My Dell Dimension E510 wouldn't turn on

[dlynns]

I had left my Dell Dimension E510 on and came back later and it wouldn't turn on. The front power light was flashing yellow and no matter how long I pushed it, it wouldn't turn on.

I disconnected the power for a bit and re-connected it and still the same.

Someone said in a post somewhere to try removing the RAM sticks because they thought it might be caught in a data loop somehow. This didn't help.

Someone else said it was hung somehow and that the wake up on lan was enabled.

Finally, I unplugged the computer again and removed the quarter-sized lithium ion battery on the motherboard, put it back in, plugged the power back in and it powered up fine.

 

[VoteGreen]

Yep, I had the exact same problem... exact same solution.

Dell Dimension E510, running linux Fedora
Symptom: Won't power on, will not boot, power button blinks yellow.

In my case, my ten-month old daughter was playing with the mouse on a blank desktop. She magically powered it off! When I tried to power it back on... nothing. Button blinks yellow. Tried disconnecting power cord. Nothing. Tried disconnecting all cords and leaving it to cool for an hour. Nothing. Found this post. Opened it up, popped out the CMOS battery, waited 30 sec, popped it back in. Poof! Powers on just fine, back to normal. Of course, it lost all the BIOS data, so I had to go in to setup and reset the time/date. It initially failed to boot when the floppy drive seek failed (of course it failed! I don't have a floppy drive.) Back in to BIOS setup, go to "drives", set floppy to "off", reboot. Works great!.

If this happens to you, I'd recommend replacing the CMOS battery. $5 at Radio Shack (panasonic lithium 3V, CR2032)

Happy Computing!

 

[dellUser12]

My Dell Dimension E510 Would not turn on either

Wow, you guys are life savers, I almost freaked out when I saw my main computer where I do my important stuff not turn on....It's great to have people that post previous experiences and try to help others....I was able to turn on my machine after taking out the battery...Now I'm off to RS to purchase my new battery.

 

[mailpup]

Take further advantage of this experience and start backing up all of your valuable files on a regular basis.

 

[masterkiller32]

Same Problem here

In my case was a bad power supply, i try another power supply and computer work fine .

 

[bellabella357]

Hi guys,

My E510 won't turn on and has the blinking light in the front, as well. I tried replacing the battery, as many have suggested, with no luck. Next, I ordered and installed a new power supply. The fan in the computer rotates in small surges, but the computer won't power on and continues to blink. Does this mean the only other possible explanation is the motherboard? If that's the case, I will probably just resort to buying a new computer and taking this one in to recover the pictures on our hard drive. (I know, I know. I have my laptop pictures backed up, but not everything on my PC.)

Looking around online it's clear that this is an insanely common problem. I can't believe DELL is not recalling this model or at least paying for the repairs.

 

[sllewe]

This really does seem to be a common problem.

Most are fixed with these steps

Unplug computer, disconnect all usb/monitor/internet, open it, hold power button until green led on the inside on the motherboard turns off, pop out the BIOS battery (looks like a big watch battery and use a small flathead screwdriver to depress the spring lock on one side), plug in computer, hold power button for about 20 seconds (must reset BIOS or something), let up on power button, wait 10 seconds and push power button. The computer should turn on. Wait for it until activity seems stable (1 min. or so). Push power button to shut off.

But in your case it may be your motherboard. Look for any bulging or oozing capacitors on the motherboard. Is the power supply you replaced know good?

 

[bellabella357]

^ I followed those steps to replace the battery exactly, but with no luck. That's when I ordered a power supply, and it was brand new with warranty.

I'm not seeing any oozing or burned components.