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492106
Vostro 220 will not boot up
Hi,
I have a Dell Vostro 220 running windows Vista Home Basic. It will not boot up. When I power it on, the fans kick on and it sounds as if it will start up normally but it never actually does. The indicator light glows a solid amber yellow color. It does not beep or give any other indications. Nothing ever appears on screen.
I bought this cpu new in Feb. 2009. In Sept. 2009 I had the same problem. Luckily it was under warranty the first time. Dell sent out a Service Tech the next day. The tech could not pinpoint the exact problem but said it was a power issue. I was ordered a new power source, ram and motherboard. Dell overnighted the parts and the tech came back and repaired the unit the next day. All was well, but I was sceptical. To me, that seemed like a major repair to a CPU that was only 7-months-old.
That was about 8 months ago, now I have had the CPU for 15 months total. I have called customer service to see what could be done. Since I am a repeat customer and have a cpu that is obviously defective or at least has a significant problem, I thought maybe I would get some level of satisfaction. I was told "we wish we could help but you are out of warranty". I asked to speak to a manager and was told the same thing. They recommend that I buy all of the same components that were replaced last time (without even doing a diagnostic) at my own expense. BTW this totals more then half the original purchase price.
I expected more from Dell. Has anyone else had the same problem??? I feel like I got a lemon and instead of being offered any assistance at all I am being told too bad, we fixed it once, now it is your problem. That does not seem right to me. I will not buy again!
:emotion-6:
Dissatisfied!
KellyMcGraw
4 Posts
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August 30th, 2012 11:00
This just happened to me as well, glad I found this forum. I popped the battery out and replaced it and same result, it booted right back up. We let our PC sit in sleep mode for long period of times, I wonder if this has something to do with it, not sure though.
Basically the issue occurred after it went into sleep mode and it wouldn't come out of it. Then after a forced shut down it wouldn't boot and only showed the amber light.
Dell phone service didn't recommend this action, so they should pay attention to this work around.
hardlyperfect
10 Posts
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August 30th, 2012 12:00
Kelly, I am glad to be of help as I too needed help and found it eventually outside of Dell after buying a power source that was not necessary. The stored information in the mother board hit a quirk at some point, sleep mode seems to be the first step to the cause of this issue. I have been putting mine in sleep mode every day since, for a year now, and no more issues have occurred but I am thinking it might be wise to purchase an external hard drive to back up my computer just in case.
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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September 5th, 2012 20:00
i am having the same issue on my dell vostro 220s. the power light on the front of the computer does not go on at all and the computer does not make any sounds at all. however, on the back of the computer the tiny green light where the power cord plugs into the power supply still has a green light. do you think it is the power supply or mother board?
KellyMcGraw
4 Posts
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September 5th, 2012 21:00
Ya, I bought the extra power source too and bought a device that turns my hard drive into a external drive. 50 bucks, but I might keep it just in case. I agree it would be wise to buy the external HD since I read one review saying that their HD was corrupted beyond repair with this issue.
KellyMcGraw
4 Posts
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September 5th, 2012 21:00
ChicagoLonghorn, try going through the help files Dell provides that will guide you through possible causes for seeing no light at all in the front. It may lead to some things to try. What I read was that the light in front is an indication that something inside is not function properly when it lights up in different colors other than green, but I don't recall what it said when no light is on.
hardlyperfect
10 Posts
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September 6th, 2012 00:00
ChicagoLonghorn, try taking the battery out of the motherboard first. If it does not work after the battery is replaced you may have to buy a power source just to find if that's the issue. The fan should be working on the power source if the light on it is green, if not then I would be suspicious of that power source as being faulty. My replacement power source with a green light is made by Delta Electronics Inc Model DPS-300AB-36B. It took me lots of time to figure out what power source I needed to fit my Vostro 220 (went with a different brand) so this might save you time. Ebay has them.
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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September 6th, 2012 08:00
thank you. i did read the Dell.com info, but didnt find it of much use.
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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September 6th, 2012 08:00
@hardly. i popped the battery out, reinserted and then plugged it in again but got nothing. thanks for the info on the green light. i ordered another power supply for $35. sad thing is when i got this back in june of 09, they replaced the mother board and power supply and it broke down again and i just told them i wanted a brand new system. worked fine for 3 years but now power supply went out again. ironically i am typing this on a 10+ year old Dell optiplex! =) ying and yang. thanks everyone for your help!
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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September 8th, 2012 11:00
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. replaced the power supply but i am still not getting any color light on the front power button. i press it but nothing happens. no fans no nothing. does anybody have any other suggestions?
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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September 8th, 2012 12:00
any chance it might be the Dell Vostro 220s Front Control I/O Panel & Cable K302H? do these panels ever fail? they are only $5 so i ordered one and will swap it out. hopefully this is the problem and i can return the new power supply.
ChicagoLonghorn
6 Posts
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January 16th, 2013 13:00
i did find a solution and it was pretty cheap. i replaced the power supply. i would suggest you NOT get the dell replacement part and go with a 3rd party solution. i had 2 issues with the dell power supplies but have not had any issues with my new power supply. also make sure you properly reseat all connections after you replace the power supply.
stevezz1
2 Posts
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January 16th, 2013 13:00
chicagolonghorn, I'm seeing the same issue with my Dell Vostro. Just wondering if you ever found a solution, and what steps you've taken so far to try and fix it.
FatrCat
8 Posts
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January 16th, 2013 20:00
Chicago, Same as Kelly here, after taking the long way around. First time was under warranty and Dell replaced both the motherboard and power supply. Then almost a year to the day later, same thing. This time I replaced the power supply. The third time it died we stuck it on a shelf because Dell had no answer on the matter. A few months ago I happened to recall seeing a post here that mentioned replacing the battery had worked, so I pulled it out of storage, popped in a new battery, and it came back to life, no problems. I've since learned that this issue appears to be related to problems with the machine coming out of hibernation, so I've disabled that function and we've had no more trouble (so far).
KellyMcGraw
4 Posts
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January 16th, 2013 20:00
What worked for me was to replace the battery on the mother board.. cost 4 dollars at radio shack. Boots like a charm every time now.
stevezz1
2 Posts
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January 17th, 2013 06:00
KellyMcGraw & FatrCat, First of all thanks for your input. Before you replaced the battery to solve your problem, were you seeing the green light illuminate on the back of the chassis by the power supply, and was the light on the front of the case off? Replacing the battery is certainly easy enough to test first, however.