Amber Light of Death (ALOD) Troubleshooting on Dell Computers

Dealing with customer computer troubleshooting for significant period of time, somehow, I was lucky not to get the “Amber Light of Death” before. But, obviously, this problem is quite frequently discussed in the online computer-related forums and message boards, thus is quite common.

Problem Description

The computer power is pushed, and the power light is continuously blinking, you see power monitoring leds are ON, and fans are working. But computer does not proceed to the OS boot, and even does not go to the BIOS. The computer monitor is essentially blank.

Problem Source

Based on the Dell users manual description the following problem points out on the power distribution failure inside the computer, while the computer does receive the electrical power from the power outlet.

Troubleshooting

Unfortunately, the problem has multiple explanations, and there are many things that can go wrong in its relation. Therefore, I will propose the following troubleshooting plan, starting from easy-to-do items and continuing to more complicated. Following every step, verify the computer performance. This way, you will know exactly, what the problem source is.

1. Check the power selection switch at your computer and ensure that the voltage selection is set properly to match the AC power at your location. Switch it back and force to ensure that it is indeed at the right position.

2. If you use UPS, reset it.

3. Try different power outlet to ensure that the problem is coming not from your external power supply.

4. Perform the computer “cold reboot” - shut it down, wait 5 minutes, and turn it again.

5. Shut down your PC, open the case, and verify all the cables are connected properly. Ensure that the processor power cable is securely connected to the system board.

6. Examine all your USB ports (front & back) for pins that are bent or pushed in and fix any that are bent. This appears to be the most frequent reason of the problem appearance.

7. Reset 3V battery on the Motherboard.

8. Replace 3V batter on the Motherboard.

9. Remove one-by-one all the nonessential hardware elements in the computer by disconnecting them from the motherboard, like non-essential boards, Floppy, DVD, network cards, etc.

10. Blow carefully with air blower inside the computer case. That will ensure that no pieces of metal or debris could cause the short circuit.

11. Swap the power supply in from another PC. Dell claims the power supply replacement is the #1 solution to this problem.

12. If there is no improvement, there is a good chance that the Motherboard should be replaced. Several users reported that the Motherboard was a core source for the problem appearance. But, in most cases, it means that it might be easier and cheaper to shop for a new computer.

Having Free Fun with DeeFunia

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Procedure is simple and straightforward. You choose the effect (background) for your photo, upload it from your computer, and shortly (about a minute of processing) you have a resulting image. You can download it on your computer, or embed directly to your blog or profile on social networking sites with provided code.

Website authors are hoping to make money from advertising, so the services should stay free. Interface in English or Chinese.

It is recommended to prepare nice square shape passport like image for your experiments to get the best results.

Website: http://deefunia.com/

Who Used Your PC in your Absence?

There is a way to review the log of the historical activities on your computer. That can be useful, if you want to track the chain of events that lead to the certain problems with computer performance, or you need to check what computer-related activities on your PC at your absence were performed.

First, you should go and enter the following command in the Command Prompt: "Start > Run > Eventvwr.msc".

Note that all events are recorded in three stored log files: Application, Security, and System. These logs can be reviewed and archived for future use. For our current purposes, we will use the System log.

Click on “System" in the left-hand column for a list of events. Look for a date and time of the data you want to check, or when you were not at home. Double click on the info and it will show you the related details. You can also use this log file to check for how long your computer was used in your absence. Just look at the time the computer was turned on and off for that day of question.