PSU; The false power up with just an amber light. The fans etc all work. 

Please can somebody advise on what the best wattage my PSU should be.

I purchased a 300 W PSU from eBay. The seller stated that this was the standard power supply unit for studio 540s. However after installing the power supply unit, I pressed the power button and I heard a big pop followed by the smell of metal. So one can assume that I fried the PSU. And no, it was nothing to do with the motherboard et cetera. I have checked everywhere and it was definitely the PS that blew, as smoke came from it very slightly. 

Luckily the seller has agreed to send me a replacement, so I am wondering what the best wattage should be. In 2014 the original PSU That came with my dell studio, Packed in also, and the PC repair man at the time installed me a new one which was 700 W, however this seller on eBay states that 700 W shouldn’t even be in a studio 540. Is this correct?

So should I have a 700 W sent to me? I’d hate to have a replacement sent and then I go on Friday that one as well ha ha.

Sure hope the PSU was the only failure, especially if there was a sudden voltage spike before that PSU went up in smoke...

Is this the Desktop Studio 540 or the Slim Studio 540s? The Desktop came with a 350W PSU, unless it was an EnergyStar version with a 300W PSU.  The Slim came with a 250W PSU.

Did you ever upgrade the OEM video card to one that required a bigger PSU than the original?

Obviously, if you've been running a 700W PSU for all these years, that's not a real issue, aside from maybe some extra heat generated by the bigger PSU. So I wonder if this eBay seller knows what s/he's talking about...

Maybe just get your $ back and shop elsewhere. As long as the PSU fits into the PC case, has the right power connector(s), and at least the minimum required wattage...

Well, if they sold you a 300W for the desktop Studio 540 then it's probably not surprising it instantly failed. 

Who replaced the video card and was it the same OEM Dell card?  If not, find the card in Device Manager and google for its minimum PSU requirements.

While the 700W PSU is installed, physically remove the add-in video card from the motherboard and then clear BIOS:

1. Power off, unplug
2. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
3. Open case and remove motherboard battery (check Service Manual for details)
4. Remove add-in video card
5. Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
6. Reinstall the battery (Time for a fresh CR2032 3-volt coin cell battery for ~$2?)
7. Close up and connect mouse and keyboard to rear USB
8. Connect monitor to an onboard video port, either HDMI or VGA, assuming your monitor supports one of these. If that's a different port than you normally use with the add-in video card, you may have to open the monitor's On-Screen Display (OSD) to tell it to accept input from the "new" video port on the PC.
9. Reboot...

Hi Ron. Thanks for taking time to reply. 

My old 700w psu still works (to a degree), it just doesn’t boot up my studio. The fans come on but I get no beeps or any other activity. The power light is Amber. 

After the 300w psu fried I installed my 700w back and the fans still power up. So I’m hoping nothing else is the issue. 

The studio is the 540 standard. Not slim. 

Dell did install me a new dvd drive once (but that was when I had the original dell psu) and I’ve had a new video card installed but as far as I know it’s the same as the original that came when I bought the desktop. 

Hi Ron

the video card was installed by a computer repair lad. He was still studying pc repair at college at the time but he seemed to know what he was doing to some extent. It was he who also put the 700w alpine psu in my desktop. 

The seller on ebay is going to send me a 700w psu I think. So hopefully that will work. I know it’s a bit of a dated machine now and probably not worth the time of day to some, but I can’t afford an all singing and dancing modern desktop yet. I do like my studio 540 but starting to feel a bit redundant  now as no one supports vista anymore (iTunes etc) but I only really use it for my design work. 

Vista...??? OMG!!

Some users have updated the D540 to Win 10, but Dell doesn't support that so -hopefully- Win 10 would install all the right drivers, but there have been issues reported running Win 10 on this PC. Besides, I don't believe there's a free upgrade from Vista to Win 10...

This model is compatible with Win 7, 64-bit, and Dell offers the drivers, but official Microsoft support for Win 7 ends in Jan'20. But at least unsupported Win 7 would be a whole lot better than unsupported Vista. You would have to buy a Win 7 installation disk with a real/valid product key...

Maybe you should consider this an opportunity to update to a new PC, rather than putting $$, your time, and aggravation into this old relic.  Inspiron models aren't that expensive, even with an i7 CPU and 8+ GB of RAM. I wouldn't consider any PC with a i3 CPU, no matter how cheap it was...

If the budget allows, consider an XPS model because those come with higher specs and better performance...

Well I have installed the new psu and the problem still persists. 

Boots up for 10 secs then switched itself off 

boots up again on its own and just stays in like a standby mode. Fans all run ok. 

I’m not sure what triggered this  it was working fine. The motherboard cell battery can’t be the culprit surely? I imagined that was just for the time and date? I get no beeps or any noises other than the HDD loading and the fans

I take it back, just inserted a new cell battery and now everything is working fine, I hope that wasn’t the issue all along, because I have just bought a new power supply unit now but I guess it won’t do any harm

Glad you got it sorted.  I did suggest a new battery a couple of days ago... :Whisper:

For "fun", you could put the old PSU back in and see if the PC boots. And in that case, you can keep the new PSU as a backup or maybe sell it on eBay, etc if you can't return it for a refund...

And please mark this thread "Answered".