Gateway Orange Power Button

I know this has probably been posed several times before, but my power button goes orange when attempting to start the computer. I assumed it was some sort of power problem, so i went along with some troubleshooting techniques. I will list some of the things that i have done in efforts to find the problem.

*** I got a new, working power supply. No effect
*** I attempted to start the computer, with NOTHING connected, except for the CPU, power, power button, and monitor (Graphics card is built in). No effect
*** I got a new battery for the motherboard to eliminate that as part of the problem. No effect

My next thought is that there was some sort of power sure in the graphics that would be causing this, but i lack another graphics card to test it out. (which i wouldn't think a problem with the graphics, would route back to the power switch light).

Any suggestions on things to test would be welcome.

Thanks

Welcome to Dev Shed.

I'm assuming you're referring to the power light on the monitor? If this is the case:
1) At what point does it go orange? Before POST, before Windows loads up? etc?

2) Have you tried a new monitor cable?

3) When did this begin? Had anything recently been changed/installed on the computer?

4) You may need to pick up another video card to see if that's the problem. Go to your local electronics store, pick one up to test, then return it if need be.

If you're referring to power light on CPU:

1) Does it sound as though the computer is turning on and spinning up as it should? (With the exception of the orange power light)...

I think you probably have a bad motherboard and/or cpu. If it was the video card, try taking it out and you should get a post beep. Better yet, boot the PC with no RAM in it and see if you get a post beep. If you get no post beep without RAM then you probably have a bad board.

Sorry for not clarifying. It is the computer power button that goes orange.

It goes orange as soon as i turn it on. When it turns on, the HDD is spinning, and the CPU fan is running, which is why its leading me to believe it may be the graphics.

The video is built into the motherboard, and thus i have no way of removing it.
There are no beeps, of any sort, with or without ram cards in.

The way the computer was set up, was to load strait into windows. It isn't even playing the windows startup chimes even if i were to let it run blind for a while. Of course, that could mean any number of things, such as a startup prompt is required and never progresses to windows, but i thought it worth mentioning

As far as I can remember, onboard graphics cards are selected by default, so even if you had another graphics card to put in there you would have no way of selecting that card to be used because you will have to enter the bios and select it manually. This is why I never buy a computer with onboard graphics.

To confirm if it really is the graphics card, you could try looking up the error codes for your bios. Maybe this orange power LED is a way of the motherboard telling you that something is wrong, and with the list of error codes you might be able to find out exactly what it is.

I'm not 100% on this, but if you get no bios beeps at all without RAM installed, it's probably a bad board. It would be worth throwing another video card in if you're able to.

If it were a bad board, i think that it would be the graphics, because the processor fan still runs, and usb devices are powering up when plugged in (normally my jump-drives dont light up when they aren't being read, even if there is power)

As to looking up stuff in the manual, it says that an orange power button light means there is a problem with power somewhere in the computer... so of course, that tells me exactly where i need to look *sarcasm*

If i find a graphics card somewhere that i can use to test, i will...but i'd like to make sure that it isn't something else before i go out and waste money on it

How old is the computer?
Did the problem start out of the blue? i.e., had it been working OK prior?
any new hardware or USB devices? is the hard drive actually spinning?

I would try removing ALL USB devices (other than keyboard and mouse) and also disconnect the hard drive...and see if it will post

also..if there is by chance an analog (dial-up) modem card installed remove it...

a faulty pcb on the HDD can cause "power issues" likewise with bad modem cards...

It's possible that the motherboard doesn't beep at all, or that a speaker isn't connected to it. Normally in this situation I ask the person whether the computer used to beep when they turned it on, if yes then I assume the motherboard should generate a beep when the ram is out, otherwise I assume it won't.

Honestly, it might be cheaper for you to bring it to a repair shop where they have test equipment they can throw into it to determine the real issue without you needing to go out and buy a bunch of new parts trying to figure out what the problem is.

Make sure you connected all of the necessary power cables. Most modern motherboards have multiple connectors that run to the PSU. Often you'll have a larger power plug somewhere between 20 and 26 pins, and then sometimes a separate 4 or 6 pin power plug that goes in a different slot.

A power issue could be caused by almost any device, any device that is faulty could be drawing too much power and causing the problem. Ironically, the fact that your devices power up does not indicate that a power problem doesn't exist. The power distribution circuits are some of the simplest in the computer, so the fact that they are working isn't surprising. Additionally, the way the PSU divides power into multiple rails means that even if one device is causing a power problem on one rail won't necessarily damage the other rails.

To test whether the computer is still booting into windows, turn it on and wait a while. Give the computer time to boot completely into windows, then hit the power button once and see if it shuts down.

This is a fairly old computer. And yes it did start out of the blue. No new added software or hardware.
The HDD's are spinning, there are no USB devices connected (this was before USB keyboard and mouse were default on PC's)
Most recently, my tests have been with NOTHING connected except for the power button, and the power cables connecting to the motherboard (and the power cord connecting to the power supply). For testing purposes, i test with/without 1 stick of ram in, and every once in a while, while i'm curious, i plug the monitor in.

Through a series of tests, i am finding that there is no stimulus/signal being sent to the monitor (which again leads me to believe that the graphics card built in is the problem).

stupid computer

I'm going to be stubborn here and still say it's the board. Mostly I do this because I hope I'm wrong and it will just end up being a video card you need. I would agree that if the internal speaker is disconnected you would get no sound. However, if it's a Gateway, then it should have been connected at the MFG; unless the OP disconnected it. Anyways, good luck to you. Let us know what happens.

Hey, My kid had this problem(Power light turns orange) and I googled it and ended up here.(his PC is a scavanged low end gateway p4 POS, no manual to be found as I pulled it off a desk when my corporation was retiring it)

What I found was the PS/2 port of the pc had gone bad, if I used a USB keyboard then the PC would boot AOK. Strangely if I booted with no keyboard I would also have the orange power light.

So it is bad motherboard.

I know this post is a few weeks old but I figured if this helps anyone then its worth posting.

Also I wanna point out that all "orange power light" problems are not identical and its entirely possible that what fixed my kids particular pc might in no way effect another one.

Good luck and I hope that helps.

Nice first post Nick..and welcome to DevShed...

nice to see a first post that could help someone with a similar problem now or later...

have some rep to get you going..

thanks for the idea, but it didn't work
UPDATE for problem

First, i attempted to un-plug the ps/2 keyboard and mouse, and plug in the usb of the same, but i still got orange light, with nothing coming on the monitor

I have also just gotten a new graphics card. I put it in, attempted boot ( with ps/2) but still got orange light. I attempted boot with new graphics card with USB, but i still got orange light (both events, nothing registering through the card).

I'm confounded on why this is happening...

As always, ANY ideas or help would be GREATLY appreciated.

This is a long shot, but if people think it's the motherboard that's gone bad, you can try one more thing:

Try taking out a RAM module and try to boot it, if there's no effect, put it back in and take the next module out and try again. Booting problems are often related to faulty RAM but I can't say I've seen this before so I cannot say that this will have any effect.

That orange LED, does it blink? Or does it stay on solid? There's a couple of websites that do show an orange power LED as a bios error code.