Desktops General - Read Only

[Camrocks]

I bought a dell XPS 8500 roughly 7 months ago. After being away for a week, I return home and power on my computer. It works fine for roughly 15-20 minutes. Afterwards my keyboard and mouse start flickering their lights (both USB powered) and being unresponsive. All internal fans started running on high speed. Without any way to power it down normally, I held the power button to force it off. When I tried to power it back up, the top power button has no light, and is unresponsive. The back power light is green, but every 5 seconds or so will flick off and you'll hear the computer try to start (like when you first plug in a power cord. Just every 5 seconds). When I look inside, the motherboard had an orange light. (I should note whenever my tower "cycles" my apartments lights dim. It's never done that normally). Any help would be appreciated.

[DELL-Babita S]

Hi Camrocks,

Welcome to Dell Community Forum.

Please click on the link below for a useful article on steps to troubleshoot the Dell XPS 8500.

http://dell.to/14r4dNx

Let me know if further help is needed.

Thanks and regards,
Babita S
#iworkforDell 

For easy access to drivers, manuals and product updates, please visit our Support Site .

[Camrocks]

I am unable to download anything for it currently since it won't turn on (pressing the power button does nothing). However, I did disconnect all external devices and plugged it in. The fans instantly kicked on one at a time, with now all of them running for about 5 minutes now. Still no response when I push the power button. Power light on the back of the tower is now solid green, motherboard light is still solid orange.

[DELL-Babita S]

Hi Camrocks,

Thank you for your reply.

The Power Supply Unit on the XPS 8500 does a self-diagnostic when the Power is turned on. The LED is an indicator of whether the PSU is working properly or not. Since the LED is solid green,  it indicates that the power supply is working properly.     

The XPS 8500 also emits a series of beeps during start-up if the display cannot show errors or problems. These series of beeps, called beep codes, identify various problems.

• 3 means 3-3-3-3...That is 3 beeps and 3 beeps and ...: Endless looping until user presses the power button to shut down the system.
• The delay between each beep is 300ms, The delay between each set of beeps is 3 sec, The beep sound last 300ms.
• After each beep and each set of beeps, the BIOS should detect if the user presses the power button, if so, BIOS will jump out from looping and execute the normal shutdown process and power system.

Please let us know if you hear the system beeping on startup and the status of the power button LED. When you say that the power button does nothing, does it mean that if remains off, steady amber or blinking? The XPS 8500 power button light illuminates and blinks or remains solid to indicate different states.

 The link below has a uselful article on steps to troubleshoot the Dell XPS 8500.

http://dell.to/14r4dNx

If you do not hear any beeps, try the steps mentioned below:

• Disconnect all external peripherals except the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Peripherals also include external storage devices such as flash drives, USB devices, cards etc.
• Drain MB power about one minute (until MB lights turn off, which can take from 20 seconds up to one minute).
• Make sure that the monitor is receiving power and that it is plugged into the correct port on the video card.
• Refer to steps in the link above for removing internal components like memory, etc. to determine exact point of failure.

Do keep us posted with the results so that we are able to help you further, if required.

Thanks and regards,
Babita S
#iworkforDell 

For easy access to drivers, manuals and product updates, please visit our Support Site .

[DELL-Babita S]

Hi Camrocks,

Unfortunately we have not received feedback from you on this topic. If you need continued support, please respond to my post.

Thanks and regards,
Babita S
#iworkforDell 

For easy access to drivers, manuals and product updates, please visit our Support Site .

[burnies]

Hi i got the same kind of problem the light behind is a solid green and the motherboard light is orange

but the power button does nothing at all no sound no light nothing i have disconnect everything connected even the monitor, the mouse, the keyboard did the first step after the orange light on the motherboard is the hard disk thanks for your replay it is greatly appreciated sorry my poor English .

[stevenlmas]

Same thing happened to me today.   This is definitely happening a lot.  Why has Dell not posted a solution?

[erwinvans]

I'm experiencing the same issue with my XPS 8500 since last weekend. I have removed all unnecesary components (both internal and external), exchanged the CMOS battery for a fresh one and tried all suggested solutions i could find, but still the problem exists. The PSU has a solid green led with the power connected, the motherboard has a solid orange led.

What else can I do?

[roattw]

ME too ;^(  Its going to be the mobo I bet. Same deal

PSU fine - as per green light, as per PSU tester, as per swapped with one from another machine

CMOS refresh no change.

Power button causes exterior and CPU fan to start for a second then stop.  Then after 2-3 seconds tries again.

No POST without RAM.

Same effects regardless of bare breadcrumb testing - from bare mobo up thru RAM and video.

[erwinvans]

I couldn't fix the issue myself so I sent my XPS back to Dell. They repaired the motherboard and returned my PC within a week. Problem fixed!