Good day Lucyvee,

Thank you for writing to the Dell Community Forum .

In this situation I would ask you confirm as to what is the status of the power button .If its steady on or if its blinking amber then the no of times the power button blinks also helps us determine the faulty component .

Also I would request you to confirm if you hear any beeps from the system as that also gives us an indication of the faulty component .

Awaiting your response. Do reply to this post with the service tag of the system( sent via private message ) so that I can check the details to assist you with system specific troubleshooting  .

Kindest Regards,

Hi Jennifer,

Status of the power button: it's amber as it's pushed (I believe that's normal, or it's always been that way), but after that it's solid white. No blinking at all.

There are no beeps at all. I don't believe it ever gets to the POST.

SEQUENCE:

When I power on

- the green LED on the PSU lights (solid)

- the NIC lights up (if ethernet cable is connected)

- all fans power on at decent speed

- the optical drive LED blinks at a steady rate as if it's checking for media

- a couple of flashes on the HD activity LED

- the optical drive flashes a few more times at more random intervals as if it's beginning to read the media (if media is in the drive)

- one more single flash from the HD activity LED

- then the fans spin down to low power mode and the front panel LEDs all stay dark.

- PSU LED stays lit, as does the NIC (if it's connected)

TROUBLESHOOTING SO FAR

- All internal cards and external devices have been removed/unplugged.

- checked and reseated all PSU connections. Even tried a full PSU test after plugging each connection in individually. PSU LED is always green.

- I've tried booting with several different system boot disks in the optical drive (Windows and Ubuntu), and have switched out the hard drive twice to test.

- Tried with the optical drive unplugged, the HD unplugged, and then both unplugged... no beeps, never get to POST, the LOGO or BIOS.

- I removed both RAM modules, and I get brief white power LED before it turns amber. One beep, pause, three beeps, pause, then two beeps. Power button flashes amber three times, pause, and repeats. But never get to logo.

- Tried replacing just one RAM module, switched between the modules, and switched slots. System goes back to no beeps, no POST, no logo, no boot in each instance.

Service tag sent via PM.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Hi Lucyvee

I'm sorry that you had problems.  I seem be having a nearly identical experience.

I tried your troubleshooting steps with the same results.  I addition, I tried:

• Clearing the NVRAM by setting PSWD and/or RTCRST jumpers
• Clearing the NVRAM by removing and reseating the CMOS Battery

These other steps didn't help me, but I've read that they have resolved issues for other people.

I hope that helps!