onipar
Member
Hi all. I have a Dell Dimension E510. About a year ago I started getting the dreaded flashing amber light, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with. If not it basically goes like this: I try to start up my computer and am greeted with only a flashing amber light in place of the normal green light, and the computer refuses to start.
I've used all the "quick fixes" over the past year to keep my computer going (replacing/removing CMOS battery, etc). But since I'm out of warranty and I'm broke, I've been resistant to the inevitable diagnostic checkout from a computer shop to figure out which of he few possible components (PSU, Motherboard, etc) have died.
Onto my question: For the past couple months, I figured out that if I unplug my hard drive from the PSU, the computer would start up fine. Then I just plug the HDD back in, and everything is fine. I did this for a couple months, and it worked every time. Only now, it's not working anymore.
What I'm hoping is that someone here can tell me if this one clue (the fact that the computer would start when I unplugged the HDD) is enough to figure out what component of my computer I need to replace?
Does it mean I need a new PSU (he asks with fingers crossed)???
I sort of thought that unplugging the HDD took away some of the stress for the PSU to start up, and maybe that's all I need.
Please help. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears.
Thanks so much!
I've used all the "quick fixes" over the past year to keep my computer going (replacing/removing CMOS battery, etc). But since I'm out of warranty and I'm broke, I've been resistant to the inevitable diagnostic checkout from a computer shop to figure out which of he few possible components (PSU, Motherboard, etc) have died.
Onto my question: For the past couple months, I figured out that if I unplug my hard drive from the PSU, the computer would start up fine. Then I just plug the HDD back in, and everything is fine. I did this for a couple months, and it worked every time. Only now, it's not working anymore.
What I'm hoping is that someone here can tell me if this one clue (the fact that the computer would start when I unplugged the HDD) is enough to figure out what component of my computer I need to replace?
Does it mean I need a new PSU (he asks with fingers crossed)???
I sort of thought that unplugging the HDD took away some of the stress for the PSU to start up, and maybe that's all I need.
Please help. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears.
Thanks so much!