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Inspiron 5759 power/hard drive/battery light not working?
Bought my wife this computer for Christmas. Apparently Dell has combined the power indicator light/hard drive activity light/ and battery status light into one single light on the front edge of computer. My concern is that the light only comes on briefly when I first plug in the power supply, then it goes out and never lights again. Even when the hard drive is writing or reading the light doesn't come on to show activity. Is this normal? I'm concerned as this is one way I've used to determine if things are happening on my computer as they should be. If the light is not designed to show hard drive activity when it occurs, what use is it?
donaldbyers
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April 21st, 2016 17:00
If you haven't found the answer to your question then this should help you.
Hold down the "Fn" key which is in between the Ctrl & Windows Key then press the "H" key. This action will be required each time you re-boot the computer.
Don
DELL-Terry B
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January 19th, 2016 10:00
The Inspiron 5759 notebook does have a power LED on the front left of the notebook. When the LED is white it indicates that the AC adapter is connected. When the LED is solid yellow it is warning that the battery charge is low or critical and when the LED is blinking yellow it means that the battery is about to run completely out of power.
The front LED does not indicate anything about the HDD and there are no HDD activity LED's on this model of notebook.
So just as long as you aren't getting a yellow solid or blinking LED while the AC adapter is connected the notebook should be fine.
TB
Doogie99
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January 31st, 2016 07:00
I wondered about this on my 5759. The Quick Start Guide states that it's a 'Power and battery-status/ hard-drive activity light'. Is the hard drive activity part just plain wrong?
Where is the documentation about the solid/blinking yellow function?
The white light only blinks once when power is first connected, not afterwards. Is that normal?
Thanks in advance.
larbaker
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February 6th, 2016 08:00
Terry B,
Thanks for the quick and complete response. Unfortunately you confirmed what I suspected - there is no hard drive activity light, contrary to what it says in the quick start or user manual, where ever it was that I read it.
I have been using PCs, desktops and laptops, since the 80s both for personal and business(mostly Dells, but other brands as well). Never had one that didn't have a hard drive activity light. There are just times when you want to know if things are going on in there. Example, when installing software or doing updates and nothing happens for a while and you wonder if its hung up or just taking a long time. Or even at startup, you can see that things are happening. I initially noticed this when I was doing the easy transfer (now called something else) from my wifes old computer to the new one. It took a long time and questioned what was happening on the new computer, as no activity light was blinking.
Incidentally, I felt so strongly about this, that I did a factory image restore and returned the computer to Costco.
Seems like an unnecessary and questionable cost cutting move.
Larry
DELL-Terry B
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February 8th, 2016 14:00
Larry,
Personally I would prefer a HDD activity indicator myself, as a technician my feeling is that there never such as thing as too many diagnostic indicators. With notebooks getting smaller and smaller and the line between ultra books and tablets blurring there sometimes just isn't enough real estate on the notebook for everything.
Other than the lack of the HDD activity LED did you like the model, once your wife's data was transferred did the system seem to run alright?
TB
Nicholas Parnel
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May 11th, 2016 12:00
This indicates that the Light is supposed to be off all the time
Will only show you status of the LED when you press FN+ H
Power/battery light - Indicates the power and battery charge status, see the table below. You can also toggle this light to act as a hard-drive activity indicator by pressing (the light will automatically revert to being a Power/battery light if the system enters hibernation or is powered off).
vernon.hughes
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June 18th, 2016 10:00
This is extremely confusing and slightly frustrating. Brand new 5759 which has no lights to indicate anything out of the box? From the this post I tried the FN+h but this gives me a HDD indicator as it flashes very intermittently (like a HDD led) but NO power indicator?? Why not a light on the power button?? Surely a VERY basic requirement. Was never given the option for a back-lit keyboard by vendor and all things considered disappointed with my new purchase.