Yet another E510 with blinking amber light

 fIf anyone can tell me how to turn off my email subscription for this thread, I will be eternally grateful!!

 I have clicked on the link at the bottom of the emails I receive, which is supposed to take me somplace where I will be able to disable the email subscription.

However, it just takes me to the thread, and I cannot figure our how to disable my email subscription.  There has go to be a way, but Dell is hiding it!

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19245433/19520444.aspx#19520444

Try this link

Well you can add me to this ongoing list of E510 blinking amber lights! And after 2 hours on the phone with Dell, I'm no better off. Can you believe they even tried selling me another computer......how about fixing the one I have now which is just over 3 years old. Apparently age has nothing to do with it, but a tech support manager did mention, for those who are still under warranty, they start by replacing the power supply, then the motherboard, then the (??something) panel. Not sure how this is supposed to help me since I'm no longer under warranty.

Oh, and I even asked him about their tracking for this sort of problem since it seems to be many and maybe it's some sort of defective part, and he said this is common in any and all computers even at the "competition". I thought it was kinda wierd that the only blinking light threads I ran across were all on the E510, but what do I know about technical support?!

I guess I shouldn't be suprised that I got transferred to 3 different people just trying to get a customer service contact. It was almost 4, bless the last girl's heart for not passing me off, but rather putting me on hold and coming back with this link: us_dhs_sp_sales@dell.com. I haven't tried it yet, but I do know I couldn't get anywhere with the customer_advocate one.

Recently I’m having the same blinking amber light problem of my Dimension 5150. The power supply is CX305N-00, with Rev-A00. I’m in Northern Virginia. The weather is not as cold as MN. But I took a Dell user’s (who is in MN) recommendation using a hair dryer to blow the hot air to the power supply and it worked fine. I believe the root of the problem is the power supply (305W) doesn’t provide enough juice to operate all components in the PC. Since the PC is no longer under warranty, without replacing the motherboard, I plan to replace the power supply at my own cost with a high wattage power supply.

Can you give me the technical specification of the ATX power supply (450W) you purchased via TigerDirect.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

John

Yet another E510 with this problem: my daughter's computer that's been lightly used has this problem intermittenly.  Dell should be ashamed for not taking action on such a wide-spread common problem of quality on the E510/5150 line.

I guess we'll try a new power supply with a little more juice.  This Antec from Newegg.com seems to meet all the specs and is 430W:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371023   I just received it, but haven't installed it yet. 

Basically, you just need an ATX power supply with 20+4 pin main connectors and at least 2 SATA connectors. 

My start issue is finally solved. I tested the memory using memtest86, Dell diagnostics, and the Microsoft diagnostic program. The tests were extensive and I let them run overnight on several occassions. No errors were reported. I have 4 512MB sticks, two from Dell and two I purchased from Corsair. Individually each module by itself would start the machine successfully. But all 4 would eventually cause the blinking amber. The diagnostic lights would report either 3 and 4 or 1 and 3, both memory issues. So I put in just the two original Dell sticks and the computer booted up and operated  no problem. I could turn the computer off and on, it would come out of standby, etc. So then I put in just the Corsair sticks, and bam, error lights, buzzing and no boot up. I have had these Corsair sticks since April 2006 and had no problems until the last few months.

I know that different people have had different solutions to the blinking amber/no boot problem, but I thought I would add this, as it was difficult to detect.

Good Luck to anyone experiencing this issue!

One user replaced the CMOS battery and it fixed his issue.

Ok, so i hate to say that I have the same problem, but I do. And the bottom line is, why is this happening is it becasue DELL did not take in consideration to test such product? or is this a skeem to make an extra buck?, while the clinets have to undergo spending more money in these tough economic times. Another speculation is that DELL should cover this problem, since the client had nothing to do with it. And its very clear that the problem is a manufacturing problem, not having to do with us the clinets. And yet Im very dissapointed in a compay like DELL, who is well know for its ingenious products. That is why I bought a Dimension E510. But now, Im looking to reconsider ever doing business with dell. Of course they dont care about the customer, they care more about the income they gain.

Ok just last question: How much are THESE so called parts that have to be replace (and possibly it wont work at all) up for? 

Replace the $5 CMOS battery and see if it fixes the issue.

so i did that already and nothing happend, this is why HP computors are doing much better, so what the next step...take in mind that i already spent $6 dollar..

Same deal with my E510.  I've tried every single "quick fix" out there.  Most of them work once or twice, and then I have to move on to something else.

About 2 months ago I noticed that the comp would boot up EVERY TIME if I unplugged the HDD first, and then powered up (quickly plugging the HDD back in before startup progressed).

This worked perfectly for a while, but eventually, like every other quick fix for this horrid problem, it stopped working, and I can't boot up at all now.

Question:  Does the fact that unplugging the HDD WORKED for so long prove anything diagnostically?  For instance, does it provethat it is my PSU that is not working correctly?  Or that it's the motherboard?

Thing is, I don't want to blow $50-$100 just to find out my motherboard is shot, because there's no way I'm throwing good money after bad to fix this heap.  However, if this HDD issue means I just need a new PSU, I'm sure as heck going to run out and replace it.  But I'd rather not waste the money if it's not the PSU.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

:emotion-2:UPDATE 1-2010 !!!

ITS BEEN A TOUGH FIGHT BUT I HAVE WON THE BATTLE ! AFTER REPLACING THE POWER SUPPLY AND THEN THE MOTHERBOARD (FROM DELL) I STILL HAD THE PROBLEM.  KNOWING ITS NOT THE SWITCH BECAUSE IT WORKS TO TURN OFF THE COMPUTER ( WAS USING THE "KLUDGE" TO START THE ATX POWER SUPPLY AS MENTIONED IN MY LAST POST ( PIN 16 TO GROUND THROUGH A 1K RESISTOR ) I HAD TO GO BACK TO THE POWER SUPPLY.  ORIGINALLY THINKING THAT " JUMP STARTING THE SUPPLY "  WHICH ALLOWED THE E510 TO WORK , AND REPLACING THE SUPPLY FIRST WITH A "E510 COMPATIBLE SUPPLY” THAT IS BEING ADVERTISED ON THE INTERNET AS A DIRECT REPLACEMENT, RULED OUT A BAD POWER SUPPLY !!  WRONG !!   IF YOU REALLY WANT TO TEST THE POWER SUPPLY , IT MUST BE LOADED DOWN, CHECK BOTH THE DC AND AC RIPPLE , AND MOST IMPORTANTLY CHECK TO MAKE SURE THE POWER SUPPLY OK ( PIN 8) GOES HIGH WITHIN 100 ms. THE REPLACEMENT SUPPLY ( NOT FROM DELL) WAS EITHER DEFECTIVE OR DIDN’T MEET THE ATX SPECIFICATION BECAUSE IT CAUSED THE SAME FAULT ( BLINKING YELLOW LIGHT , BUT COULD BE JUMP STARTED AS WELL ).

AFTER INSTALLING THE "REFURBISHED" MOTHERBOARD FROM DELL, AND STILL HAD THE BLINKING LIGHT , I COULD NO LONGER WAIT TO ORDER A POWER SUPPLY DIRECTLY FROM DELL.  SO, OFF TO BESTBUY I WENT.  I HAVE READ THAT THE E510 POWER SUPPLY IS UNIQUE, I FOUND A GREAT POWER SUPPLY IN STOCK , IT FITS PERFECTLY , IS 500w / 600w PEAK , IS VERY QUIET AND HAS A GREAT CABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS YOU TO JUST INSTALL THE POWER CONNECTORS THAT ARE NEEDED.  MODEL NUMBER RF-500PS2 $79.  85% EFFICIENT, ACTIVE PFC (PF>.99), INTEL AND AMD DUAL/MULTI CORE CERTIFIED , WITH EXTREMELY SILENT INTELLIGENT FAN TECHNOLOGY.  THERE ARE SOME ATX POWER SUPPLYS OUT THERE THAT ARE CHEAPER , BUT DON’T HAVE THE +12v 4 PIN PROCESSOR CONNECTORS , OR THE GREAT SPECS OF THIS POWER SUPPLY.  MY E510 IS LOADED WITH A 3GHZ DUAL CORE PROCESS LOTS OF MEMORY AND PERIPHERALS SO THE 305W OEM POWER SUPPLY WAS BEING TASKED !

GOOD LUCK, WITH THE LESSONS LEARNED, GO FOR THE POWER SUPPLY REPLACEMENT IF YOU CAN BOOT THE E510 USING PIN 16 (PS_ON) AND YOU HAVE THE BLINKING YELLOW LIGHT . MAKE SURE ITS A GOOD RELIABLE POWER SUPPLY AND SAVE YOURSELF A LOT OF FRUSTRATION AND WASTED TIME !!

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I too have a Dell Dimension E510 with the same blinking light when the power supply is plugged in. My original diagnosis was that the PSU was faulty but I went further and checked all the blogs for background on this problem. This is what I found.

We had a couple of cool days here in Florida and this seems to have been the event that triggered the failure, other I understand have seen it triggered by power outages.

When the PC is plugged into the power supply there is a flashing led coming from the power on/off button on the front of the tower. The PC will not turn on and will not attempt its ‘post’. No other LED’s are lit which might have assisted with diagnosis.  After reading the very useful information provided by other unhappy customers I did a thorough check of the 5 plus 2 USB ports on the back and front of the chassis. There were no issues visible there. I checked for shorts using a voltmeter and this verified that the USB’s in my chassis were not at fault.  I did a thorough visual inspection of the capacitors both inside if the PSU and on the mother board I checked the mother board for any signs of burn-out or corrosions as advised by other all over.

Now my problem is reproducible 100% of the time. When I plug the power supply into the tower and before I hit any switches I get the ‘blinking amber light’. This next part is specific - If I disconnect all the USB devices, the Kbrd, mouse and printer and wait approximately 3-5 minutes the error condition disappears.  I can then boot this PC without any further problems. I can even shutdown or turn off the unit without issue. From this point onward the system doesn’t seem to mind that the USB devices are connected. If the power is interrupted, long enough for the internal charge to dissipate, indicated by the flashing green LED on the motherboard being allowed to extinguish. Then I get a return of the ‘blinking amber light’. I can clear it using any of several methods including resetting the BIOS using the jumpers, Pulling the CR3230 battery on the motherboard or as indicated previously disconnecting all the USB devices and letting the ‘fault’ clear itself. The latter method seems to always work after approximately 3-5 minutes it also is the least risky.

The Dell advised solution here is to replace the power supply. I went ahead and ordered a new PSU and installed it and the problem persisted same flashing LED. Dells next recommendation is to replace the motherboard; there seems to be some uncertainty in the ‘blogosphere’ whether it’s best to do these ‘fixes’ simultaneously. I wasn’t happy with this since I had already paid out for a PSU. I took both PSU’s and using the jumper override (AKA paperclip method) that I had seen elsewhere I pinned out the voltages and surprise, surprise both PSU’s perform within the accepted standard.

I recently did come work on a H-P PC and still had it to hand I removed the PSU from that machine and inserted it temporarily into the Dell. It worked 1st time without any of the failures described above. I took the 2 other PSU that I now had and connected them up to the H-P and they also worked perfectly.

I believe that Dell’s issue is as follows; anyone who has worked with components for some time knows that no 2 components are identical; instead they operate within ‘acceptable tolerances’. This is true for the simplest to the largest component.  My opinion is that the design of the E510 and the 5150 are such that they can fail even although the individual components are operating within industry accepted tolerances. This is manifesting itself in the fact that Dell is shipping replacement PSU and the problems persist. The whole replace the PSU and Motherboard at the same time is purely an attempt to circumvent the problem without properly understanding it, I guess it doesn’t hurt the pocket either. (unless you are the customer out of warranty) The flaw is this method is that many replacement parts are then reconditioned and shipped back out to other customers. When these units are verified by Dell’s quality dept they are not showing as faulty and are then returned to service. Hence it is pot-luck as to whether changing the PSU, the motherboard or even both will even fix the issue.

The 2nd part of this problem is the understanding of PRE and POST boot processes. Instead of either running specific test to identify areas where problems might exist prior to boot OR upon encountering an error condition running targeted test to narrow the identification of the fault. It appears that these machines are using a one bucket fits all approach. What we are seeing here is far to many faults being reported as ‘power related’ when more logically they should be identified as power problems in the SATA, USB or some other subsystems. It’s usually a simple thing to incorporate into the manufacture with minimum cost and correct diagnosis provides comfort to the consumer.

To the best of my research Dell haven’t yet announced that they have fixed this issue within REV xx on the PSU or REV yyy on the motherboard. I really don’t believe that Dell ever will (because faulty gas pedals don’t affect the customer will to buy – right?).

I, myself to circumvent my current problem have just now placed an order for another PSU having returned the 1st, hopefully by picking one with a higher build quality I can extricate myself from any further ‘blinking amber lights’.

I too have a Dell Dimension E510 with the same blinking light when the power supply is plugged in. My original diagnosis was that the PSU was faulty but I went further and checked all the blogs for background on this problem. This is what I found.

We had a couple of cool days here in Florida and this seems to have been the event that triggered the failure, other I understand have seen it triggered by power outages.

When the PC is plugged into the power supply there is a flashing led coming from the power on/off button on the front of the tower. The PC will not turn on and will not attempt its 'post'. No other LED's are lit which might have assisted with diagnosis.  After reading the very useful information provided by other unhappy customers I did a thorough check of the 5 plus 2 USB ports on the back and front of the chassis. There were no issues visible there. I checked for shorts using a voltmeter and this verified that the USB's in my chassis were not at fault.  I did a thorough visual inspection of the capacitors both inside if the PSU and on the mother board I checked the mother board for any signs of burn-out or corrosions as advised by other all over.

Now my problem is reproducible 100% of the time. When I plug the power supply into the tower and before I hit any switches I get the 'blinking amber light'. This next part is specific - If I disconnect all the USB devices, the Kbrd, mouse and printer and wait approximately 3-5 minutes the error condition disappears.  I can then boot this PC without any further problems. I can even shutdown or turn off the unit without issue. From this point onward the system doesn't seem to mind that the USB devices are connected. If the power is interrupted, long enough for the internal charge to dissipate, indicated by the flashing green LED on the motherboard being allowed to extinguish. Then I get a return of the 'blinking amber light'. I can clear it using any of several methods including resetting the BIOS using the jumpers, Pulling the CR3230 battery on the motherboard or as indicated previously disconnecting all the USB devices and letting the 'fault' clear itself. The latter method seems to always work after approximately 3-5 minutes it also is the least risky.

The Dell advised solution here is to replace the power supply. I went ahead and ordered a new PSU and installed it and the problem persisted same flashing LED. Dells next recommendation is to replace the motherboard; there seems to be some uncertainty in the 'blogosphere' whether it's best to do these 'fixes' simultaneously. I wasn't happy with this since I had already paid out for a PSU. I took both PSU's and using the jumper override (AKA paperclip method) that I had seen elsewhere I pinned out the voltages and surprise, surprise both PSU's perform within the accepted standard.

I recently did come work on a H-P PC and still had it to hand I removed the PSU from that machine and inserted it temporarily into the Dell. It worked 1st time without any of the failures described above. I took the 2 other PSU that I now had and connected them up to the H-P and they also worked perfectly.

I believe that Dell's issue is as follows; anyone who has worked with components for some time knows that no 2 components are identical; instead they operate within 'acceptable tolerances'. This is true for the simplest to the largest component.  My opinion is that the design of the E510 and the 5150 are such that they can fail even although the individual components are operating within industry accepted tolerances. This is manifesting itself in the fact that Dell is shipping replacement PSU and the problems persist. The whole replace the PSU and Motherboard at the same time is purely an attempt to circumvent the problem without properly understanding it, I guess it doesn't hurt the pocket either. (unless you are the customer out of warranty) The flaw is this method is that many replacement parts are then reconditioned and shipped back out to other customers. When these units are verified by Dell's quality dept they are not showing as faulty and are then returned to service. Hence it is pot-luck as to whether changing the PSU, the motherboard or even both will even fix the issue.

The 2nd part of this problem is the understanding of PRE and POST boot processes. Instead of either running specific test to identify areas where problems might exist prior to boot OR upon encountering an error condition running targeted test to narrow the identification of the fault. It appears that these machines are using a one bucket fits all approach. What we are seeing here is far to many faults being reported as 'power related' when more logically they should be identified as power problems in the SATA, USB or some other subsystems. It's usually a simple thing to incorporate into the manufacture with minimum cost and correct diagnosis provides comfort to the consumer.

To the best of my research Dell haven't yet announced that they have fixed this issue within REV xx on the PSU or REV yyy on the motherboard. I really don't believe that Dell ever will (because faulty gas pedals don't affect the customer will to buy - right?).

I, myself to circumvent my current problem have just now placed an order for another PSU having returned the 1st, hopefully by picking one with a higher build quality I can extricate myself from any further 'blinking amber lights'.

Hello, just wondering, is your computer still running strong after switching the power supply? I am thinking about doing the same thing, buying that model from BestBuy.

I am having the same problem as most of the others on here, blinking light. I have replaced my I/O panel thinking that was the problem, still blinking. I have tried everything expect pulling the power supply and putting a meter to it. I really think the motherboard is fine so replacing the power supply is the next and cheapest option.

Thanks