Have a dell gx280, shut it down last night and this morning the normally green start up lite was flashing amber. after looking at some forum most replied with either replacing the mb or power supply which i have done. still no start up the power supply fan makes a click noise and the fan moves slightly but does not come on .there is a lite on the mb that is green

For the Optiplex 320, a flashing amber light with no sound indication can mean 3 things.

1) Your power supply has failed

2) Your motherboard failed, most likely from a bad capacitor.

3) The front panel board (where the power button is located) is faulty or not connected properly.

I've worked with 10's of 1000's of Dell Optiplex's over the past 8 years and the flashing amber light is well known as a tell-tail sign of one of those three failure. Always start your trouble shoot with a PSU tester, then inspect the motherboard for domed or split/leaking capacitors...then on to the front panel which would require another panel and ribbon from the same model.

See if the power light goes amber after power up. I had (have - still siting in my basement) one that did same. Power up, fans go full blast . Power light goes and stays amber. This is USUALLY caused by bad capacitors on the mother board. Known GX280 problem going back. If you look on the motherboard, the capacitors should have flat tops and not leaking. If the are rounded or leaking, the MB has probably gone bad.

I obviously can not be 100% sure about this as the unit is not here.

You can google "gx280 solid amber light loud fan" and see the issues. Here is one such link.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19253544/19414291.aspx

sounds like you might have bad memory or most likely a bad processor

Normally a solid amber light indicates there has been some type of hardware failure. Possibly power supply, possibly motherboard.


Here is a link with a few things you can try.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/17145803.aspx

Here is the info straight from Dell. looks like you have an internal power issue. You will most likely need to contact Dell directly for assistance, they are pretty good about giving support even if the system is no longer covered under warranty.

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.

when i turn the printer on the light flashes amber several times, then green then repeats flashing amber, and back to green etc. turning it off and back on made no difference. last time it worked normally after being off for a couple of days, but now it is doing that again.

Amber light flashes 7 times, then green for a couple of seconds, then amber 7 times etc.

Your power supply is bad. 100% bad. I sell these computers and run across this alot.

Hi damos_turbo,

I wish I better news for you, but your going to be going into PC hell. What the amber light is telling you is that something on inside the case is bad. It could be the CPU, or the motherboard, or the PSU.
I would give you my normal advice with dealing with MO's but with the Dell 8300, it has a life of it's own.

Determining was is broken is like detective work. What I do, is take everything off the board to start. Then add the minimum to start a board to see if it will start. That's one drive (cd or otherwise) the CPU, and one bank of memory. (that's not a required eliminate, but it helps avoid beep codes) Also, if your going to load a ide drive, make sure you set your pin setting correctly on it. Now, you should get the power supply on, and the cpu. If those don't power up, it's then either one of the five elements. The CPU, Power supply, Ram, Drive, or the motherboard. The next step is to replace each one of the first four to see if you get any change. If no change, then I usually get another board that I can test the first four, and make sure that they work. After that, then I say you have a dead Board. As I said in the beginning, PC hell is here.

I sometimes just advise people to get a new computer, If you like dell's they have new ones for $300.00 to not only match what you have, but will have a whole lot more speed.

Good Luck and don't forget to leave a rating.
Thanks
Mark

You need to listen carefully to those beeps they will tellyou in a moment where to start looking for any problem

They are listed in your manual but if you dont have that then they re listed on the dell websiteunder the support section Q and A.

The green light just means it is plugged in and getting power.Try pulling the plug, the green light will go out. If you can remove the battery out of the motherboard, "it looks like a quarter", leaveit out for a couple minutes and out it in 'The same way it was" make sure you "look" at it before removing it, it has a little release thatenables it to lock in, or pop out. plug it in and give it a start. It may just be the settings got corrupted, that little battery saves the start settings, once it starts, we can go into the bios if any settings need changing, I'll keep an eye on this post, good luck