XPS 420 Won't Start, Solid Amber Light

No change at all, it is the same.

So here's an update:

I messed around a bit more with the video card.  When the computer would turn on/off with the amber blinking light, I hit the button on the power supply to get all the fans going.  At this point last time, I got a 2 and 4 for lights, this time I did again, and then it flashed 1, then 1, 3, 4, then 3, 4, then it would blink them over and over again.  I let go of the button on the power supply, rebooted it, and again, blinking amber on/off.  I pushed on the video card for about the 100th time, being redundant as I often am with these things, and decided to press the button on the power supply again, this time the different numbers kept flashing, and 20 seconds later my computer finally booted up.  It is currently running as it always has, and I'm typing this update on it.  No doubt it will likely continue to have this problem over and over again, but I'm fairly certain the video card is the culprit (though not sure as to why after 1.5 years it just decided to intermittently stop working). 

I guess the moral of this story is that if you can't get it fixed, just keep messing with it until something changes lol.  It's insanity, but eventually it might work?  I would recommend doing as I did, pushing on your video card and then holding the button on the power supply after you've turned the computer on.  If you don't have a blinking amber light, go through Dell's long "do-it-yourself" repair thing they have on their website and eventually through the steps, it will start flashing amber.  If I have any more issues or come up with a certain fix, I'll be sure to post it for everyone else who is as unfortunate as I am in owning one of these machines. 

Cammie

woot!  Thanks Cammie. . I took your advice and did the same thing. I wiggled it, pushed on it, pushed the button on the back, and the front and after a while it looked like it was posting.  And wala, here I am on my 420 as well writing this email.

I am still not sure what was the issue as well.  I have a 8800 GTX card in mine.

I still think the psu is to underpowered for the system, but who knows.  Let's just hope it keeps working.

I checked my system configuration, and I have the GeForce 8800 GT...which is still expensive to replace 1.5 years later.  I hope it keeps working, cause I really don't want to pay $300 to get a new one.  I'm glad you were able to get your computer back up and running as well.  It seems weird how you can do the same thing over and over again, and 1 out of 20 times, it actually takes!  Insanity pays off for some of us :-).  This will certainly be my last Dell, and I hope my last post until I buy my next computer.  Thanks for everyone who had input in this thread.  You were all 1000X better than Expensive Dell Tech Support.  It worries me though that so many of us have a similar issue...

Cammie

:(  *sigh* woke up this morning with it solid amber again and unable to boot.  I was so hopping to get some work done today.

Hope yours stays on.

Mike

Sorry to hear that Cammie.  Let me know what happens. I still think its our PSU as we are WAY underpowered.  But if it works for you then I would like to know.

However a PSU is way cheaper than a videocard and we should NOT have to do this!!! We payed over 2K for what?  What I ask?   

Frustrated and ticked.

Good luck friend.

manorton200

THIS calculator may help you find the power reqirements of the XPS 420.

Bev.

Thank you Bev, but I would rather trust the specs from the manufacturer.

To drive such a powerful graphics card, the Geforce 8800GTX requires a power supply which can keep up with the hefty power requirements of your PC along with a Geforce 8800GTX installed.  The Geforce 8800GTX requires a minimum 450W or greater system power supply with a 12v current rating of 30A. 

From http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2003&p_created=1166607492&p_sid=LCOrz5Cj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD03MjMsNzIzJnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

Other evedince I have turned up shows that Dell PSU's are under powered in the first place.  Why they would ship a 425W PSU with a card that is rated for 450 is beyond me. BUt then this is the same company that shiped Vista 32bit on a system with 4 gigs of ram.

The EXTREAMLY frustrating part is the ammount of money we paid for these systems.  Right now I am out of work and cant afford the price to sit on a phone for hours with someone who will simply read a book with a flow chart on it with no real understanding of hardware.  Again, like Cam I paid over $2000 for this system.  I have built ever system up to this point and oh so wish I had used that money to build my own again.

So until someone from Dell says, yes, we admit the psu is at fault or the video card is faulty and we will replace it, I am out of luck and out of my system.

Mike

Agreed.  I was actually starting to wonder about your post. I got an email notification but the link did not work.

For the love of pete Dell, get on the ball.  We are PAYING customers.  We paid through the nose, for what?  Please just help us fix our computers so we will be happy.

This is what happens when you ship out bad parts or not matched parts for a system.

For the record, tried another video card in my system.  Still does not boot nor post! Your 420watt PSU has died!  And I am expected to pay for a call to you to get that answer after hours of pulling this, pushing that?  If I was not out of work I would think about it BUT for the love of all that is good! Do you realise how many people are out of work and can bairly keep food on the table let alone pay for your mistakes?

Mike (Frustrated even more now than before with a dead computer that Dell wont fix!)

Costco closed before I had the opportunity to get a new video card.  I talked to my brother-in-law who also had this problem with a Dell he owned, and the first word out of his mouth was "it's probably your PSU".  I wonder how many thousands of us have bad PSU's that we have to keep paying Dell to replace?  At what point do they issue a factory recall to fix their faulty products?  Seriously Mr Dell Police, answering that question would be nice for all of us to know.  Also passing on the information to your higher ups that MULTIPLE people are having these failures would probably be a good idea.  Helping upset customers is how you make them happy and possibly even retain them in the long run.  Upsetting us even more makes sure we are never a repeat buyer and that we're left with a bad taste in our mouth that we'll openly share with others who were considering buying a product from you.  "You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar".

Thank you Mike for testing the video card for all of us.  It seems our only option now is to buy another PSU.  What do they call it when a company sells you a product that they know will fail as soon as it's out of warranty?

Cammie

So I've been reading a lot on google, and we're just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the number of people who have problems with their underpowered XPS PSU's.  It seems that lots of other people have upgraded their PSU's to more powerful models.  http://pcpowerzone.com/ap.html?productid=ap&channelid=FROOG  is a 550W power supply with a 3 year warranty (far better than the 90 day one on most new Dell replacement PSU's).  http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/460-watt-power-supply-FSP460-60GLC.php?psu=FSP460-60GLC-420  here is another that seems like it would work. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most knowledgeable one on here when it comes to all of these internal components, but I'm also not afraid to play with them.  I would appreciate input from you Mike on what you think the best PSU replacement for our computer would be.  I would definitely prefer an upgraded one that has a good warranty on it, so I don't have to worry about this problem again 12 months down the road.  Anyhow, I look forward to your suggestion :)

Cammie

cammiegirl said: "A suggestion to anyone who plans on buying a Dell: purchase the extended warranty agreement or it's not worth buying their computers. "

yes. fwiw ~ dell business computers are usually purchased with a 3 to 5 year warranty (support agreement).