Is the power button the only blinking light? There should be numbers 1,2,3,4 on the front above the power button. Check to see if any of these are lit up amber as well. Each number depicts a part of the PC.
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Blinking Amber Light and System Keeps Shutting Down
Have Dell GX520 and starting last week it will only stay on for about 5 minutes and then it shuts down and the front power button is blinking amber. In order to re-start the computer you need to hold the power button in for about 20 seconds or more. I see many with the "blinking amber light" problem, but usually their computer won't power on at all. This one has no problem coming up, loading windows, etc. but will only stay on for about 5 minutes. The system is set to "always on" in power settings also.
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Answers
Here is a link to what the diagnostic lights mean:
http://support.dell.c
I would also pop open the PC to check to be sure the processor and system fans are both running. Could be something overheating and shutting the system down. If not try removing any add-on cards you installed recently and a different power supply if available.
I had already disabled all the sleep, hibernation and power savings settings both in the BIOS and in Windows itself. I just turned the screen to "blank". Reseated the power supply cables. Noticed that while the cover is off, the fan is running very erratically - and the number "1" light is blinking on & off - this is while the unit is still on and the green power light is steady green. I am going to wait to see what happens once it shuts off and goes into the "BLINKING AMBER MODE". I will post back with that.
Do you have Symantec Antivirus Corp Edition? I know there is an issue with some dell optiplex models and version 10.0 and 10.1 of the AV. If you have this version, try removing it or updating to at least 10.2.
Also the number 1 refers to the memory modules. Try either reseating the modules, removing one at a time, or replace them and test.
Yes, it is running Symantec Antivirus Corp. Edition, but it is already version 10.2. I was wrong in the indication of the number - it was not a "1"...it was the cylinder-shaped one. Also...it has now gone into it's "blinking amber state" and NONE of the other numbers or the cylinder are lit. I have run all of the Dell diagnostics and everything - memory, cpu fan, hard drive, video, etc. say "passed".
I've had this happen to 4 or 5 of these. In every case, it's always the power supply fan. If it doesn't spin freely when powered off, the fan bearings are freezing up. You can take the power supply apart, pull the label off the fan, and there's a rubber plug in the back of the fan. Pop it out and oil the bearing. No more flashing light after 5 or 10 minutes. Dell's power supply fans are terrible. I think every computer in my office has had the power supply fan go out after a few years.
I've had 12 (out of 50) failures on the GX520 SFF due to overheating... I no longer accept a new power supply, and Dell has been replacing the entire unit.
In addition to the issues described here, I've seen that the excessively hot output from the CPU heat sink fries the HD, the system board, or both...
Replace the unit! Anything less is a band aid that will eventually result in the unit failing again....
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by: AndrewKeimPosted on 2008-07-31 at 14:20:41ID: 22133631
There are a few possibilities for this problem..
1. It can be caused by the permanent power saving problem i've seen on a few Dell's that i've worked on while at work.. Essentially it goes into sleep mode and never comes out..
Possible solutions are to boot up the system and imediately go into the bios and disable all power saving modes.
Also make sure When you boot into windows to turn off all power saving features and ensure that it does not goto sleep, hibernation or allow the monitor to turn off.. The best screen saver is a blank screen, this can be accomplished by selecting screen savers and then selecting the "Blank screen" option.. This will protect your monitor and also prevent the monitor from shutting off..
2. You should try to update the bios to the latest version or restore bios defaults if the above did not work. Goto support.dell.com and download the latest bios firmware and install it.
3. Another possibility could be that your CPU is over-heating, this can be caused by improperly seated heat-sink, inadequete heat-sink paste (I reccomend Artic silver Ceramique as it is non electrically conductive, but conducts heat well.) Also if both of these are fine, then I highly reccomend upgrading your heat-sink CPU to something better, preferably a Heat-piped/Copper CPU cooler.
4. Sometimes unstable memory or overheating memory can cause shutdowns.. This can be caused by mis-matched memory (Different brands, serial numbers, frequencies, generic ram....) It is also possible that the memory slot is damaged I would try one stick at a time to see if this prevents the shutdown issues... i.e. Slot 1, then slot 2.. then try slot 1 and 3.. and then try slot 2 and 4, etc...