However, when I gave the tech the numbers on this computer I was working on, he seemed to be reading from a script and when I asked him what does code 2 and 4 mean he said the SATA cable is not connected – he was wrong.
Let me give you a little background into this computer. I’m working on it for a client. The main symptoms is that as soon as the unit receives power, the indicator light on the power button immediately starts to flash orange. I was unable to turn the computer on. I replaced the power supply and the orange light flashed constantly, again. I then disconnected everything except for the power supply, and CPU. I was hoping to at least get the unit to turn in then I could go from there by plugging each component back in one by one. I eventually came to the conclusion that the motherboard was bad.
I spoke to the client and she still had warranty with Dell. She called Dell and then the Dell tech called me. We spoke like I mentioned earlier, and eventually I was able to convince him that it was a motherboard problem.
Dell shipped the motherboard out next day air and I received it just before lunch.
As I was tearing down the Dimension what do I find?
You see that nasty corrosion? I don’t know what the hell that is but it isn’t dust. I tried blowing it off with a compressed can of air but was unsuccessful.
For reasons beyond me that was the only area of the motherboard that had that build up. Everywhere else was spotless.
So in conclusion, if you experience the dreaded blinking orange power light, make sure to check your motherboard for blown capacitors as well as something like the above pictures show.
I found this very helpful, thanks! I will check to see if this is our issue.
i have experienced the dreaded flasking light syndrome.. and have just replaced the power supply with no change …. upon searching the tinternet, i came across your site…. and yes…. my mobo looks exactly the same as the picture…. looks like some sort of design fault.. dust moisture ? = crap of some sort!!!!.. so i am now in the process of ordering a new mobo board..
thanks for the info and help…………..
Okay I have the same problem….how much is a motherboard roughly and where can i get one from?? and what is it?? and once it is replaced will my computer work the same?? thanks…
I took off mymotherboard and saw the area were the dirt or dust was on that part and cleaned it off. Then I put it back together and still doesn’t work. Please help!!!
I had the orange flashing light, and the problem was my CPU. Somehow, a tiny flake of skin had fallen between two pins. I used compressed air to blow it out and my computer is running fine now.
ello, yes i have the same problem the flashing orange light its one of three things, its not getting enought power so it could be the PSU power supply unit or its the motherboard or some of the USB ports shorting the computer out! i still havnt got my computer going yet i also rang dell and they didnt help much as!
Right well I have the orange flashing light problem but only when I close the case fully over otherwise it works fine so I have no idea what’s wrong. Everything inside looks ok and I cleaned out all of the dust.
i have the same problem. my warranty with dell is expired
how much is a mother board?
mine looks perfectly fine
no signs of corrosion
livewire, Thank you so much of mentioning the USB port shorting causing the power button blinking. I have replaced PSU which it didn’t solve my problem. I was ready to replace the motherboard then I saw your post. I suddenly remembered that I had a bad UBS port in the front. So I looked closely into that bad port and I saw the shorting. Once I fixed that problem, my Dell 9100 came back alive!
Glad to hear that Kc, i send my computer too dell and when i got it back they said it was the systemboard aka the motherboard i opened my computer b4 i had send it too dell and as far as i could see there was noting worng with the systemboard.I allso asked dell to repalce the front and back usb ports which they did not.so it wasnt the usb ports.There has bn a lot of ppl with the same problem so hope this helps~ peace livewire!
LEAKY CAPACITORS!!!
I got an orange light on my Dell 9100 but it was steady and didn’t blink, the hard drive or fans were on overdrive since I heard a lound “whirr”. I turned of the computer, and lightly slapped the side of it and when I tried turnining it back on, it was fine
I had the same problem with a Dimension 5150, only a flashing, orange light. I read about the USB ports and as I found out, this computer had a damaged port in the front. I checked it - and to no surprise - it had some of the pins bent inside. I fixed them and the computer powered back on!!
So before replacing the MOBO or Power Supply, check those ports!!!
Having tried replacing the power supply,motherboard and the processor I had all but given up and was about to throw my Dell Dimension 5150 into the bin and get something else. However after reading about damaged USB ports I checked mine and found the one of the front ones was damaged, all I did was straighten the pins and the pc powered up without any further problems.
May I say a BIG thank you for the advice.
David
Some very good ideas. I have a Dim 5150 that is doing the same thing, orange light blinking. Before ripping apart the power supply and testing with another one, I swapped the CMOS battery with one I knew worked (same model and everything) It worked as good as new. Thought it would be worth a shot as it is easier and cheaper to replace. Unless your MOBO does indeed look like the one above!
Hope this helps!
Is this the same for the Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop…the power light blinks constantly - even when fully charged…help! Thanks.
This type of corrosion is almost certainly caused by a manufacturing issue! in recent years environmentally friendly soldering processes have been introduced and in some cases the “no clean” flux can react with the solder/components - as a design engineer in the electronics industry i am seeing this sort of damage more and more frequently!…I would contact DEll as this is obviously down to the PCB’s manufacturer/assembly process and should not be put down to usual “wear and tear”
I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with flashing Orange Light. I’ve already tried a replacement power supply and just bought a refurbished system board for £70. Still no joy!!!! I will now try recommendation regarding USB ports. I know the kids have bent at least one.
When I checked the USB ports I found that one of the front ones was damaged, all I did was straightened out the pins and made sure that they were not touching each other.
Hope this is of assistance
Thanks, David.
Yes, in my case, the orange blinking light was also the result of bad contact (short circuit) caused by the damaged left USB port on the front panel of my Dell Dimension E510. After I straightened out one pin to avoid the bad contact, my PC was turned on OK.
Dimension 8400 all of a sudden wouldn’t power up. Not even the fan would blow. I grabbed a spare power supply, hooked everything up and it powered/booted right up.
You might want to try another power supply if the amber light on the front of the box is flashing. Oh, the OEM power supply is a 24 pin 350 watt max.
I’ve got an interesting variation on this problem. When i press the power button on my wife’s 18-month-old Dell 5150, the amber light blinks for a while (30 seconds or so), then it tries to power up (green lights go on, fans start) and it dies. Once it dies, I press the button again and it starts right up. Everytime
Nothing new on the computer (i added a firewire card a year ago). I blew it out (it was very clean), checked connections (all seated), looked at USB ports (no problem i can see), disconnected the surge protection (no change).
Anyone have any ideas? Very frustrating — and I’ve bought a lot of Dells and never had a problem before
Just experiened the blinking orange on my Dell E510 today. Disconnected USB for my Lacie and computer starts up fine. Can’t imagine it is a bent pin as it had been working for the last several months without any changes.
Thanks for all the insights!
This orange blinking light has just appeared on my Inspiron 6000 tonight. Ok, it’s 3 years old, but I hope it’s nothing too serious.
Annoying thing is, I’ve just had to order a replacement keyboard today as the keys are beginning to fall off the original.
FYI, when I remove the battery and run it on AC only, it stops blinking, so I’m assuming my battery is dying.
I had this problem after having added a second hard-disk and associated controller (which I had to do because the 2400 IDE controller does not support HD above 172 GB)
So one night when I left my cellphone in the USB port for it to charge up overnight, I find the PC dark the next morning, with only the blinking yellow light as a sign of life.
First I thought the PC had gone into hybernation but when I turned it on again (which worked only after I kept the ON/OFF switch depressed for a while), the PC had to go through hard-disk check at reboot so I had to assume it had been an abnormal termionation, in plain English: a sudden crash.
Apparently it had happened soon after me plugging in the cellphone that past night because the phone had not charged much.
After reboot, all worked fine for a while. (phone was still plugged in) but then an hour later (when I was not at the PC) it had happened again.
After reading the posts here, I come to the conclusion the Dimension 2400 PSU is “running on it’s toes” as it is. Me adding the second hard-disk, AND plugging in the phone to charge the battery apparently was enough to bring the PC power supply to its knees.
I checked for the other problems mentioned here (the corrosion and the USB shorts) but could not find any.
Without the phone charging, the PC runs stable again. Needless to say I won’t be charging my phone any more from this PC….
Thanks Livewire checked my system and it was a fault on the usb’s. Saved me money and time your LEGEND!!
I have a Dell E310 that is still giving me the blinking yellow light. I first replaced the power supply with no results. Then I ordered a mother board from dell and installed it. Still nothing. I found this site and tried everything that was suggested here. In particular I investigated the USB’s in the front, since my wife uses them often to import pictures from her camera. Everything still checks out fine. When this whole mess started, there was a good sized dust bunny in front of the screen in front of the CPU fan. Does anyone know if the cooling fan fails, will this prevent a power up? On the E310’s there are 4 wires that go from the motherboard to the cooling fan, not just 2. I have metered the power supply. The 4 pin connector (2 yellow/2 black) near the processor reaches about 5 volts when I try and power up, then it goes back to zero volts. Anyone else have any issues like this?
MJP46356
I’m so glad that I found this site. A friend of mine had the orange flashing light and green light on motherboard.
After careful investigation found that the black tab on one of the USB ports at the front of the machine was missing and one of the pins was bent.
Friend is now happy that they dont have to fork out for a motherboard and power supply.
Thank you Livewire.
Want to thank everyone who posted useful info here. After searching this page and many others trying to fix the “amber light of death” on my Dell I’ve come to this conclusion.
It’s a hardware problem with the possibility of infinite causes. If you get the “amber light of death” you should start with the simplest solutions then work towards the harder solutions.
plug you PC directly into a different outlet than it’s current outlet.
flip the orange switch located on the back of the PC near where the power plug attaches.
examine all your USB ports (front & back) for pins that are bent or pushed in and fix any that are bent.
open up your PC and remove and reconnect any plugs & devices you feel comfortable removing. (ie. ram, video/network cards, power cords to cd drives & hard drives)
Swap the power supply in from another PC. (Dell claims the power supply is the #1 solution to this problem.)
Replace the 3v battery on the motherboard.
If the problem isn’t fixed after trying these, chances are some bit of hardware on the motherboard are loose or touching something it shouldn’t; and this could be a bitch to figure out where the problem is. (ie. heatsink, PCU, BIOS, CPU/Processor) Not sure if it would be worth having a tech look at your PC at this point since it is not guaranteed that the tech would find a solution.
And lastly it could be your Motherboard that needs to be replaced.
In the end, my “amber light of death” was caused by a dead power supply. Again, Dell says this the the most common solution to the problem. Please copy the list above and add to it or rearrange it since I am no expert and just trying to give my opinion on how to fix this damned problem.
Had the dreaded flashing power lights.
Noticed the Ethernet port on the back of my 5150 was flashing on and off like the power light on the front.
Unplugged my printer, mouse / keyboard USB port (in back) and the flashing stopped. Hit the power button and viola!
Good to go. Replugged in the other components and things seem to be working.
Thanks for all the input
So, Ryan - I take it replacing the motherboard did the trick? Don’t want to assume anything here.
tsboy - Ethernet ports do flash normally depending on connection and web traffic.
I had the same problem with blinking yellow power light, I replaced the front switch with the front usb attach to it and it works great now.
Jamie,
I know the Ethernet port flashes with activity. What I was trying to describe was the same even pattern of off and on (the same as my power button on the front).
My house lost power last night, when I got my power back, the same issue. Unplugged the three USB plugs and the Ethernet plug in the back and it booted right back up.
I never changed or moved the three plugs in the back since I bought the computer. I have backed up my files, but am wondering to you all….is my ‘fix’ always going to work?
Maybe it’s time for another desktop.
What do you think?
My Dimension 5150 has the same problem. And a quick search on the internet tells me that many people with the same model have the same prob. I wonder why …
Found a bent USB pin on a client’s Dimension E510. Fixed that but still flashing orange. Saw the post on the CMOS battery. Replaced the battery and all is well. Could the shorted USB pin drain the CMOS battery?
Correction to my post.
It was not the CMOS battery. After I straightened the USB pins, the computer wouldn’t start with everything plugged into the back of the computer (power/usb kbd/usb mouse/video). I unplugged everything and replaced the CMOS battery (with a used one)and started the computer with only the power plug in, then plugged in video, usb mouse/kbd and nic.
Before taking the computer back to the customer, I thought I better put a new CMOS battery in. Replaced the battery with a new one….orange power light. Unplugged the usb mouse/keyboard…IT STARTS! After the initial restart with the USB devices unplugged until the machine is running, all seems okay. Weird.
The really wierd thing is if you disconnect the power cord, you have to pop the CMOS batt and reinstall and start with the USB disconnected.
Any thoughts???
i have a simular problem i have a dell e310 i have checked the power supply with a voltmeter and i checked all my usb ports i put the processor in another computer and it worked as well my problem is when i plug it up every thing is fine it is when i push the power botton it blinks green for a sec and goes to organge and dosent blink it stays orange and i can hear my hard drive spinning up but nothing ealse works screen dosent come on or cd rom drive any ideas dell said it was my power supply but i also put it in another computer and it works fine and all my voltages with my voltmeter are also good i checked the 12v rail with was 11.92v my 5v rail with was 5.6v and my 3.3v rail with was acually 3.6 this thing has blown my mind and dell refuses to send me a new motherboard they said “it cant be the motherboard because they dont go out like that in the e310″
Hey, so i came here after reading the posts of the flashing orange power light of death =/ and i tried most everything, but i figured to try holding in the power cord while pressing the power button. and sure enough… So, if your power cord is normally at some weird angle behind your computer it would be wise to straighten it out. i got a new power cord from dell and it works fine 100% now.
Hi, I had the dreaded flashing light as well and went through the following:
Cleaned the inside for dust (It was everywhere)
Reseated everything that could be and cleaned all the contacts
Cleaned the USB connections and checked for shorts
Found when I took the motherboard off its mounting plate, there was a large ball off dust under where the USB connections were (Cleaned some more!)
Replaced the Battery on the Motherboard
Eventually after none of this worked and I replaced the power supply with the same type that was in there and it powered up with no problems (after having to set the SATA setting in the BIOS to combination, as it did not see the hard drive, just in case that happens to you).
Not sure if it was all caused by the amount of dust that was in the USB connections pulling down the power rails over time, or that I recently started to recharge my IRiver MP3 player off the USB and not the power supply, and have other bits and pieces connected by USB.
Since the change out of the PSU I have reduced the amount of items using the USB’s just in case this is loading the power supply.
Just posting this in case it helps someone else out, as I found this post very helpful in getting my machine back up and running
Good luck
I have a flashing light, it will not fix any help??
im trying to plant a bomb!
i have a dell inspiron 1100 laptop and when i try to turn on my laptop it only blinks a ornage light…and does not power on any suggestion…where is the usb port i see no pins outside damage???please help
Dave P,
What was the REV on the new power supply? It seems like people who have the REV A00 are having issues. I heard of someone who replaced it with a REV A09 and it worked.
I had the orange flashing light and found a bent pin on the front left (facing computer)USB port. I straightened out the pin with a paper clip. System powered right up !!
Thanks Ian .
Can someone explain how you go about checking your USB pins?
I’m looking at the front of the USB slots, and I don’t really see any pins…
Thanks.
My Dimension 5150 had the blinking orange light for a while, and I would just pop the 3V battery out of the motherboard, and the computer would start up by itself. It has been like this for a few months now.
Over the weekend this stopped working. Now I have no lights whatsoever, blinking or otherwise. And removing the 3V battery has no effect. Does this mean I have a bad power supply?
I just fixed a dell 5150 with the dreaded amber flashing light. I’ve had this problem before. I got it to boot by pushing on the CMOS battery while pushing on the power button. I don’t think there was enough of a connection on the battery to boot. The plan is to replace it when I get a new battery.
Ok so I figured out how to fix the problem…My E510 went out last week and I started searching the internet for a soltion. It turns out that Dell recognizes that their sodering is faulty and they now have given in to the people complaining about this issue. It’s not easy to get Dell to admit it, but with the help of the information gained by many blog enteries on this website, I just received a brand new motherboard in the mail. The beautiful part of this is that my computer is almost 3 years out of warranty. It took me 6 emails and 6 phone calls to get the right guy on the phone…but I got him. He’s in India but I found him. This is what I did, and I know it may sound extreme but these guys don’t like giving stuff away. I found that the final call from management was in response to my emails, but my phone calls. I contacted the replacement parts deptmant and basically told the guy on the phone that I knew that the USB ports were faulty, and that the Influx sodering was defective. I went on to express my concern for safey in regards to the chance that these shorts in the ports could cause harm, fire or damage. I had threatened the guy saying that I had contacted the Better Business Bureau. The guy on in the replacement parts division, said that he would speak to his manager. I did not get a response for 24 hours so I wrote another email, which contained my BBB claim #, that got them going. The next day, a manager in the claims department apologized for the problems and said that they were working on coming up with a solution for the design flaw, and that he would be sending me a new motherboard which would arrive in two or three days. And that’s it, all you have to do is be forceful, emphasize the safety issue, and mention that you are in communications with the better business bureau and they will send you a new motherboard. Good luck with your issues and problems with these units. And be PROACTIVE, tell corportations and the government that we should not be subject to such consumer abuse and neglect. As Ralph Nader said,”Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you. “
Yep the usb port pin on the back of my DELL Dimension 5100 computer was bent. I also initially replaced the power supply only to get the dredded flashing amber light. I am pretty sure the bent usb port shorted out my power supply but it only cost me $54.40 to get a new one. My system had the flashing light periodically until it eventually did not respond to my attempts to power up. Thanks for posting the link about the USB ports. It saved me another grand for a while.
Okay, I have the same problem, 1 month before my dell dimension 5100 went out of warranty I called they had me take everything apart, finally they replaced the mother board and power supply. It was about 2 to 3 months later and the same problem is happening again. I do not understand why such an expensive computer could have so many problems. Any other solutions please let me know.
I had the same issue with my E510 . I removed the powercord, took out the internal CMOS battery, reseeded the Ram and tried a restart and nothing. I repeated the steps and in addition unpugged all USB devices from the PC and that did the trick. My PC is up and runningm from all I have read on the message boards I don’t think I will turn it off until Dell addresses this issue with a permanent fix.
C
Best of Luck to U, and try not to pull your hair out (I know I felt Like it)
Well, it is going to be 2 of things the Motherboard or the Power Supply Unit. If you have a warrenty for Dell use it talk to them to come in and check it if you don’t know what your doing. In most cases it has been the Motherboard, but it can still be the Power Supply. If you don’t have a Dell warrenty good luck is all i have to say.i hope this helps.
I meant to type warranty sorry for the spelling.
dimension 5100 - just about to replace motherboard after trying everything else and checked USB front panel pins after reading above advice. sure enough pins bent in one of the two. straitened out pins so they were touching nothing and taped it over so no-one would use it again. reloaded system and has worked just fine.
thanks for the help from several people (livewire, david and others)
steve j
Have similar issue with 5150 which often spends weeks on or on standby, so not often switched off completely.
First symptom was that it wouldn’t turn on. Pressing the on botton caused the amber light to flash twice and then nothing. Have stripped PC down disconnected and reconnected everything, checked USB pins etc. The only way I can get to the PC to boot is to remove the CMOS battery and all attached USB devices. In this state the PC reboots from an unplugged state (after the Motherboard light has extinguished), the amber light flashes quickly for about 10 secs or so and then boots ok. As soon as the CMOS battery (new or old) is added it will not start like this. The PC is then fine until switched off again.
Motherboard and Power Supply seem ok once started and I wonder if it’s anything to do with the IO board at the front of the PC, with on/off switch, usb x 2, headphone, microphone sockets. Anyone replaced this with these symptoms?
Just got one in my shop (flashing amber power button)
problem: stick of ram not fully inserted in slot
I just worked on this computer and it was the Power Supply Unit.It wasn’t getting enough power so it short circited.
Yup. USB ports. Just went to fix one for a friend, Dimension 5150, and the first few things i came upon in a search were it being a dead supply, and didn’t mention anything else. so i ordered one ahead of time, only to find this site and notice it was indeed the left front usb port.
i noticed the gunky buildup on the mobo as stated a few times here, but that wasn’t a problem in my case, and for her sake i hope its not in the future.
Well at least the supply was cheap, and might come in handy. But this further cements my hatred for Dell.
I removed the battery and it boots..
OK now what
Flashing orange on a Dimension 9100.
Problem was a bent pin on one of the back USB ports. It was shorted out against the outside of the usb tin.
I have never seen a USB bend like that before.
hi
my dell dimension 5150 starts up with green light ok but 1 or 2 minutes later it shuts down and yellow blinking light comes on.The fan doesnt seem to be making as much noise as before but it is still spinning.Should I try replacing the fan first.?
I have read everything on here and tried about everything to no avail. As a last ditch effort, I removed the battery (the little quarter sized silver battery) and when that was removed, I plugged back in the power cord (to the wall) and the PC booted (after some initial flashing lights on the front display.
Either way, it worked. I guess I’ll have to go buy a new battery, but hey, at least I got it to work!
Well the first thing i just came upon was the dead power supply it burnt itself out being a power shortage was why it messed up. It short curcited.
I would try that WIKID and then if it keeps shutting down buy a new power supply, and i think i know for sure now that the orange or yellow whatever color you want to call it is a dead or bad power supply.
And yeah i mean it can be a series of things not just one because my computer that i have now was having problems and switching to onboard video and BSOD (blue screen of death)but now its fine and the reason why it was doing that was because the nvidiad driver was messed up.
The first time it shut down was after about 30 minutes.The next few times this got shorter and shorter until now it shuts down almost straight away.Has a computer got a built in safety device that protects itself in this way if one of the fans are not working properly ?.
no i don’t think it has a safety thing like that in a computer i have ever seen. But i think it might be the power supply not giving enough power. Also maybe something isn’t plugged in right. Maybe the board is dead in a certain part im not sure. But i hope that helps wikid.
livewire you’re the man.sure enough it was a bent usb port in the front of my deminsion 5100c that was causing the flashing orange light and not allowing the cpu to start up. Thank a million dude you saved me a couple a bucks. For anyone that has a similar problem, try this first you’ll be glad you did.
doh it seems the flashing amber light problem is so common on the dell e5100..sigh
anyway the problem first occurred to me weeks ago,(mine now is about 2 yrs old), i found the PC wont reboot after i turn it off, i have to unplug the power cord then replug it, and it worked, or after the pc has been shut down i have to quickly turn it on again. So i just kept my pc on all the time, and put it on hyper-nation if i dont use it, k no drama.
Then 2 nights ago i was too sleepy and forgot about it, so I turned it off, and when i realized it next morning it ’s too late, now i got the deadly flashing amber lights…. -_-
oh well i will try follow all he methods ppl have been addressed…if not working..time to get a new pc i guess.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU livewire!
We had the flashing light problem, and were so worried that we would need to spend a lot of money, but we checked our usb port and found that we had lost a piece and one of the metal prongs was bent. We bent it back and IT WORKS!!!!
I have a Dell E510 and experienced the “flashing amber of death”. My box was in a hibernate/standby mode and while in this state, we lost power in our neighborhood.
Clicking the power button had no effect however, after I removed the USB cables at the front of the box, it fired up?! I was prompted to select a hardware profile, I had only one option, and the system recovered.
i have a very similar problem… however, ive torn everything out, put it back in piece by piece trying to get the bastard to work… finally got hacked off and pulled out the (i hope this is right… says pentium on it) processor… and it turned on first time. put it back in, and its back to the all too familiar flashing orange light. WHY !!!????!!!?????
john
I had this blinking amber light issue except it only blinked when I held down the power button. I was getting ready to replace the power supply and reset the cmos when I took another once over and saw that some usb pins were bent in the front. I straightened them out and it booted right up. Thankfully I found this site.
Cheers!
David
Thanks to the poster that mentioned the battery potential for problems. I had a coworker’s computer w/ this problem and after trying several of the more obvious failure points- the battery turned out to be the problem.
Cheers!
I’m a computer tech at a small company and in our entrance we have a touch screen kiosk and it runs 24/7. The kiosk runs with a Dell Optiplex GX620. Over the last week, the computer seems to be hibernating or sleeping. I open up the Kiosk (which contains the computer) and find the orange light. The wierd part is, it the computer starts up and I can watch it working. So far I haven’t caught it shutting down or powering off.
It’s like a sleep or hibernation that you cannot get out of by any button presses, except for the holding down of the flashing power button for 10 seconds, then pressing again for a boot up.
I’ve read most of the posts on this forum and it looks like everyone is have problems with powering up. This computer powers up just fine, then at some point it powers down, giving the flashing light.
Any ideas?
Check all devices that are pulling power from the MOBO. In my instance, the failure was a short on my combo media drive. unplugged it from the MOBO and bingo…. my E510 booted right back up
I was getting the blinking yellow light on my Dell Dimension 5150. Would not start! I looked and looked for a solution and then read this site. Just so happens that my young kids evidently bent the usb pins in the front of the computer by frequently plugging in their IPOD connectors. Took a screwdriver and unjammed the pins. Voila! It will now start. USB is still mangled, so I covered it up to prevent it from recurring. It would seem that Dell’s USB’s are poorly designed and poorly constructed and very suceptible to bending and shorting out. I was on the brink of tossing the computer. Your information just saved me hundreds of dollars. Thanks
Dell Dimension E510, Also front left USP port damaged. Straightend out the pins and she fired right up.
valleywidecomputerrepair.com
I have two of these that have the flashing amber light. It happens every time we shut them down so we leave tham running whenever possible. On one of them we have to pull the plug from the wall and remove the cmos battery and then it will boot up after the battery is reinstalled and the cord is plugged in. On the other one we have to remove both the usb keyboard and mouse and then the flashing stops (it also stops when I remove the power connector from the motherboard)once the mouse and keyboard are unplugged the computer will boot up and then we can reconnect them. I would be inclined to blame the power supply in the latter case perhaps the former too but since I know how to get them to boot I am leaving them alone. As far as I am concerned it is a defect in the power supply.
I had the same problem and tried all the solutions above. Luckily, mine was still under warranty and I called dell, they shipped me out a PSU and a MOBO. They said it’s usually one or the other so they just sent both. Best support I’ve ever gotten from them.
i have a flashing amber light on a dell dimension 3100 i found this forum and i have tried almost eveything that is listed here from usb to cmos batterys and i reseated everything on mobo and still i have the flashing light the pc has been running fine and the usb ports are fine anyone any ideas i think its the psu
You guys are scaring me with all this talk of bad mobo and such. I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed that it is simply a bad ps causing my blinking amber light. I already have an extra one of those.
I have tried all the above quick fixes, now it’s onto Psupply and then check out mobo to see if that’s where the issue lies. Disappointing to see so many users with this same problem, makes me question my faith in Dell.
Don’t think I’ll bother with a Dell after all. Great site to warn us about the dangers that lie ahead.
Thanks again.
J
I had the amber daggers too. I took the quick an dirty route. Disconnected the cable that ran from my faulty USB ports at the front to the motherboard. Wouldnt say my system is running like clockwork but its running….
Hi All. Had exactly the same problem with our 5150. Checked the motherboard, usb sockets, etc, ect, as suggested. Then, as a last resort, I air blasted the vent on the PSU . . . Presto! The orange light stopped blinking and it booted up!
Hell-Hello! OK!
First…Thanks for starting me on the right path. Nice site!
I work for a printing company in Minnesota and one of my
Coworkers needed help with her Dell E510. So I put it on my
bench and sure enough “THE BLINKING ORANGE POWER LIGHT” and no thanks to Dells Web site I may add! Long story Short…I ended up unplugging the front panel from the controller
and plugging it back in; you guessed it! Started right up!
I have a similar problem on a Dell optiplex: it takes about 10 reboots before it becomes stable. It’ll boot up alright then for no apparent reason it´ll sort of go into sleep mode and the green light will flash. Tried changing cables, plugs etc but no joy. Once it get´s going it´s ok but it sometimes takes ages. Any takers?
Thanks for the info. I had a similar problem the USB pins were bent. I checked the pins and re-bent them into shape and gave the mother board a good clean and hey presto it was working. Thanks for the tips guys really good tips and advice.
Does anyone know how to see the bent pine in the front two USB drives? My computer will not stay powered on for more than about 2 seconds, then it shuts off and tries to reboot. The tech support has been horrible, since my Dell 5100 is about 3 years out of warranty.
I need to know how to check the pins in the USB drives. Also, can you tell me about the quarter size battery on the motherboard. Will it run with a new one of those batteries? Please, please help if you can. Thanks in advance@
My Dimension E510 has had the orange light several times. It eventually turns green by itself…until today. No pins seem bent. So I did an easy fix suggested on this site: pulled out all the USB device cords as well as the Ethernet cord. The computer clicked and whirred and the green light came on. Thank you to everyone on this great site!
my orange flashing light was fixed by removing the CMOS, wait till the motherboard light turns off by shutting down the power, then unplug mouse and keyboard from usb port.
Same story… the dreaded orange flash fixed by pulling all usb devices from the rear ports. Thanks everybody for your feedback and ideas.
Have a E510. Had to do the part where I unplugges all usb ports and the power cord AND take out the battery. Then I plugged in the power cord and the computer started. Then I plugged in USB ports and re installed battery. Works now. thanks everyone.
I had the same blinking amber problem with a dimension 5150.
I checked the usb ports-all good.
swapped the power cable.
reset the surge protector.
tried booting it with nothing but the monitor.
but nothing worked.
I didnt want to swap the battery.
decided to unplug the SPU and plug it back in again. wallah!
all good now.
maybe its not that you need a new SPU, just need to reinstall it.
I was the 2nd person to look at this PC.
They had a bad powersupply but didnt replace it with the EXACT same one. Everything was fine until you put the side cover on. The SATA plug to the HD was not like the original one and it stuck out too far. Therefore, when the side was put on, it was putting an awful bend on that plug and causing a short, thus producing the “orange flashing light syndrome.”
Hope this helps someone.
i had the same problem at my 3100. once i pushed the power button, only get amber blinking light. no power response from CD-ROM or any sounds of things starting up or moving. Not yet started troubleshooting after reading this, most probably power supply problem coz my CPU was clean of dusts.
Many thanks to everyone for leaving their info here. I too have a Dimension 5150 and had the dreaded blinking amber light…
My fix: replace the CMOS battery…
Funny thing is, it fired up first time no worries, I turned it off and the dreaded amber light returned! So I’ve taken it back to where it lives under a co-workers desk, cracked it open manipulated the CMOS battery and voila!
I’ve got a feeling that my front USB ports are shorting and draining my CMOS battery, but alas no bent front pins in my USB ports…
If I have issues again, someone shuts the PC down, I’ll try to disconnect the front USB port cable.
Many thanks again, it’s posts like these that save people a lot of time!
Hey guys. This page helped.. I took the Dell recommendation of replacing the power supply (can’t remember if I tested the old or not..) Anyways.. This did not fix the problem– I discovered this page and proceeded to check the USB. Sure enough, one of the frontal ports was bent. I fixed that and BANG- it works..
Just had the amber light today. Turns out it was bent pins in the USB port. Fixed the pins and my computer was back up and running. Thanks for the help!
I have figured out how to fix this problem. Just take out the jp 2-3 jumper, reset it to 1-2, then back to 2-3, and it is fixed. Warning, you must do this every time to make it work from now on. Best of luck to you all!
George, Thank you SOOO much for your “fix”. I have not been able to get mine up and working because none of my USB pins look bent…or, to be honest, I’m not sure how to tell. When I look at both of the front ones and the back ones, it all looks normal. So, my question is:
What is a jp 2-3 jumper and can you give me a little more detail about how to do this? I want to try this as soon as I get your response. I will let everyone know if it works for me, as I haven’t had mine working for months. Thanks, Sharon
When you open up your tower, you’ll see a blue colored jumper next to the 24 pin power connector. There is where the 1-2 2-3 jp jumper is located, follow the instructions in my comment above and all your problems will be solved.. until you turn your computer off. Best of luck!
I had the same issue this morning. I’d had a problem with my Dimension 5100 previously and had replaced the power supply with positive results. I left the computer on last night, and when I came in this morning, there was a blinking orange light. Powering on was no good. Switching the back power button on and off didn’t work. But then I tried unplugging the power cord from the back of the unit and plugging it back in. That worked. But I’m backing everything up just in case.
NEVER, EVER, EVER BUY A DELL. I know I never will again. I’ve had more problems with this piece of garbage than with any other computer I’ve had - including the one I built from scratch. Tech support is horrible, they don’t back up their products and the workmanship is shoddy.
Thank you very much for the information.
My computer came alive again.
I turned my wife’s Dimension 5150 off before we left for a trip - MISTAKE !! I checked the motherboard battery with a voltmeter (it was fine) and replaced it, but no luck booting. I removed USB devices (didn’t see any bent pins), no luck. I removed the battery and was able to boot ! I replaced the battery with the power on (don’t generally like to do that) and had to reset the motherboard clock, but that did the trick.
Dimension 5100, power supply was bad for sure. It stunk to high heavens. Besides, the green led on the motherboard would not come on when I turned on the power supply. Replaced it, and the green led would come on, but the unit would not power up. Removed ram and cards and drive, and tried to force boot block, but nothing happened still. Replaced everything, and noticed the blinking amber light. Searched for a long time and found this site. Looked at the front usb ports, and viola. One severely damaged (ripped inside out from the looks of it) port with 4 tabs, two of which resembled a conga line on lsd. Straightened them out, and the machine booted right up.
Thank you for having this on the intardnet for retardeds like me!!!
Well, I have been trying to get mine up and running forever. I have tried everything on this site, but still no luck. One thing I don’t understand is how to tell if the usb ports are bent. I used a flashlight to look inside both the front and back ports, but I really don’t see anything bent. Did you take something apart to look inside? I have the 5100, as well…been just fine until the amber light appeared on the start button. Thanks in advance.
Success!!!! Here’s what I did… while I was unplugging everything for the hundredth time, I was unplugging the keyboard connection last and must have laid the metal part of the plug on the outside metal plate of both USB port plugs in the back. The fan turned, so I plugged the monitor back in and the power supply cord, then I places the metal part of the keyboard connection across the outside metal of the connection to the computer.” “BINGO”!!!!!! It booted up so I plugged the keyboard and mouse in and its working fine. Wtf, go figure.
What problem I may have if, once I get the green light back, I just leave the PC in “standby mode”? I mean, apart from some extra “pennys” for electricity.
Same yellow light problem no start on dell dimension 5150 - it was the USB at front - 1 pin bent. Used a paperclip with very end bent to pull it straight it- now fine! Thanks! Taped up USBs to stop kids getting at them again. Low tech solution to hi tech prob!
FIXED - Power supply was bad (Optiplex 320)
I had the same blinker with no power up on a Dem. E510. I unplugged everything but the front panel and power supply. Nothing, I pulled the batter as to instructions earlier and it would boot until I turned it off, then nothing again,untill battery pull. I testes the PSU with a PSU tester and all voltages showed good, but I went ahead and replaced with atermarket and viola !!! I boot perfect now.
Hope this helps anyone.
Next time I’ll spell check before I submit..;-((
I want to thank all of you guys for all the feedback, Me aswell had the same thing everyone was having as far as the Orange Blinking Light of Death (OBLD) and in my situation, I Did have a Bad Power Supply, But I tested it it with a good Dell Power supply and had the same issue, then I turned to the forums for help and came across this site. Sure enough I checked all the USB ports and one USB port in the back was about to break off the little black piece, and sure enough one of the pins was slightly bent. Not making contact with the other but just bent, I got a screw driver and bent it back. Wondering if it would work I plugged it up and it powered On just fine. I want thank you guys again, without you I would have replaced the Motherboard. Sincerely, Carlos El Paso, Texas
I am having same issue with orange light, I fixed pins that were broken and it still dont work. The I take this Green connector piece next to the battery and swith it to the other connecto and the light stops but nothing. I used to do this to get the light to stop and then I would be able to power up, but now it doesnt work???????
I have a Dell E510, got the dreaded flashing orange light on the front. I took out the battery and it booted fine. I eplaced the battery and it worked fine for 1 day and now it won’t power on again. I pulled the battery back out again and it power on?
Any suggestions as to what would be the problem with the battery?
I also have the blinking amber light problem. The E510 manual says its a problem with the power supply or the mother board. I just bought a 450W power supply from Best Buy and replace the old one. It has fixed the problem.
You’ll see alot of theories on the web concerning this problem. From my experience and all the sites and blogs I have read, 90% of the time it will be the power supply. A power supply can fail slowly so you may be getting intermittent failures, and if you’re dinking around with removing batteries, etc., you may think its something else. Power supplies are relatively inexpensive, I would try that first if you’re having the same problem.
Today i just removed my hard drive from my Dimension 9100 to make a backup of my information into an other PC.
Once i place the HDD back, the Dimesion 9100 dosnt want to power up
i get the flashing led. What could be the problem, already
checked and remplaced the PSU, CMOS Battery, evey SATA cable,
and nothing. this is so weird since i just removed the HDD without touching nothing else.
Any help will be greatfull.
Had the same issue with the blinking amber light on my Dimension 5150. PC would start sporadically, casuing endless frustration and tried all the advice on various sites. Nothing worked and as a last resort I replaced the battery on the motherboard and haven’t had an issue since. I not very techie so don’t know why this worked but it did. Battery used was a Maxell CR2032 (3V). Worth a shot if nothing else works and battery is only a few quid.
Hello,
last week, I got the same problem with my dell dimension 5100.
I was trying to plug my USB external harddrive when suddenly my computer turned off (while i was forcing the usb to get into the port). When I restarted it, I had the Steady orange light.
After reading different websites (before this one) I thought it would be a PSU problem since all the fans (front and graphic card’s) were working therefore it couldn’t be the motherboard (at least I thought).
However, last night, after insalling my new PSU, It still didn’t work and I realized that one of the CD drive wouldn’t open when connected to the motherboard but it would when only connected to the power supply(could it be the motherboard then?)
I will try check if the problem lies in the fron usb ports, but even after disconecting everything (except the PSU and motherboard) it still showed the steady orange light,
any recomendations? should I change the motherboard?
Our Dell Dimension E510 is a few years old, and we’ve had only a few problems. We leave it on most of the time. Recently however, we’ve had several, including the yellow-flashies.
We had two USB keyboards hooked up and two mice, as my wife likes one and I prefer the other. One of the mice became non-responsive and I just unplugged it for a while and it worked again.
We lost power during a storm about a month ago. We were not home or we would have unplugged the computer, but we do have a surge protector. It’s an old one which probably should be replaced. When the power came back, the computer couldn’t find the hard drives (one is a backup drive for Norton Ghost, which has never worked and turned out to be a TRIAL version Dell duped us into paying for.) I tried unplugging the backup drive, and the computer started up fine, aside from the ‘Press F1′ message at startup and constant ‘RAID volume degraded’ mumbo jumbo.
Then one of the keyboards became unusable; one keypress resulted in several characters displayed. I opened the keyboard, which had two extra USB ports built-in, and the USB ports looked burned around the edges. Couldn’t get it to work, so I just threw it away.
A few days after that, another bad storm took down several power lines, and again we were not home. I’ve turned the computer off and on many times since the first storm with no problems, but this time, when the power came back, we got the yellow-flashies. Unplugging all USB connections and waiting a minute for the light to stop blinking seemed to work. I just plugged the USB cables back in after startup. However, restarting the computer results in yellow flashes again, and I have to unplug everything. I’ve even tried each USB cord by themselves in each port individually to try to narrow things down, but it doesn’t seem to matter. If ANYTHING is plugged in to ANY port, it flashes.
Thank you for this page. At least it gives me a better idea of what to look for, and if I should just start looking for my next (non-Dell?) computer.
thank GOD in my case it was the usb! Over time prongs had become squashed down. Fixed! Thanks for the advice <3
I’ve also had the blinking orange light problem. When I opened it, I was messing around and decided “Hm, maybe if I take out this 3V battery..” and what do you know? It works! I have no idea what it’s for though
Fixing shoted UPS port pins fixed the blinking power light issue
hey everyone,
Yup i also have the same problem but mine is a bit different. You see if i leave mine off for a day i can go on it for just enough time to load into windows and then BAM! it shuts off and i get the light and it seems that it gets less and less resiliant the more i try until it doesint boot at all, and then i have to wait for the next day to try to fix again.
I did everything here and i did have 2 shorts, one in the memory card reader slot (bent pin touching the other) and one on my PATA male port behind my second dvd, unbent everything and still the same. Also checked around the board for capacitor spills and nothing, no error codes from the front lights, tryed with video, hdd, pci devices and all fans unplugged (except cpu of course) but still the same, changed video card, battery and wires, nothing so now i am down to the mobo or psu.
Im leaning towards the psu since the mobo’s light is green and looks really clean, also when the pc shuts off i hear a ‘tok’ from the psu and then if i listen closely i hear a faint whiseling sound but did not detect a burning smell.
What do you guys think?, new mobo?, psu?
Just thought i’d post since this helped me too. I was getting the blinking orange light of doom after getting an error on the unit saying something about USB device corrupt failed and then the machine freezing. When I shut off and tried to turn back on, only the blinking light. After opening it up to look for corrosion on the motherboard, took an air can and blew out all the dust. Plugged back in and booted up fine with no errors… for now.
My E510 had the blinking amber light problem. It was intermittent but progessively getting worse. This is almost always a power supply issue. As the power supply fails it doesn’t provide consistent power to the mother board. The blinking amber light indicates a power supply or motherboard issue according to Dell’s manual.
I dinked around with fixes for weeks, batteries, USB, cleaning. It would work for a while but the problem would return.
I put in a power supply about a month ago. My E510 has been working like a champ since, no reoccurences. Cost $65 at Best Buy and took me 30 minutes to install.
For anyone experiencing this problem I suggest trying a new power supply.
I have Dimension 5150 and one day i come home from work and I see my computer flashing at me with this orange light. Aparently this light is signifying hardware problem. But removing and placing back 3v Bios battery fixed the problem. My theory is that even bios crashes once in a while(Could be caused by a lightning storm night before). Any way reseting this battery, brought BIOS back. And computer booted right up.
I just had the same problem yesterday. My 5100c wouldn’t power up, and every time I hit the power button, the orange light flashed once and nothing else happened (no drive spin-up).
Thanks to this thread, I looked at the front USB ports, and one of them had the pin/finger smashed into the connector. Yep, it was the 5V, which was shorting to the shield. I straightened out the pin, and the system booted right back up.
Needless to say, I put some electrical tape over the connector so hopefully the issue doesn’t happen again.
Thanks everyone for posting their findings. I don’t think I would’ve found this on my own.
Hey,
Same problem. How do i straighten the pins?
Rob,
Basically you need a hook tool (I created one out of a safety pin), and then you need to hook the USB pin inside the connector and pull it outward. When I did this to mine, it straightened itself out when I pulled on it.
If the orientation of your pin is different (mine was flipped up into the shield which facilitated a straight pullout), then the technique you use may be a bit different… but the overall result should be that you have all of the pins/fingers sitting flat on the plastic guide.
Thanks. But the thing i don’t really get. Is basiclly. doesn’t look burnt out at all or anyt