Dell E510 1 and 4 LEDs stay green, NO POWER UP

Hi, my dell E510 wont fully power up, when i turn it on the Dell screen pops up and loads up to about 90%, at which point it just freezes. My keyboard wont respond to anything. Ive trouble shooted it and after a while fiqured out that the front I/O board was bad (or at least thats what i thought). I just pluged in my usb wireless network card into one of the USB ports on the front and the computer powered up just fine. This worked a couple of times, but the problem came back. I decided to order a replacement front I/O board from dell, and when i received it i replaced it and it powered up fine the first time, but has not since.

I researched some more and tried to narrow the problem down and make sure it was the front I/O board. I did this by unplugging the computer, disconnecting the entire front I/O board, taking out the CMOS battery, and resetting the MB by using the CLR pins, reinserting the CMOS battery then plugging back in the power supply. The computer turned on by itself as it was supposed to, but the same problem existed (90% loaded on the DELL screen). This leads me to believe that the I/O board isnt bad, because if it was it should have powered up just fine, which doesnt make sense because when i mess with it sometimes it will work, but hasnt recently.

Everytime i try to power it up the front 1 and 4 led lights will turn green and stay green once the DELL load screen gets to 90%. Any Help is greatly appreciated.

 

Wouldn't you know it, your error codes are here but there's nothing listed for 1 and 4. I suggest you contact Dell support.

 

Another thing to note, when i first hit the power button it jumps from 2 and 3 on to 1 and 4, and when it did work the few times, there was an error about something to do with the floppy drive. There has never been a floppy drive installed on this computer. I usually just hit F1 or something (cant remember) and proceed to the windows load up screen when this happens.

 

Did the floppy error occur before you reset the CMOS?

 

That could be what happend, regardless it still doesnt work...

 

I asked because I wanted to know if the errors were related. If the floppy error occurred after you reset the CMOS then it probably has nothing to do with the main problem (just a BIOS setting that you can disable). If it happened before then it could be the problem. So, can you get to the BIOS setup or will it not get that far (I think tapping the F2 key after it startsup will enter BIOS setup.)

 

The floppy error occured after i reset the CMOS, i dont think it has anything to do with the problem. It wont allow me to use the keyboard at all (unresponsive), although when i plug in my keyboard into the front USB port it receives power, so i dont think there is anything wrong with the I/O board (plus its brand new), Ive read the capacitor on them go bad from time to time. Plus i did the test i talked about in the original post.

 

This could be the RAM. If you have two sticks try removing one and boot. Then try the other by itself. If you run with one stick it may have to be in one slot or the other to work. So do some experimenting and see what you can learn. Obviously, if it works with one and not the other then you've found the problem. If it does the same thing it's been doing every time, well at least the RAM is most likely not the problem.

 

Yea i tried that also, didnt work. Do you think the power supply could be bad? It doesnt make sense that that could be the problem because it has worked sporadically, specifically when i installed the new I/O board, but now doesnt. I am going to try and replace the CMOS battery with a new one. What does it usually mean when it freezes on the POST?

 

Resetting your CMOS has reset your Bios. Go into Bios and Disable your Floppy. Check and make sure everything else you need is Enabled, (i.e. USB ports) Jazz

 

It wont let me get into the bios, because the keyboard doesnt respond, although it does get power...

 

Nothing from Dell? They won't answer a simple question about their LED codes? It's looking like it's mobo or PSU. Could do the old switcheroo with the PSU but you'd have to find an appropriate working replacement.

 

If your keyboard is usb it won't work. Do you have a standard keyboard you can borrow or get to use if that's the case? Jazz