Dell Latitude 3480 and 3580 - LED Functionality
Summary: This article describes the functionality and diagnostic capabilities of the LED lights on the Latitude 3480 and 3580 laptops.
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Symptoms
LED Codes
Number 1 - Power Button LED - Power status indicator
| LED Behavior | Power State |
| Solid White | On |
| Breathe White (slow pulse) | Standby |
| Off | Hibernate |
| Off | Soft Off |
| Off | No AC Power or Battery |
Cause
Number 2 - Front Battery LED - Battery power management indicator
| LED Behavior | Description |
| Solid White | An unauthenticated or unsupported non-Dell AC adapter or battery is attached to your laptop |
| Constantly blinking amber light | Battery below specified Low Battery level |
| Light off | Battery in full charge mode with AC adapter present |
| White light on | Battery in charge mode with AC adapter present |
Resolution
This platform relies on the Battery LED light blinking in an amber or white pattern to determine a failure as listed in the following table:
Note: The blinking patterns consist of two numbers (representing the First Group: Amber blinks, Second Group: White blinks).
First Group: The LED blinks 1 to 9 times followed by a brief pause with the LED off at an interval of 1.5 seconds. This is in Amber color.
Second Group: The LED blinks 1 to 9 times that would then be followed by a longer pause before the next cycle starts again at an interval of 1.5 seconds. This is in White color.
Example: No Memory detected (2,3). The battery LED blinks two times in Amber followed by a pause, and then blinks 3 times in White. The Battery LED will pause for 3 seconds before the next cycle repeats itself again.
First Group: The LED blinks 1 to 9 times followed by a brief pause with the LED off at an interval of 1.5 seconds. This is in Amber color.
Second Group: The LED blinks 1 to 9 times that would then be followed by a longer pause before the next cycle starts again at an interval of 1.5 seconds. This is in White color.
Example: No Memory detected (2,3). The battery LED blinks two times in Amber followed by a pause, and then blinks 3 times in White. The Battery LED will pause for 3 seconds before the next cycle repeats itself again.
| Amber/White Blinking Pattern | Problem Description | Suggested Resolution |
| 2.1 | CPU | CPU failure |
| 2.2 | Motherboard: BIOS ROM | Motherboard, covers BIOS corruption or ROM error |
| 2.3 | Memory | No memory/RAM detected |
| 2.4 | Memory | Memory/RAM failure |
| 2.5 | Memory | Invalid memory installed |
| 2.6 | Motherboard: Chipset | Motherboard or Chipset error |
| 2.7 | LCD | Replace the system board |
| 3.1 | RTC Power Failure | CMOS battery failure |
| 3.2 | PCI/Video | PCI or video card/chip failure |
| 3.3 | BIOS Recovery 1 | Recovery image not found |
| 3.4 | BIOS Recovery 2 | Recovery image found but invalid |
Affected Products
Dell Latitude 3480/3488, Dell Latitude 3580/3588Article Properties
Article Number: 000144516
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2024
Version: 6
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