A Blinking Orange Power Light
Yesterday morning I plugged in my computer. I reached for the power button on my Dell Dimension 8400, but then noticed that the tower’s power light was flashing orange. In my Dell manual, I found the section about power light signals and read:
If the power light is blinking amber – The computer is receiving electrical power, but an internal power problem might exist.
Ensure that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power at your location (if applicable).
Ensure that the processor power cable is securely connected to the system board (see page 73).
Well, I was sure that the voltage selection switch was in the right place. And I found it highly unlikely that the processor power cable would suddenly unseat itself. Ugh.
Then I had an idea. I flipped off the surge protector and then flipped it back on.
Tada! No more orange lights. Weird.
The moral of the story: try the simple stuff first.
Many visitors have provided additional solution ideas in the comments section below.
We have a T1 Poweredge ( been running fine ), and after inserting a scsi card into the system for a tape drive, yep you guessed it ! The orange flashing powerlight !
As soon as the card is removed the machine powers as normal. Frustating !!!
Thanks for all the help, we had the dreaded flashing orange light on our Optiplex GX620 & followed all your advice.
We unplugged everything cleaned all the dust, checked the USB’s but the battery was the key.
The only thing we can add is when we changed the battery, on powering up, it worked for about a second Then went back to the orange light again. This would happen each time we removed & replaced the battery. We were obviously on to something. After replacing the battery yet again & powering up, I was busy reading through all this info for more clues when after about 10 mins it kicked into life & then died again. 10 mins later it did it again but no flashing lights. I pressed the power button & hey presto. Success.
Thanks again for all your help.
Tim
Boot comp w/o hdd hooked up and wala computer stays on!
Man, this web page is fabulous. Thanks to everybody who has posted so far.
For the record, I have an Optiplex GX280 with the blinking power supply button problem. Blinks long short short, over and over. I checked USB pins, replaced the CR2032 battery, no help. Then, halfway down the page, some Einstein (thanks, man!) suggested taking a power supply from a known good system and plugging it in. Voila! System went into BIOS easily. Wouldn’t boot because that power supply didn’t have a connector for the SATA drive, but I’m convinced. So, in my case, replacing the power supply should fix the system. Amazing what happens if you let people share info. Thanks again.
Geat info folks.
My blinking amber power button turned out to be…my video card. Unplugged it and power resumed. Plugged it back in, power still resumes but no video display.
Dell XPS420, card was a Gigabyte 9600GT 1GB GV-N96TZL-1GI.
This is the second card now as the original carked it about 6 months ago. New busted card wants 450W power supply and Dell’s is 425W – maybe that’s what damaged it.
Hope this helps.
Rich.
I’ve had problems with the flashing amber light from time to time with my Dimension 8400. I’ve usually been able to overcome it with persistance. I would hold it down til it shut off and then try again. Eventually, it would kick on for a few seconds and the flash again until finally it boots up. Tonight, after a 12 hour power outage, it showed no signs of life after repeated attempts. So, this time I tried unplugging it with basically the same method as before, persistance. After about 5 tries, I got the green light for a second. Tried a few more times and then it fired up. Cheap fix so far. Good luck.
Mark
thanks for the great info I have a dimension 5150 kept on blinking disconected the the front usb panel with cable from motherboard turns out two pins in a usb port was folded in on each other I straightened them both out with 2 tiny flat (eyeglass screwdrivers) one one top and one on bottom of each pin then straightened them and now the computer boots thanks again
Thank you every body my problem got fixed. I had a orage light.
I tried the battery but it did not work.
I changed the power supply and the computer started working fine. The power supply costed me $32 from Radio Shack.
But i need to tell one thing, my system fan was not working and the green light on my mother board was fine.
I saved atleast $300 because of the comments here.
thnx 4 these helpful lesson guyz u’v really helped me alot>
Hi,
i do consider myself a somewhat technically inclined so most problems i can fix on my own but thought i’d check the net to see if my solution to it was far off from what it should be.
i had the same problem of the blinking orange light at start up but after going thru my board the moat logical thing to do was replace the power supply as it was a power problem. just bought the parts for it but if all else fails i’ll try the other techniques listed, but usually when the battery fails all that happens is an annoying screen at atart up asking if to continue with F1 or another since sys time is inaccurate, so not quite sure that would be the issuue. will check bent pins for that really slipped my observation but the probelm did start with an external hard drive. will let you all know what worked an what really was the issue. had no idea this problem was so prominent.
laterz.
I just fixed my dell dimension 5150 simply by having the power supply replaced. Actually, as I’m technician I was able to repair it myself by replacing a leaking capacitor (1000 uF, 10V).
Disclaimer : Do NOT try to do this yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing : there are VERY high voltages still present AFTER power off. (400V DC, and sometimes even more).
To all having such problem : this problem is related to a power supply failure. Always try to replace the PSU, since it is relatively low cost and easy to do.
GX 270, shut down USB and held it off, worked like a charm on re-start. Many thanks!
Also check that one of the USB ports is not damaged.
I had a PC with same sysmptoms (flashing amber) and I replaced the PSU. No joy, so I replaced the mainboard. Still same.
Someone mentioned that a connected USB device could be the cause.
In my case, PC is from a Computer Suite in a University and some student had damaged one of the USB ports at the front, causing a short.
I disconnected ribbon cable and PC powered up. Now working with the offedning port taped off.
Hi all, I too had the same problem with the flashing lights. I bought a Dell 1150 for my daughter, and not long after the battery gave up. Was running it on the AC power alone and got the flashing lights. I checked the powerboard that it was connected to and pushed the red button on the side and and Bobs your uncle the laptop booted up. Thanks again.
Dell PowerEdge server 2600 orange flashing light
everything is running right no weird sound, event error.
got frustrated, can someone provide a solution, will be appreciated.
thank you
I have a Dell XPS 420 that has/had the blinking orange light.
I tried everything I could see here, unplugged, removed all usb connections, even removed the wireless card checked the internals for any obvious damage and found none, cleaned the heatsink and all the fans and got nothing. Chnged the 3V battery..nothing. Eventually bought a new popwer supply and installed that with nothing changing.
Still had the flashing light and that little orange light inside.
Decided the power supply wasn’t the issue so put the old one back in and when i went to turn it on i got a spark from behind the heat sink thing..
I have always been under the impression that sparks mean it’s time for a new computer but does anyone know what might have been the problem or if it would be worth trying to fix it/get it fixed?
Thanks
SOLVED:
Was caused by two bent pins on one of the USB ports on the rear of the machine. Didn’t know they were bent until I rebooted after installing windows updates.
Never would have thought that USB could be the culprit in something like this. Our dog chewed through a USB cable under the computer desk a few weeks ago and I’d just left it there (after the dog got an earful). Then earlier this week the computer wouldn’t turn on but just kept blinking that orange light.
Read some of the comments here and began to unplug USB components. The chewed up cord was the problem!
I don’t pretend to know why it’s working now, but I’m glad it is. Thanks to everyone who offered ideas for how to fix the problem! Can’t believe my good fortune
Thx guys for a great post……It seem after read this post….I did check the power supply unit and did find that 2 of the caps are gone!…..need a new power supply.
Thanks again.
I have a variation on this with a DELL 9200. Orange light comes on the goes green, so far so good. There is a buzzing noise comming fromt he PSU area and the PC will not boot, not even from a bootable CD. Problem is intermittant, but becomming more frequent. Before I go out and buy a new PSU anyone else get this problem and knows how to fix it?
just dropping a note to say your quick and easy fix worked like a charmfor me. Thanks for saving me a lot of frustration!
This site helped me greatly. I had the orange light blues too.Did some unplugging of all usb cord turned of the power source by the switch on the back an turned off the moniter. Waited a few minutes and turned just the tower power on. Ta—da green lights. Then plugg in an turn on moniter which now should also be green. Almost done plugg in usb cords. TIME TO SURF……THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the blinking light woos… I learned after a long time of dealing with this issue… the change of the color of the light is like a computer for a car giving flashes and codes… with the computer it is a warning that something inside is malfunctioning or not working properly. In my case, it was the fans were not working properly and the light was trying to alert me of the internal things getting too warm and the fan was not working full time. Again, it could be ‘anything’ inside not working properly, in my case the fan was part time not working! Thanks to everyone!
I have a problem.Today my daughter went to turn on our Desk top and it wouldnt turn on,, the on button stays yellow you can here the fan working the disk opens but the monitor wont stay on..The yellow on light just stays yellow(No blinking)But you can here the computer working..What could be the problem..Its a dell dimension E521 turns on but on bottom stays yellow Help please ASAP..Im lost..thank you
My input on this pretty authoritative post: re-seating the battery worked for me. Instead of a slowly blinking amber light, I received a fast-blinking one. Unplugged the USB keyboard & mouse, and the light turned green.
Told the computer who the current president is, and we’re back up & running.
i have a dimension 8400 and well i think i found an easier solution just press the F2 key when you turn it on its the second time it worked for me and no shut down at all!
Some interesting info here. I havd a dell gx270 which lost video I assume the onboard gpu needs a reflow or is damaged. i was hoping adding a new video card would get the video up and going but nope as I need to disable the onboard video processor to get the new video card to be the primary but thats a different question . I removed the card and went to power the unit up but before I could do anything I looked and the unit has a flashing green power light as soon as plugged in. If i press it no change no fans or anyt5hing just the constant flashing green power light. I read and all I find on that is its a stand by indicator and says to wake it up move a mouse but that doesnt do anything as the computer isnt truely powered on just plugged in with the flashing green light..Any ideas?