blinking light code?

Question

Im having a startup problem with an 8500. I suspended the laptop for about 5 minutes and opened it back up to a blue screen. I hard reset it and it wont boot. when I press the power button it the power light comes on and the caps light blinks 10 times with no fan or hard drive noise and no screen flicker then lights go out. I noticed when I take the video card out it does the same thing but instead of the caps blinking, its the other two surrounding lights.

This leads me to think these are indicators for problem hardware, does anyone know if and what the codes mean?

kormath · Answer

Normally all 3 lights blinking means a processor failure or unseated processor.  numlock and scroll lock flass for motherboard failures, capslock and scroll lock are memory.  I could be off but that's how i remember it.

kormath · Answer

couldn't tell ya on that one,  that's beyond my knowledge.  I'd assume they will transfer as long as the mobo supports the chip you have now.  but then you what assume did

mobana · Answer

I would guess the mobo died, num lock and scroll lock are flashing. I found a d800 mobo on ebay, I think the only thing that wouldnt transfer is the cpu. is this correct?

amaretto · Answer

You should be able to transfer the cpu.  Check support.dell.com for instructions.

bpm687 · Answer

Did you ever find out your problem. Im having that same problem with my 8500 the caps lock will blink 10 times with no fan,HD or picture from the monitor. Also when I take out the ATI graphics card the num and the scroll lock will then only blink.

mobana · Answer

From what I can tell the mobo is trash hence the caps light blinking. I went ahead and ordered a new mobo and processor for an 8600 for less than 450 on ebay. I wish someone could difinitively say thats what the lights mean, but I need to be up and running so I went ahead with the upgrade.

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blinking light code?

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