Where did you see " just an orange light"? On the PC's power button or on the motherboard? And if on power button, steady or blinking orange?
What does "almost shut down" mean? Did it just freeze or something else...? A freeze might not be a PSU issue. And if it's only a 1-time issue, it might not be anything to worry about, but back up all personal files on external media ASAP, to be safe.
Look on rear of PC for a (green) LED near the socket for the mains cord. It should be lit whenever the PC is connected to a working outlet. Next time PC crashes check the status of that LED.
Open Windows Event Viewer and look for errors logged around the time of the last crash, aside from Kernel 41, which is a generic error meaning PC wasn't shut down properly. Any indications of a "thermal event", which might indicate PC overheated, or some other error?
Reboot and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. When the menu opens, look for an option to run diagnostics. Run all of them, including fan test(s) - if offered, and the full RAM and hard drive tests. Copy error message(s) if any.
When that's done, boot to desktop and open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator. At the prompt, type in: chkdsk c: /r and press Enter (NOTE: if your boot drive isn't c:, insert the correct drive letter). You'll get a prompt that it can't run now so accept the offer to run at next boot and then reboot. chkdsk will run before Windows loads, so be patient. Copy error message(s), if any.
Assuming no chkdsk errors, back at the desktop, open a CMD prompt window again, Run as administrator. At the prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter (put one space ahead of /scannow). Copy error messages if any...
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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November 5th, 2020 12:00
Where did you see " just an orange light"? On the PC's power button or on the motherboard? And if on power button, steady or blinking orange?
What does "almost shut down" mean? Did it just freeze or something else...? A freeze might not be a PSU issue. And if it's only a 1-time issue, it might not be anything to worry about, but back up all personal files on external media ASAP, to be safe.
Look on rear of PC for a (green) LED near the socket for the mains cord. It should be lit whenever the PC is connected to a working outlet. Next time PC crashes check the status of that LED.
Open Windows Event Viewer and look for errors logged around the time of the last crash, aside from Kernel 41, which is a generic error meaning PC wasn't shut down properly. Any indications of a "thermal event", which might indicate PC overheated, or some other error?
Reboot and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. When the menu opens, look for an option to run diagnostics. Run all of them, including fan test(s) - if offered, and the full RAM and hard drive tests. Copy error message(s) if any.
When that's done, boot to desktop and open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator. At the prompt, type in: chkdsk c: /r and press Enter (NOTE: if your boot drive isn't c:, insert the correct drive letter). You'll get a prompt that it can't run now so accept the offer to run at next boot and then reboot. chkdsk will run before Windows loads, so be patient. Copy error message(s), if any.
Assuming no chkdsk errors, back at the desktop, open a CMD prompt window again, Run as administrator. At the prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter (put one space ahead of /scannow). Copy error messages if any...