Dimension 5150, power button physically broken

Question

There is a seemingly simple to fix problem with a Dimension 5150. The complaint was that the PC would not boot, however I was able to boot it by shorting two of the pins on the motherboard that a cable running from the front panel connects to. I found that the real problem was that the power button itself was faulty. It does not make a clicking sound when I press it like other Dimension 5150s, and feels loose compared to other PCs. I feel this is causing it not to trigger a signal that tells the computer to boot up. Is this a simple fix or is the button not designed to be replaced?

JOcean · Answer

I believe that is the front I/O panel and yes it can be replaced. Call Dell parts and give them your service tag number and they should be able to supply the part number and price.

https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_dimension_desktops/dimension-5150x_service%20manual_en-us.pdf

The phone number to spare parts is 1-800-372-3355

Mary G · Answer

Because this is a 13 year old model, your best bet is to search for used parts.

Here's an old fix--See if you can set the bios to turn on the computer automatically after a power interruption. Then you would use a power strip with an on/off button. I remember doing that on my first computer--a used IBM 8088 that had a missing power button. Not ideal, but it worked.:Wink:

speedstep · Answer

The system is soo old that it does not make sense to spend money fixing it.

You can get a newer system WITH WINDOWS 10 for less than the cost of windows license.

https://www.lambroinc.com/desktops?lightbox=dataItem-jtfsw8uq

Inspiron Desktops

Dimension 5150, power button physically broken

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