Skip to main content

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

mambeton

2 Posts

12566

February 20th, 2007 14:00

PC won't start up (Solid Amber Power Light)

I've got a Dell Dimension 3100, yesterday when i went to turn it on the power light that usually turns green, stayed amber/orange (solid not blinking) and the pc wouldn't boot up. The monitor doesn't show anything, but the diagnostic lights on the front of the pc are all green. So i tried to search a bit about the problem, solutions included the motherboard broken or the power cable not working properly. I used my mate's dell power cable and the same amber light and start up problems. So i opened up the case and made sure the power was connected to the motherboard, i think it was because the fan is working. i can also open the cd drive. So is it the motherboard, or could it be anything else? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!   

Majestic

2 Intern

 • 

9.4K Posts

February 20th, 2007 14:00

The solid amber light is an indication that the system is waiting to boot up, but a faulty device is preventing it.  Try a little trial & error of removing devices until you find the source.  I've listed below some suggestions which you may or may not have tried already ....
 
Try clearing the NVRAM (CMOS) to see if it resolves the boot problem.  Possibly the information stored in the NVRAM (CMOS) became corrupted which is not uncommon.  Normally you would clear the NVRAM (CMOS) by entering the BIOS Setup, but it would appear that you can not do so.  The alternative would be to remove the battery from the motherboard to clear the NVRAM (CMOS).  With the machine unplugged from the wall remove the battery from the motherboard.  Then with the machine still unplugged press the On button for 30 seconds to dissipate any remaining electrical charge on the motherboard.  Then re-install the battery, plug the machine back into the wall and see if it will boot normally.

If the machine still fails to boot then strip the motherboard down to the bare minimum.  By bare minimum I mean remove all expansion cards, disconnect all drives and leave just the processor, memory and graphics card in the machine after reseating them.  If the computer boots this way then start connecting each device one at a time until the no boot scenario returns.  This would then indicate which device has failed and is causing the problem.  Also try booting the system without the keyboard, mouse or any other device plugged into the rear of the system.  A faulty USB device has been known to cause problems. If you have more than one memory module (pair with RDRAM) installed then try booting with only one and then swap them around and try again. If you only have one memory module (pair with RDRAM) then try booting without any memory modules installed. Also try swapping the graphics card for another one.  If this procedure doesn't resolve the problem then you maybe looking at a situation where the motherboard or processor has failed.

Was this post helpful?

View All

No Events found!

Top