Optiplex 620 blinking amber power light/solid amber mobo light

[TheOriginalDogbyte]

pc wont power up, after i plug the PSU 24pin plug into a tester, the fan on the heat sink starts working. but the PSU shows to be good, im not positive about this little tester i have, the only light that didnt light up on it was the -5V. all the rest did, +5v, +3.3v, -12v,PG, +12v, +5VSB. so if the PSU tester is legit, im thinking maybe a mobo malfunction, or a short somewhere in the power button/housing. the light on the power button is flashing amber bout every 3 seconds, and the light on the mobo itself is solid amber. if i didnt have a tester, i would have guess its the PSU, still might be, but i have two PSU testers and they both say they are good, but they are cheap ones, its not like i have a multimeter and can see how much output each rail is putting off. so i dont know for sure.

 

[ski]

The cause may be either a bad PS or MB.
Here's another PS testing method:

http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html

 

[TheOriginalDogbyte]

hey good post, thats a good website. tomorrow ill test the PSU with a volt meter i got at home, and if that pans out, ill blame it on the mobo.

 

[IRudebwoy]

I had similar failures on a few OptiPlex SX280 that I maintain. The only solution was to have a Dell tech replace the mobo. Bad capacitors.

Hope they are under warranty.

Have Fun!

 

[TheOriginalDogbyte]

yeah i have 6 gx270's that dell is sending me new mobo's, if they have bad caps the warranty doesnt matter, these machines warranties went out over 2 years ago. but they are still honoring the mobo's. but they have to at least show bulging caps, but most of the ones i have are busted and leaking.

 

[dseaver]

I worked a work study at my university's library and they had 50+ Opti's and something like 90% of them had bad capacitors on them

 

[TheOriginalDogbyte]

yeah matter of fact, i just had a worker email me this morning and i think its gonna be yet another bad cap issue. im just glad they are replacing them, you only have til the end of January though to claim them.