blinking orange light

My daughter turned off my Dell Dimension 4600c (4 years old?) for vacation.
She then turned off the power strip - with surge protector.

We came home 5 days later and she turned everything back on but when the monitor stayed black she called me -- the power button was blinking orange.

I've googled this and searched on MG so I think this is some type of power failure...but isn't it odd that this happened when it was OFF?

Nothing else in the house suggests power failure or any weird event.

I opened up the case, reseated the memory sticks, looked for anything loose - nothing. Unplugged and replugged anything I could. Let pc sit unplugged for 1 hr....nothing.

I unplugged the harddrive and tried to start the pc with the HD unplugged -- nothing happens...just a blinking orange light -- no beeps, no noise, monitor stays black.

Do I start by replacing the power supply? I have no other desktops in my house (just the laptop I'm typing on).

I know this is trial and error. I could take my HD to work and test on another Dell - is that where I should start?

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to be able to find the culprit and replace it -- I just don't have spare parts around to swap in.

 

When the case was open - I did notice a light would turn on on the motherboard.

 

Look at this page do you have four lights on the back panel? If you do I guess all 4 are off?

**********
Is your front panel light always orange or is it usually green?

 

Sorry - I should have mentioned this.
Yes I have those 4 lights.
Yes - they are all OFF

**********

It is normally always green -- now it is ONLY blinking orange -- nothing else - not off, not green, not solid orange - constant blinking orange. AND it will blink even when I unplug the back of the pc for a little bit (??)

It is off now because I held in the button long enough to turn it off. When I try to turn it on - the little green light under the power light flashes on green for 1 sec, the power light flashes orange 5 times (as I'm holding it in) then turns off). No noise or hum or any activity elsewhere on the pc.

 

I don't think the HD has anything to do with it. Power supply is probably the culprit. Wait for a real hardware person to give you a starting point.

The only thing I would try, although probably not much use, is unplugging PC and removing the battery for a couple of minutes and then putting back and trying to boot.

 

Sure - I'll try this -- I know most of my components but I don't know where the battery is on a desktop (something on the mb?)

I have also turned the power strip on & off several times (the other items plugged in it work fine) - didn't matter - and have it presently plugged into a different outlet.

I unplugged every usb and the monitor, keyboard, etc. and tried to start it - same effect.

 

removed and replaced -- still blinking orange

Little dust - no corrosion or parts off or broken.

I have no problem buying a psu - how do I know what to buy with (if I go to dell.com won't it only show me their proprietary part -- can I get a comparable version cheaper somewhere else?)