# Dell XPS400 Blinking Yellow Light



## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

*Dell XPS410 Blinking Yellow Light*

I have a Dell XPS 410 and all of a sudden this morning the power light was blinking amber. A lot of people said it's the PSU that went bad, and some said that the USB interface thing in the front is what went wrong. If I order a new PSU, which one am I supposed to buy? A lot of people are saying Dell uses specific PSU's and not every PSU will work. Or can I try to replace the USB interface thing?

One guy on another thread said this for his Dell Dimension:

"problem fixed. It was the front USB ports that were causing the computer not to power on and the blinking yellow lights. I took a screwdriver and kept messing with the pins on the beat up port--pushing them down, spreading them apart, etc. etc.. until finally no lights on power button. I then pushed the power button and it started right up. That port for sure is fried but I don't care. The computer works. 

Thanks for the advice on the refurb board. That's pretty cheap but I think I'm going to try and find a USB hub cheap that I can plug into the existing ports on the back. That way I can use it on my next computer.

Thanks for all the help."

I tried what he did and nothing worked. The light on the motherboard is on, so does that mean my power supply is on? Fans aren't working and nothing else is working. I disconnected the rubber cable from the front USB interface thing and it just made it worse, motherboard light didn't turn on at all and no more blinking amber light. So I put that back on. Here's some pics:


















^^You can see the motherboard light on, at the top. Does this mean my PSU is working fine? Because the motherboard seems to be receiving power.









^^What is this red and black thin wire that goes to the USB interface thing at the front? I tried disconnecting it but nothing happened, so I put it back on.











^^The thing on the bottom is that USB interface thing I was talking about. I tried shaking it around but nothing happened, and it seems fine to me when I glance at it.

Please help me find a solution. My dad said to just throw it out and buy a new PC but if this is fixable I'd like to fix it. And I'd hate it if I bought a new PSU and it still didn't work, but I dont know how to test my current PSU, and I don't have a spare PSU here. And I really don't know much about computers or testing the PSU. No idea what to do. Thanks.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi and welcome to TSF please see here for more info on the flashing lights Documentation
and see this for what is in your machine as a power supply Documentation
something more around 450w to 550w would be better scroll down here to see those recommended http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

That is a standard ATX power supply in the XPS400, from experience a blinking amber light on them will be either the supply or a motherboard failure, the front I/O panel is usually non-blinking amber.

Do you have access to a digital voltmeter to test the supply?


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Yeah I do, but I don't know how exactly to do it. How many volts is it supposed to be at? I test it while it's plugged into the wall and the computer is on?


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

I'm trying to follow this but I'm not reading any voltages at all in any of the pins. I have 24 pins on my connector from the PSU to the motherboard. I don't know if the reason I can't read any voltages is because the PSU is dead or if I'm just doing it wrong. If the PSU is dead why is the light on the motherboard on?


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

Well didn't you read the documentation that joeten supplied? It says that with a blinking amber light, the system is receiving electrical power, but there is most likely an internal power problem.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Start with a spare 4 pin molex(hard drive connector) it'll have a Black(negative) Yellow 12v+, Red 5v + and Orange 3.3v +. The Specs call for the rated voltage +/- 5%.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Androidrules said:


> Well didn't you read the documentation that joeten supplied? It says that with a blinking amber light, the system is receiving electrical power, but there is most likely an internal power problem.


I did read it. I checked the voltage on the back of the PSU and it's on 115v. I live in the US. What does it mean by internal power problem? So my PSU isn't messed up?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Checking the voltages with the meter is the way to find out.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Wrench97 said:


> Start with a spare 4 pin molex(hard drive connector) it'll have a Black(negative) Yellow 12v+, Red 5v + and Orange 3.3v +. The Specs call for the rated voltage +/- 5%.


I'm sorry, but what is this? I don't have any spare wires. I just have what's already in the computer.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Every one of these I've had apart had extra 4 pin molex plugs attached to the power supply in case you ever add another hard drive.










From> Molex connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Wrench97 said:


> Start with a spare 4 pin molex(hard drive connector) it'll have a Black(negative) Yellow 12v+, Red 5v + and Orange 3.3v +. The Specs call for the rated voltage +/- 5%.


I found it. But it has 2 black wires in the middle, red on the side, and yellow on the other side. There is no orange. I put the black lead of the Voltmeter on the in one of the black slots in the middle, and then the red into one of the outer slots (red wire) and no voltage came up. Same goes for the slot w/ the yellow wire. I tried switching to the other slot w/ the black wire and nothing. I'm not reading any power at all. The computer is on w/ the amber light blinking. Plugged into the wall socket.

Am I doing something wrong or is my PSU just dead? But the light on the motherboard is on, so shouldn't my PSU be fine? Can I buy a new PSU from Best Buy, try it, and if it doesn't solve the problem, return it?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The light on the motherboard only means it has 5v standby power.
Black lead to the black wire, red lead to to yellow wire should be 12v, red lead to the red wire should be 5v.

See this sticky> http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html

Check the Green wire(pin 14) in the 24 pin connector on the motherboard the voltage should read about 5v and drop to 0v when the power button on the front is pressed.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Wrench97 said:


> The light on the motherboard only means it has 5v standby power.
> Black lead to the black wire, red lead to to yellow wire should be 12v, red lead to the red wire should be 5v.
> 
> See this sticky> http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html
> ...


Green wire (pin 14) is 3.86 V when the power button is not on. And when I press the power button, it doesn't change at all. And when I press the power button the blinking light doesn't come on because I have to take out the whole 24 pin connector in order to test the voltages through it.

On the 4 pin extra connector thing, I can't read any voltages either. Even when the 24 pin connector is plugged in, still can't read voltages on anything. The only parts I can read voltage on are the dark purple wire on the 24 pin connector & the green wire. Dark purp wire is reading 5.02 V. Does this mean my PSU is dead?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Without the 24 pin plugged in the green wire would not change the power button connects it to the ground momentarily to signal it to start, that of course happens through the motherboard.

Sounds like a dead PSU see if you can borrow one to test with.


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## set123 (Aug 21, 2012)

Based on some of your photos, you might also want to clean the dirt off the screen just behind the power button, and off the front grill of the heat sink for the CPU. There are probably other areas also (video card fan), but I can't see those. The higher temps caused by the lack of air could have contributed to your power supply failure.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

It turns out my PSU and my whole motherboard was shot. I took it to best buy so I can use their spare PSU, and it worked. The fans started up but the power button became a steady amber rather than blinking, so something else was up. So I connected the new PSU to the hard drive and plugged in a monitor and all, and it still wasn't working. Then the guy at Best Buy said my motherboard was shot, because 3 of the capacitors were totally fried (wasn't noticable to me).

He said it must've been because of a power surge, and I believe him because 2 of my older desktops also got fried motherboards due to the power surge. It seems to be in this room specifically, cuz nothing else (TVs, laptops) ever got fried in any of the other rooms of my house. 

Now I want to buy a new desktop, but I'm afraid of frying that one too. Is there any kind of surge protector I can get that has its own fuse and can take the surge first before my computer? I don't want this to happen again.

Thanks.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

By the way, just to add to the story. I always plug my PC into a 'surge protector' but it doesn't have its own fuse or anything. So I don't even know why it's a 'surge protector' if it doesn't protect my PC from the surge.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Glad yo got the issue resolved but sorry to hear of the damages.
Many surge protectors are not fused ( the protection is in the circuitry)and all surge protectors are not created equal.
Also, any surge protector that has failed should be replaced.
That many problems in one room (circuit) indicates a very possible problem with the household wiring or at least that particular circuit.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Am I better off getting a UPS for about $60 from Staples rather than getting a Surge Protector for about $30-40? I've seen Surge Protectors as high as $80 and UPS' as high as $160 as well.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

A cheap UPS will offer no better protection that a cheap surge protector. A decent UPS that offers power modulation and conditioning sized properly to your system will be at least $200 and require battery replacements every 3-4 years.


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## pyaarawala (Aug 20, 2012)

Wrench97 said:


> A cheap UPS will offer no better protection that a cheap surge protector. A decent UPS that offers power modulation and conditioning sized properly to your system will be at least $200 and require battery replacements every 3-4 years.


The guy at Staples said that the only difference between a cheap UPS and an expensive one is how long the battery lasts after the power goes out. They were all APC brands at Staples, and the cheapest one was $50. My main concern is 100% protection from the power surges. I could careless about the continued battery life after the power goes out. 

What should I buy? I don't know which surge protector or UPS or whatever I should get in my situation. There are so many brand surge protectors at many different prices. This is the new desktop I just bought:

Newegg.com - ASUS CM1740-US-2AH Desktop PC A8-Series APU A8-3820(2.50GHz) 6GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6550D Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

pyaarawala said:


> Am I better off getting a UPS for about $60 from Staples rather than getting a Surge Protector for about $30-40? I've seen Surge Protectors as high as $80 and UPS' as high as $160 as well.


I would again suggest having the household wiring/circuitry checked.
Damage to that many units in the same room would concern me.
And, don't pay a lot of attention the people who work in big box stores. :smile:


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