Solid orange light on power button, could this mean a faulty power supply?

[cakesmithinc]

So, my Desktop has just recently started refusing to boot. The light on the front of it that is normally green is now orange when it boots up, but the motherboard's light is its normal green color. There are no beeps, even though the motherboard has a little speaker on it, and I have heard beeps before while doing other things to it. The monitor does not recieve any output.

In attempting to narrow down the possibilities, I removed everything from the board except the 4 and 8 pin power cables from the power supply, the cables for the power button on the front, and with either 0, 1, and 2 sticks of ram inserted. I tested this with two different processors that I assume work; one was the original and working before, while the other was one I had just received in the mail. Each time I had the same result; no boot sounds and an orange power light.

To summarize, my question is if the orange power button signifies a faulty motherboard, or if it suggests a faulty power supply. I assume I have narrowed it down to those two options with my testing as listed above.

Thanks,
Vaughn B.


Original PC: Gateway MFATXSTL EL2 500L
Motherboard: Gateway El Paso 2 Motherboard 4000777 (original)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 processor, PGA478 (original) and Intel Core 2 Duo T5440 (installed by me)
Video card: NV875.0 Rev B (may be original, unsure)
Ethernet adapter: TP-Link TG-3269 (installed by me)
RAM: 2x PC3200U 1GB DDR 400MHz (may be original, unsure)

All the parts were installed correctly before havin this problem; The system was running Lubuntu (because it isn't very powerful) just fine.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Does the system power up? Fans start spinning etc? If it does its most likely not the power supply, i would lean towards a bad motherboard but i cant be sure.

 

[Eximo]

Fans not spinning would indicate a lack of 12V, that will certainly keep the system from booting. The LEDs would be running off the 5V bus.

If you have a voltmeter handy you should check the outputs. (If you don't, cheap ones are about $20)

 

[cakesmithinc]

Yes, the system does power up. The hard drives and the fans started making noises when I had them plugged in, and there's a little 'test' button on the power supply that turns on a green LED located on the power supply when pressed, and also makes the fans and hard drives spin up.

 

[Eximo]

Probably the motherboard or CPU then and since you tried two CPUs, back to the motherboard.

 

[cakesmithinc]

So it's probably the motherboard, then? Thanks.

 

[Onus]

Go over the motherboard, looking for bulging or leaking capacitors.
The green LED you are seeing is likely powered by +5VSB.
As old as this system is, you will be unlikely to find replacement parts. A refurbished business-class Dell or Lenovo can be found for < $200 that will easily outperform this one.

 

[cakesmithinc]

Most of the capacitors look okay. there are four that seem like they could be bulging, but my guess would be that the aren't and just look a little bit different than most of the others on the board. (They have a different 'line pattern' on top than the others.) I don't see any leaking, I assume it would look like a leaking battery.

 

[Onus]

Google for "bad capacitors" and go to the Images to see some examples. This is a likely failure point on the motherboard.

 

[cakesmithinc]

Upon closer inspection, it does look like those four capacitors I mentioned seem to be bulging and bad. Is it common for a whole row to bulge like that?

I took a picture, here:
http://imgur.com/iQEzl60
(the CPU's heatsink is that thing on the right if it means anything)

EDIT:
The bulging ones are the four bigger ones with the black coverings.

 

[Onus]

I can't see media-sharing sites at work.
Yes, it could be a whole row; they may share a particular function, such as filtering voltage going to the CPU.
For $130, this would do for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6AB2CA2541

 

[Eximo]

Those do actually look a little bulged, but they are probably still functioning well enough.

If you give them a tap and they sound hollow, then they might have dried out.

 

[cakesmithinc]

Alright, cool, thanks for your help.

EDIT:
@Eximo Sorry, I posted this reply without seeing yours. They do not sound hollow, and actually sound like all the other ones when I tap them.

 

[Eximo]

No worries. I don't often recommend that people try replacing capacitors anyway. More of a "Have you ever used a soldering iron" kind of thing.

 

[cakesmithinc]

Just a follow up, it was the CPU. Or the connection between the CPU and the motherboard. I reinstalled the CPU and it works fine now. Maybe I kicked out some dust that was built up?

Anyway, thanks again, guys.