Steady amber light

Question

I moved the dimension 4600 downstairs and powered up before plugging mouse keyboard etc in, to check it. It powered up fine. I saw that it was quite dusty inside so I took a vaccumn to it. Plugged everything in, and when I powered up, I get a steady amber power light.
Did I knock something loose??

Tried to reseat everything, on the back of the cd rom drive there is a plug with two small wires, black and white, and the other end is loose, I can't see where that would go.

When I uplug the power cord from the back of the hard drive and try to power up, I get a steady amber light, and also a green light on the hard drive. And then when I also unplugged the serial cable to the hard drive, the steady green light goes out.
Plugged both back into the hard drive and only steady amber light comes on. I think that I can hear the hard drive trying to spin when I get close to it.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
David

drutzen · Answer

also, the cd rom does work, it opens and closes

shesagordie · Answer

drutzen.

.The solid amber LED of the power switch, would indicate the motherboard is not receiving all the correct voltages from the PSU, check all the cables by unplugging and reseating them, if this fails to correct the problem, then the power supply appears to have failed and should be replaced.

The D4600 uses a standard ATX PSU, this can be purchased from any computer store, buy a good brand like Enermax, Antec,Fortron or Sparkle.

A Hint, never,never, use a vacuum cleaner to clean the inside of a computer, use a can of compressed air.

Bev.

Message Edited by shesagordie on 06-19-2005 11:36 PM

danjane · Answer

I agree try reseating all the cables to the motherboard. Im sorry to say that you might have fried the motherboard with the vacuum. Moving large volumes of air threw a hose creates a static charge that can do alot of damage.

danjane · Answer

I agree try reseating all the cables to the motherboard. Im sorry to say that you might have fried the motherboard with the vacuum. Moving large volumes of air threw a hose creates a static charge that can do alot of damage.

Good luck

Sorry for double post, hit wrong button

Message Edited by danjane on 06-20-2005 09:01 PM

shesagordie · Answer

drutzen. What is the sequence of the diagnostic LEDs at the back of the case? <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell> How to check the PSU. You could strip the system down to nothing, except the power supply, motherboard, CPU, control panel,  and 12V power connectors and if the power button LED is still blinking orange, then the power supply needs to be replaced. Checking for motherboard failureRemove all the PCI cards, the video card and memory, disconnect the IDE cables & FD cable and check that the front panel cable is connected to motherboard, with nothing else connected to the case, except the power cable and then power the system on. If you do not get any beep codes or no LEDs in the back, then it would appear that motherboard has died.Bev

snapohead · Answer

If you have a straight amber light, its most likely a MB. Although, it could potentially be a faulty PSU or a CPU that isn't seated correctly or faulty. Flashing amber generally indicates a faulty PSU. In your case, i'd say you have a dead MB.

drutzen · Answer

Thanks all, I really appreciate it and will try to strip down and power up.
I did spend some time on the chat with a Dell person, and they came to the conclusion of motherboard, but I have heard it may be power supply by others and not the motherboard.
This D4600 does not have the 4 led's on the back.
It does have a small led on the motherboard that is green when I try to power up.
They had me unplug and reseat everything, but they didn't have me try to power up before reseating.
I will report back and hope this thread helps others.
Thanks again all.
David

drutzen · Answer

Stripped it down with just motherboard and tried to power on, just getting steady amber light again, so I guess it is the motherboard.
If I could impose a bit further, It looks pretty easy to change, with maybe the exception of the heat sink and cpu, can anyone point me to a website that gives step by step for changing cpu part, or tell me what to watch out for. such as reinstalling heat sink.

Also one other item, the ide cables from MB to CD and HD, there are two connectors on each, which is the main connector to the components and which is the slave?, I forgot to look when I unplugged. OOOPs

THanks again, you guys are great.
David

drutzen · Answer

found the dell documentation for heat sink and cpu, Dell sure is trying to make it easier rather than giving you no information so you have to send in the computer to let them work on it.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/parts.htm#1138838
Documentation

snapohead · Answer

If you have found the docs, i won't point you in the direction of them. The connector on the end of the cable is the one you'd want to plug in. Although, the drives should be set to cable select so it shouldn't matter which connector you attach to the drives.

shesagordie · Answer

drutzen. Check this out. <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell> The middle connector of the cable is the 'Slave', the end connector is the 'Master'. Bev.

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Steady amber light

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