Odd PC Power-Up Problem

[nickyj182]

My Wife uses a Dell Dimension E510, and it is having problems starting up. The power button on the front simply flashes orange in and out, and when pushed/held in it will not power up. Ive tried messing with the power cord and such but no luck, any suggestions?

I know this isn't a mac question, but ive been a mac user for 10 years and gotta help out the wifey dammit!

 

[tytanic11]

On the front of nearly all Dell desktops, there's 4 status lights - usually displayed as the numbers 1 through 4 - in some cases they're faint and not obvious to the eye. Usually they're near the power button - sometimes they're on the back of the computer near the USB ports (usually on older models) . Either way, find those numbers and post which ones are lit (they're supposed to be green when lit, otherwise they'll be amber or not lit at all) - that'll make it very easy to diagnose the problem.

 

[toolbox]

when you push the power button in and hold it the system will start then will turn off. It's the Soft power function in the pcs.

When the system is turned on does it beep? any display on the screen? Can you here the HDD spin up?

What you can do for some maintance is to take the side off, blow all the dust out either with a can of compressed air, or use a aircompresser Before you do that remove all the addin cards, like video, ram. ( with the air compresser be careful around the fan blades. Larges burst of air on flanblades can snap them) Then clean the cards with isopropyl alcohol,( just the contacts) but them back in see if it fires up.