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Diagnostic and Battery Indicators for Dell Latitude Laptops and Tablets

Summary: This article provides Diagnostic and Battery Indicator information for Dell Latitude Notebooks and Tablets

Article Content

Symptoms

This article provides information about the Diagnostic LED codes for Dell laptops and tablets. Find information about common troubleshooting steps, helpful links to battery, ac adapter and other troubleshooting guides to resolve battery and ac adapter related issues.

Dell laptops have different types of built-in visual (LED) and audible (beep code) diagnostic indicators to help detect the symptoms of failed hardware components. Most of these symptoms are related to a failure to power on, complete power on self-test (POST), video display issue, or an issue with booting into the operating system. To learn more about how to troubleshoot such issues, see the Dell knowledge base article Resolve No Power, No Post, No Boot or No Video.

Choose a section below that relates to your system model to view the information within.

SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: Some laptops use a sequence of audible beep codes to indicate a possible hardware component failure. See the Beep Codes table in the Dell Latitude section below for more information about how to use these codes to troubleshoot your system.
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SLN155342_en_US__21372679222190.led
Figure 2: Battery Status:

Power or battery light - Turns white or amber to indicate the power status and remaining battery charge. See the tables below.

LED Light Description
1
Power Light
2
Hard drive light
3
Battery status light
4
Wi-Fi light
 
Battery light state
Battery State LED Behavior Next Steps

An unsupported or non-Dell AC adapter is attached to your laptop.

Alternately blinking amber light and white light
  1. Disconnect and reconnect the ac adapter.
  2. Try with a known-good ac adapter. If a known-good ac adapter is working, contact Dell Technical Support for ac adapter replacement options.

Temporary battery failure with AC adapter present

Alternately blinking amber light with steady white light
  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Disconnect the ac adapter.
  3. Reseat the battery. For laptops with non-removable battery, proceed to the next step.
  4. Try with a known-good battery from another similar Dell laptop (if available). If the known-good battery works, contact Dell Technical Support for battery replacement options.
  5. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues to troubleshoot the battery issue.
For more info on battery warranty support, see the Dell knowledge base article Dell Laptop Battery Warranty Support.

Fatal battery failure with AC adapter present

Constantly blinking amber light
  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Disconnect the ac adapter.
  3. Reseat the battery. For laptops with non-removable battery, proceed to the next step.
  4. Try with a known-good battery from another similar Dell laptop (if available). If the known-good battery works, contact Dell Technical Support for battery replacement options.
  5. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues to troubleshoot the battery issue.
For more info on battery warranty support, see the Dell knowledge base article Dell Laptop Battery Warranty Support.

Battery in full charge mode with AC adapter present

Light off

 No further actions are required.

Battery in charge mode with AC adapter present

White light on

 No further actions are required.

 

SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: To learn more about laptop battery troubleshooting, see the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues.

If the laptop is connected to an electrical outlet, the power or battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

Power State Charging status LED Behavior

On

Any (0-100%)

Solid white

Standby

Any (0-100%)

Breathe white (slow increase and decrease in illumination).

Off, hibernate

>90% charge

Off

Off, hibernate

= 90% charge

Solid white
 

If the laptop is running on battery power, the power or battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

Power State Remaining battery power LED Behavior

On

= 10% charge

Solid white

On

<10% charge

Solid amber

Standby

= 10% charge

Breathe white (slow increase and decrease in illumination).

Standby

<10% charge

Solid amber

Off, hibernate

Any (0-100%)

Off
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

Back

Shipping:

The three LED indicator lights are located near the front right-side of the system, as shown below:

SLN155342_en_US__5LED E7
Figure 2: Diagnostic LED

The battery LEDs on these laptops blink in an amber or white pattern to indicate hardware component failures. Use the table below to determine what each LED flash sequence means.

SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: The first number in the LED Flash Sequence column represents the number of amber-colored flashes, while the second number represents the number of white-colored flashes.
Example: No Memory or RAM detected is (2,3): The battery LED blinks two times in amber, then three times in white.
The battery LED will stop blinking for 1.5 seconds between the amber and white flashes, and the sequence will repeat after a 3 second pause.

The following table depicts the amber and white blinking patterns with possible troubleshooting resolution:

LED Flash Sequence Fault Description Fault(s)
2,1 CPU Possible CPU Failure
2,2 Motherboard BIOS Motherboard (Includes BIOS Corruption or ROM Error)
2,3 Memory No memory or RAM detected
2,4 Memory Memory or RAM failure
2,5 Memory Invalid Memory Installed
2,6 Motherboard Chipset Motherboard or Chipset Error
2,7 LCD LCD Failure
3,1 RTC Power Failure CMOS Battery Failure
3,2 PCI or Video PCI or Video Card or Chip Failure
3,3 BIOS Recovery 1 Recovery Image Not Found
3,4 BIOS Recovery 2 Recovery Image Found But Invalid
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: If the error code is not listed above, contact Dell Technical Support. To learn more about Dell ePSA diagnostics, see the Dell knowledge base article Resolve Hardware Issues using ePSA Diagnostics.
Back

Legacy:

SLN155342_en_US__21372679222190.led

LED Light Description
1
Power Light
2
Hard drive light
3
Battery status light
4
Wi-Fi light

The table below shows how to read the LED codes on a Dell laptop when a possible error occurs:

Storage LED
SLN155342_en_US__91366965981810.StorageLED
Battery LED
SLN155342_en_US__101366966021827.BattLED
Wireless LED
SLN155342_en_US__111366966049328.WirelessLED
Fault Description Next Steps
Blinking
Solid
Solid
A possible processor failure has occurred. Contact Dell Support
Solid
Blinking
Solid
The memory modules are detected but has encountered an error. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Blinking
Blinking
A system board failure has occurred. Contact Dell Support
Blinking
Blinking
Solid
A possible graphics card or video failure has occurred. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Display or Video Issues on Dell Laptop LCD Panel.
Blinking
Blinking
Off
The system failed during hard drive initialization or Option ROM initialization. See the Dell knowledge base article How to resolve HDD (Hard drive) issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Off
Blinking
The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization. Check ports for damage and remove any USB devices.
See the Dell knowledge base article Troubleshooting Ports on a Dell Computer.
Solid
Blinking
Blinking
No memory modules are installed or detected. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Solid
Blinking
The LCD encountered a problem during initialization. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Display or Video Issues on Dell Laptop LCD Panel.
Off
Blinking
Blinking
The modem is preventing the system from completing POST. Try reseating or removing any Modem cards.
Off
Blinking
Off
The memory failed to initialize, or it is unsupported. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

Battery Status

If the computer is connected to an ac adapter, the battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

  • Solid Green - The battery is charging.
  • Flashing Green - The battery is almost fully charged.

If the computer is running on battery power, the battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

  • Off - The battery is adequately charged (or the computer is turned off)
  • Flashing orange - The battery charge is low.
  • Solid orange - The battery charge is critically low.
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

LED Error Codes

The following table shows the possible LED codes that may display in a no-POST situation:

Flash Code Description Next Step
SLN155342_en_US__141366966117019.D1 The microcontroller is handing control of the system to the processor. This code persists if no processor is detected.
  1. Reseat the processor.
  2. Replace the system board.
  3. Replace the processor.
SLN155342_en_US__151366966165505.D2 The memory has encountered an error.
  1. Reseat the memory module(s).
  2. Replace the memory module(s).
  3. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__161366966202304.D3 A system board component is faulty. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__171366966228164.D4 The video card is preventing the system from completing POST.
  1. Replace the video card.
  2. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__181366966275542.D5 The keyboard is preventing the system from completing POST.
  1. Reseat the keyboard cable.
  2. Replace the keyboard.
  3. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__191366966307652.D6 The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization.
  1. Remove any USB devices.
  2. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__201366966334560.D7 No SODIMMs are installed.
  1. Install the memory module(s).
  2. Reseat the memory module(s).
  3. Replace the memory module(s).
  4. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__211366966369858.D8 The LCD encountered a problem during initialization.
  1. Reseat the LCD cable.
  2. Replace the LCD panel.
  3. Replace the video card.
SLN155342_en_US__221366966398453.D9 The modem is preventing the system from completing POST.
  1. Reseat the modem.
  2. Replace the modem.
  3. Replace the system board.
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources If an error code is not listed above, contact Dell Technical Support.

Back

Beep Codes

The computer may emit a series of beeps during startup if the display cannot show errors or problems. These series of short, repetitive beeps, called beep codes, identify various system faults.

Beep Code Fault Description Suggested Remedy
1 BIOS ROM checksum in progress or failure System board failure (covers BIOS corruption or ROM error).
2 Memory No memory or RAM detected
3
  • Chipset Error (North and South bridge error, DMA/IMR/Timer error).
  • Time-Of-Day Clock test failure.
  • Gate A20 failure.
  • Super I/O chip failure.
  • Keyboard controller test failure.
 System board failure
4 RAM Read/Write failure. Memory or RAM failure.
5 Real-time clock power failure
  1. Reseat the CMOS battery connection.
  2. If the problem persists, this may indicate a possible CMOS battery or system board failure.
6 Video BIOS test failure. Video card or Chip failure.
7 CPU cache test failure. Processor failure.
8 LCD LCD failure.
Back

LED Error Codes

The Power Button LED, or an agreed-upon alternate LED, blinks in a repeating pattern to communicate diagnostic information. See the table below for these LED blinking codes and their corresponding errors.

SLN155342_en_US__1icon Example: For the No memory or RAM detected error, the Power Button LED blinks two times followed by a pause, and then repeats until the system is powered off.

SLN155342_en_US__251372680275326.Top_View

LED Code Fault Description Suggested Remedy
1 System Board: BIOS ROM failure. System board (covers BIOS corruption or ROM error).
2 Memory No memory or RAM detected.
3
  • System board failure.
  • Chipset Error.
  • Clock failure.
  • Gate A20 failure.
  • Super I/O failure.
  • keyboard controller failure.
 System board failure.
4 Memory Memory or RAM failure.
5 Real-time clock failure.
  1. Reseat the CMOS battery connection.
  2. If the problem persists, this may indicate possible battery or system board failure.
6 Video BIOS Video card or Chip failure.
7 CPU Processor failure.
8 LCD LCD failure.
SLN155342_en_US__1icon Note:
What to do next? - If the LED codes point towards possible battery failure, see the Dell knowledge base articles. If an error code is not listed above, please contact Dell Technical Support.

Article Properties

Affected Product

Latitude 10e ST2E, Latitude 10, Latitude 100L, Latitude 3180, Latitude 3189, Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Latitude 3190, Latitude 110L, Latitude 5280/5288, Latitude 5285 2-in-1, Latitude 5289 2-in-1, Latitude 5290 2-in-1, Latitude 5290, Latitude 7200 2-in-1, Latitude 7210 2-in-1, Latitude 7214 Rugged Extreme, Latitude 7280, Latitude 7285 2-in-1, Latitude 7290, Latitude 120L, Latitude 13, Latitude 3300, Latitude 3301, Latitude 3310 2-in-1, Latitude 3310, Latitude 13 3379 2-in-1, Latitude 13 3380, Latitude 3390 2-in-1, Latitude 5300 2-in-1 Chromebook Enterprise, Latitude 5300 2-in-1, Latitude 5300, Latitude 5310 2-in-1, Latitude 5310, Latitude 5320, Latitude 7300, Latitude 7310, Latitude 7320, Latitude 7350 2-in-1, Latitude 7370, Latitude 7380, Latitude 7389 2-in-1, Latitude 7390 2-in-1, Latitude 7390, Latitude 131L, Latitude 3400, Latitude 3410, Dell Latitude 3480/3488, Latitude 3490, Latitude 5400 Chromebook Enterprise, Latitude 5400, Latitude 5401, Latitude 5410, Latitude 5411, Latitude 5414 Rugged, Latitude 5420 Rugged, Latitude 5424 Rugged, Latitude 5480/5488, Latitude 5490, Latitude 5491, Latitude 5495, Latitude 7400 2-in-1, Latitude 7400, Latitude 7410 Chromebook Enterprise, Latitude 7410, Latitude 7414 Rugged, Latitude 7420, Latitude 7424 Rugged Extreme, Latitude 7480, Latitude 7490, Latitude 9410, Latitude 3500, Latitude 3510, Dell Latitude 3580/3588, Latitude 3590, Latitude 5500, Latitude 5501, Latitude 5510, Latitude 5511, Latitude 5520, Latitude 5580, Latitude 5590, Latitude 5591, Latitude 7520, Latitude 9510, Latitude 2100, Latitude 2110, Latitude 2120, Latitude 3150, Latitude 3160, Latitude 3330, Latitude 3340, Latitude 3350, Latitude 3440, Latitude 3450, Latitude 3460, Latitude 3470, Latitude 3540, Latitude 3550, Latitude 3560, Latitude 3570, Latitude 5175 2-in-1, Latitude 5179 2-in-1, Latitude 5404 Rugged, Latitude 5420, Latitude 6430u, Latitude 7204 Rugged, Latitude 7275, Latitude 7404 Rugged, Latitude C400, Latitude C500, Latitude C510, Latitude C540, Latitude C600, Latitude C610, Latitude C640, Latitude C800, Latitude C810, Latitude C840, C/Dock Expansion Station, C/Dock II Expansion Station, Latitude CP, Latitude Cpi, Latitude CPi A, Latitude CPi R, C/Port APR, C/Port II APR, Latitude CPt, Latitude CPt S, Latitude CPt V, Latitude CPx H, Latitude CPx J, Latitude CS R, Latitude CSx H, Latitude D400, Latitude D410, Latitude D420, Latitude D430, Latitude D500, Latitude D505, Latitude D510, Latitude D520, Latitude D530, Latitude D531, Latitude D600, Latitude D610, Latitude D620, Latitude D620 ATG, Latitude D630, Latitude D630 ATG, Latitude D630 XFR, Latitude D630C, Latitude D631, Latitude D800, Latitude D810, Latitude D820, Latitude D830, Latitude E4200, Latitude E4300, Latitude E4310, Latitude E5250/5250, Latitude E5270, Latitude E5400, Latitude E5410, Latitude E5420, Latitude E5420M, Latitude E5430, Latitude E5440, Latitude E5450/5450, Latitude E5470, Latitude E5500, Latitude E5510, Latitude E5520, Latitude E5520M, Latitude E5530, Latitude E5540, Latitude E5550/5550, Latitude E5570, Latitude E6220, Latitude E6230, Latitude E6320, Latitude E6330, Latitude E6400, Latitude E6400 ATG, Latitude E6400 XFR, Latitude E6410, Latitude E6410 ATG, Latitude E6420, Latitude E6420 ATG, Latitude E6420 XFR, Latitude E6430, Latitude E6430 ATG, Latitude E6430s, Latitude E6440, Latitude E6500, Latitude E6510, Latitude E6520, Latitude E6530, Latitude E6540, Latitude E7240 Ultrabook, Latitude E7250/7250, Latitude E7270, Latitude E7440, Latitude E7450, Latitude E7470, Latitude L400, Latitude LM, Latitude LS, Latitude LT, Latitude LX 4 D, Latitude LX 4 DT, Latitude LX 4100D T, Latitude MMC, Latitude ST, Latitude SX 4, Latitude V700, Latitude V710, Latitude V740, Latitude X1, Latitude X200, Latitude X300, Latitude XP4, Latitude Xpi, Latitude Xpi CD, Latitude Xpi CD MMX, Latitude XT, Latitude XT2, Latitude XT2 XFR, Latitude XT3, Latitude Z, Latitude E7270 mobile thin client, Latitude 3460 mobile thin client, Latitude 3480 mobile thin client, Latitude 5280 mobile thin client

Last Published Date

05 Dec 2020

Version

3

Article Type

Solution

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