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1 Rookie

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11 Posts

25206

April 9th, 2022 22:00

Dell Desktop not turning on with 2 and 3 light + an amber light

So a year ago I put my old computer away with 0 power and today I was going to give it to my son but it was flashing 2 and 3 lights and an amber light.

Does anyone know anything???

 

I saw it could be a corrupted bios but I cant even open the bios recovery zone. I also added some more ram and that probably didn't affect anything look ad this video

16495666085545504467208241498060.jpg

16495667294374627800424551506003.jpg

I took off the cover but that says 2 and 3

 

 

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 9th, 2022 22:00

I mean look at these pictures 

 

4 Operator

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4K Posts

April 10th, 2022 23:00

Solid orange light typically means bad MB, so it's possible it's the CPU.  Blinking orange would mean bad PSU.

As fun as it is to do everything at once, a good rule of thumb is to install one piece at a time and see if PC works.

Back off one piece at a time and see if that gets it working again.  I'd remove the GPU first simply because it's easier.  Still the same?  Try the previous CPU, and so on.

It would still help to know model and size of your Optiplex, what PSU was installed, what GPU was installed, as well as the CPU.

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 11th, 2022 10:00

Oh and it has a Intel core i3 ,6gb of ram and I don't know what gpu

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 11th, 2022 10:00

It is an optiplex 780

 

And the computers gpu is sotered in so I will try doing everything else now

 

7 Technologist

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9.2K Posts

April 12th, 2022 16:00

Solid amber on the MB means it has power.  When the power button has blinking or solid amber, then it's a problem.

From your photos it looks like you have the SFF model.

Optiplex 780 Documentation 

From the 780 Service Manual:

Capture+_2022-04-12-18-53-00.png

Optiplex 780 Tech Guide.pdf 

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 12th, 2022 17:00

Thank you so much I think my harddrive could me bad I have another I will try that thank you 

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 12th, 2022 17:00

Update there is only an amber flashing light on the power no beeping at all

7 Technologist

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9.2K Posts

April 12th, 2022 17:00

So a different error code, no 2 & 3 lights now?

Try replacing the size 2032 CMOS battery if it's 5+ years old.  In this forum, I've seen bad or confusing error codes with bad batteries.

As @AdrianG001 mentioned, blinking amber power light can mean bad PSU.

Dell BIST Test Video 

7 Technologist

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9.2K Posts

April 12th, 2022 18:00

With the PC off, if you get a green light when you push the PSU test button, then the peripherals are good.  No need to go thru BIST Test.  Forgot to mention sooner.

One option is to run diagnostics.  At startup, immediately and repeatedly press F12 for Boot and Diagnostics menu.  Arrow down to Diagnostics and run it.

First though, did you try the troubleshooting steps mentioned earlier in the thread?

7 Technologist

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9.2K Posts

April 12th, 2022 18:00

You mean the battery?  Ok.

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 12th, 2022 18:00

I tried doing that and nothing happened 

 

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 13th, 2022 19:00

The lights changed to 1 and 2 but I cant fix it

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 13th, 2022 20:00

So I removed the 2035 coin battery and removed all the components and in 24 hours or more I will put it back together to see if it works

7 Technologist

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9.2K Posts

April 16th, 2022 10:00

Amber power light not flashing indicative of bad MB or CPU

1 Rookie

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11 Posts

April 16th, 2022 10:00

So it's now just an amber light 

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