Dell Optiplex GX280 ...Amber light on power button.

[shash_bro]

Hi,

The dell optiplex GX280 came in with the amber light flashing on the power button. It mostly seemed like the power supply. Tried a power supply from another Dell...did not work. Then tried another power supply of dell ... and it booted...I ran the diagnostics and it passed all the tests. But today I restarted the mouse and keyboard wldn't work. So I reopened the casing and checked the connections, and again restarted the system. This time it went back to the original problem ...amber light flashing on the power button???:mad:

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

From Dell:

If the power light is amber and green or steady amber — A device might be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed.

* Remove and then reinstall the memory modules.
* Remove and then reinstall any cards.
* Remove and then reinstall the graphics card, if applicable.


Not drom Dell:
Additionally, try a barebones boot such as temporarily removing all optical and magnetic drives such as CD and Floppy drives, other add-on cards not needed for basic viewing such PVR (TV capture card) or sound card,
even possibly a video card if you can defer to onboard.

If any card above is shorted in some electrical current way or otherwise malfunctioning, it can make the power supply appear to be at fault by overloading it on any of it's (usually 3-4) rails.

If this latter suggestions helps, try rebooting after putting max one card back per reboot. But reboot at least 3 times per re-addition to look for an intermittent problem with each card.

If this sounds like a bit much for you, take it a step at a time and we can assist you with each step if needed.

[shash_bro]

Solution was to discard it.


I tried barebones boot and, the amber light was lit. (have tried different power supplies). I guess it must be a motherboard issue... prolly a dying capacitor.