Member Avatar for bobbyraw

I have this Dell that will not power on. When the power button is pressed it flashes orange. No sound or motion from any of the fans. The power light is on the mother board. So here is what i have done so far. Search dell web site, Fix suggest to call technical Support. Well the PC is out of warranty and they want $120 to start troubleshoot. Don't have the cash to waste and i doubt they would be able to fix the problem. Change the CMOS battery, still the same thing, remove the Memory, disconnected the Hard drive, the DVD drive. Change the CMOS switch to reset position ( don't know if that work as no display on the screen.) still the same orange flashing light.

Does any one have any other suggestion or fix for this.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by hkmefford

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A focused troubleshooting note for Dell Dimension E310 machines where the front button/LED shows activity but the system never posts — building on ’s report and / observations about the diagnostic lights and fans.

Start with a careful visual inspection: with mains unplugged, open the case and look for bulging or leaking capacitors, scorch marks, or swollen components around the CPU and power connectors. Verify the front‑panel power cable is seated on the correct header and that the CPU auxiliary (4‑pin) plug is fully inserted. A failing switch or loose header can mimic a dead system.

Isolate the power supply next. With the ATX plugged in and the PSU switch on you should still have the 5VSB (standby) rail present — check it with a multimeter on the motherboard/24‑pin connector. If 5VSB is present, use a PSU‑tester or the standard method to pull PS_ON low (or swap in a known‑good PSU) and measure the 3.3V, 5V and 12V rails under load. If the rails are missing or out of tolerance, replace the PSU. Safety note: if you’re not comfortable working with mains voltages, use a tester or take it to a shop.

If the PSU tests good, attempt a minimal (bench) boot: disconnect drives, remove add‑in cards, leave CPU, CPU fan and one RAM stick in the primary slot, add a motherboard speaker and power on. Beep codes or any change in diagnostic LEDs narrow the fault to RAM/CPU/mobo. No beeps with a verified PSU usually points to motherboard or CPU failure.

If repair isn’t economical, remove the hard drive and recover data via a USB adapter/enclosure. In older systems, common causes are PSU failure, failing caps, or surge damage — always unplug phone/modem lines and use surge protection to reduce risk.

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Member Avatar for SeattleSam

did you check the manual on the website

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/adtshoot.htm#wp1124478

you should have 4 diagnostic lights on the computer under normal operation they light then turn off before the computer starts. look to see what they do now.

I have a similar, but slightly different, problem. I hope this is the right place to post it, as I've never posted here before.

The machine is a

Dell Dimension E310
No O.S. installed yet
512 Megs Memory (two chips)
On-board Video
Intel Pentium 4 Processor

Problems:

The diagnostic lights are of no help, because none of them are lit.

There is also no orange light, flashing or otherwise, on the front panel.

There is a solid orange light on the motherboard.

No fan activity unless I short pin 14 on the connector to neg when the connector is disconnected. When I do that PSU and CPU fans both come on, but nothing else happens.

No access to CMOS of course.

What's next?

Member Avatar for compdoc

I have a similar, but slightly different, problem. I hope this is the right place to post it, as I've never posted here before.

The machine is a

Dell Dimension E310
No O.S. installed yet
512 Megs Memory (two chips)
On-board Video
Intel Pentium 4 Processor

Problems:

The diagnostic lights are of no help, because none of them are lit.

There is also no orange light, flashing or otherwise, on the front panel.

There is a solid orange light on the motherboard.

No fan activity unless I short pin 14 on the connector to neg when the connector is disconnected. When I do that PSU and CPU fans both come on, but nothing else happens.

No access to CMOS of course.

What's next?

you should realy start a new thread and then some one will be able to help you. but it sounds like you might have a problem with the power supply.

Member Avatar for hkmefford

I have a similar, but slightly different, problem. I hope this is the right place to post it, as I've never posted here before.

The machine is a

Dell Dimension E310
No O.S. installed yet
512 Megs Memory (two chips)
On-board Video
Intel Pentium 4 Processor

Problems:

The diagnostic lights are of no help, because none of them are lit.

There is also no orange light, flashing or otherwise, on the front panel.

There is a solid orange light on the motherboard.

No fan activity unless I short pin 14 on the connector to neg when the connector is disconnected. When I do that PSU and CPU fans both come on, but nothing else happens.
No access to CMOS of course.

What's next?

Had a Dell E310 come in with exact same problem. Checked all the things you did same results. Turns out the problem was zapped modem. They brought the computer in after lighting storm night before. The lighting came phone line into modem and shorted things out killing power. After removing the modem lights worked but think motherboard probaly damaged some too. Hard drive was still intact so was able to recover their documents and pictures. And they recovered cost from home owners insurance.

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