Problem with Dell pc

good2talk

Hi everyone,

I have a Dell Optiplex GX 280 desktop pc. Everything was working fine until yesterday when I tried turning it on, it wouldn't boot up as normal but on the front its just lighting up a steady amber light instead of the steady green light. With this amber light on, there is no display on the monitor and there is a fan humming sound from the pc, it gradually gets very loud like airplane engine! The pc doesn't shut down after this but just continues with this humming loud sound. I left it for about 10 mins and then I turned it off.
I have not had any software/hardware changes at all. I opened the unit up and softly hoovered the dust from the inside and closed the unit and turned the pc on again. This time it booted up normally and there was the steady green light on front. I thought problem solved.
Today I turned pc on again and same problem again, steady amber light and loud fan humming sound. I turned pc off and opened unit up to check inside but everything looked ok. I closed the unit and tried turning on again. Once again it turned on as normal with green light on the front. I turned off and left it for a few hours.
This evening I turned pc on, and once again, the steady amber light on at front and loud humming fan sound. I turned off and opened and closed unit and turned it on again. Once again the pc booted up as normal with green light on front.
So just by opening and closing the pc unit (desktop) my problem seems to get solved. This is too much hassle to keep doing regularly.
Please could somebody kindly let me know what to do, and what the cause could be and what solutions are available for me to try. I don't want to spend too much money on this pc as its a fairly old model.
Many thanks in advance

Good2talk

closed

Not a solution, but try holding down the on/off button for 10 seconds next time it happens rather than opening the lid, and check all the internal connections.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Overheating ? in general ! - Goosed PSU or Overheating - which is it ?

- fan on the CPU / GPU / PSU / squirrel cage blower / wearing a quilt
- Q&D test - take the sides off run it for as long as hours if it works ok its overheating. Attend to the fluff !

pureorange

Optiplex's are plagued by bad motherboards, something like 97% failure rate over 3 years. (Google it)

Bad capacitors are often the problem, so look for bulging capacitors on the board. I'd post links to help, but I can't cos I'm a noob