[SOLVED] Dell precision t3500 giving a solid/non-blinking orange light. What's the failing component?

15YrOldCaptain

Prominent
Dec 26, 2019
7
0
510
My Dell precision t3500 pc one day had a BSOD and restarted. Since then when ever I power it up it's giving me a solid/non-blinking orange light on the power button with no diagnostic lights or beep. It happens with every component removed as well. I can't find on Dell websites if it's pointing towards a PSU issue or mb. I've also tried the PSU check button behind. It gives a green light. Happened randomly before but now seems the case on every boot I try :(
 
Solution
You can get the online Delll manual for that and see what that light means.
https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_dell_precision_workstation/precision-t3500_service manual_en-us.pdf
But yes the PSU can be swapped for an aftermarket ATX unit. If you get it running there are unlocked Xeon CPUs (W3680) that can be overclocked in that using Throttlestop software, and the 3 channel RAM helps them keep up fairly well. A gaming GPU, and PSU can be moved forward to a newer machine later.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/36768588

The CPUs don't have the latest AVC instruction set. So some of the latest games won't run properly.

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
From the looks of it, the motherboard does not have any proprietary connectors while the PSU doesn't either. With that in mind, see if you can source a donor PSU from your friend or neighbor who owns a reliably built 550W unit in order to power your workstation up. Speaking of power, you might want to see if you can also source donor parts from your neighbor like memory sticks to try on your motherboard. You should be able to work with one stick of ram on the motherboard but you should see what slots give you POST.
 

15YrOldCaptain

Prominent
Dec 26, 2019
7
0
510
From the looks of it, the motherboard does not have any proprietary connectors while the PSU doesn't either. With that in mind, see if you can source a donor PSU from your friend or neighbor who owns a reliably built 550W unit in order to power your workstation up. Speaking of power, you might want to see if you can also source donor parts from your neighbor like memory sticks to try on your motherboard. You should be able to work with one stick of ram on the motherboard but you should see what slots give you POST.
Thanks for the reply. So you're saying you can't diagnose what's failed with the orange power light. I'll try to look up online for the parts.
 

Joseph_138

Distinguished
Honestly, if you have to sink too much money into fixing this, you'd be better off to buy something newer. That board is LGA1366 and X58 chipset, which is way outdated at this point. That's 1st gen core i7. 4th generation i7 machines can be had for a few hundred dollars on ebay that would be a lot faster.

Here's one as an example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304037550993?hash=item46ca0cdb91:g:pZsAAOSw35FgzQuS
 
You can get the online Delll manual for that and see what that light means.
https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_dell_precision_workstation/precision-t3500_service manual_en-us.pdf
But yes the PSU can be swapped for an aftermarket ATX unit. If you get it running there are unlocked Xeon CPUs (W3680) that can be overclocked in that using Throttlestop software, and the 3 channel RAM helps them keep up fairly well. A gaming GPU, and PSU can be moved forward to a newer machine later.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/36768588

The CPUs don't have the latest AVC instruction set. So some of the latest games won't run properly.
 
Solution