Amber light, Dell inspiron 580 will not boot.

[Hershal]

When booting, PC's "hard drive self monitoring system" turned on - went to the Bios - I exited bios and was able to complete boot sequence. Tried to backup PC several times. Backup would not complete with Win 7 either crashing with this error "kernel_data_inpage_error.

Unable to backup, I took a risk and ran chkdsk \r overnight. The next day, the machine would only boot in safe mode and then would immediately crash (BSOD) "bugcode_usb_driver"

Unable to do a memtest now, I decided to open up the machine and systematically removed the pairs of ram. What I immediately noticed was the solid amber light on the motherboard. I removed both pairs of ram (trying to see if I had a bad pair etc) and the end result is that the machine will not boot at all. The amber light is still one. The fans are working and the light is green on the back of the pc. I do not believe that the hard drive is spinning. What should I do next? Thank you!

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Possible hard drive failure. Test it with a boot disc which contains the drive maker's diagnostic software for DOS.

For all except WD drive's the links are here: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
For WD drives the link is here: http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com/topic/63494-looking-for-western-digital-data-lifeguard-iso/

You can use IMGBurn to create a CD from the CD Image: http://filehippo.com/download_imgburn

Then boot your PC from that CD.

 

[Hershal]

Thank you for your reply. I very much appreciate it. I did as you requested but ran into other issues. I could not boot the computer as I had no power or at least the lights are out on the on/off button. The only power I have is the yellow/amber light on the motherboard. Unlike my last attempt, the fans were still operative. I did try using a brand new hard (for the sake of it) and yielded the same results.

I don't know if I am incurring multiple issues (possible hard drive failure) as well as a power supply and/or motherboard failure.

Could a failing power supply be responsible in any way, shape or form for the errors that I described in my initial thread? If not then maybe its best to scrap the unit. Please let know what you think and again, I thank you kindly for your assistance.
Hershal

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Thing is, you're trying to troubleshoot too many things at the same time instead of concentrating on one at a time. You'll get nowhere fast with that approach.

In your first post you said the PC won't boot with all the RAM removed, well of course it won't, that's normal behaviour for any PC with no RAM installed.

Start with the PSU (replace it with good quality one) so you at least know that's okay. Then start up your PC and deal with one issue at a time.

You can test the RAM from a boot CD just like testing the hard drive: http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm#free

 

[Hershal]

I will replace the PSU. I need to correct my earlier statement which is I wanted to see if I had any bad RAM (and removed RAM testing the 4 slots) I never tried to run the PC less any RAM.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Power supply or motherboard.

 

[Hershal]

Hello,

I replaced the PSU as requested. I have power back to the on/off switch and the fans are operative once again. The amber/yellow light is still on the motherboard and I have no power to the hard drive. I also purchased a brand new hard drive and that drive is not getting power/spinning either.

I did reinstall the original PSU and it is defective as the fans are inoperative and there is no power to the on/off switch. With the original PSU, the only visible usage of power is the amber/yellow light on the motherboard.

Could a failing PSU have done damage to the motherboard and hard drive?

Thank you again.

Hershal