Power Supply or motherboard? A victim of the storm?

First and most importantly happy and thankful to hear that you made it through those terrible storms!

Now as for the Vostro, have you pushed the button on the back of the PSU and if so you should see the green light and hear the fans. Have you tried plugging the system into the wall instead of the UPS? I know seeing the lights should ensure that the power is fine coming in but you never know.

Re:Anyway to tell if this is the power supply or the motherboard?

Do you have another desktop pc?  If you or your friend has one maybe you can borrow the psu (24/4 pin) in the other desktop to test the V620 motherboard.  It can be any simple 24/4 pin psu as long as it works.

Alternatively, if you have an old working motherboard you can use it to test the V620 psu.

Re: the power button does nothing.  Do you have a flashing amber power button when you press it now?  if yes try clear cmos setting on motherboard.

Appreciate the reply. Yes, we were lucky and very fortunate. Only without power for 6 days

Yes, I'm now plugging it straight to the wall while I diagnose this. No difference.

And I'm familiar with the button you're talking about from having looked at videos. However, as is my custom, I must have gotten an early version. No button on my power supply. 

I've tried unplugging everything but the power button to the motherboard and the motherboard to the power supply. Still no difference. Other ideas? I don't want to just throw money at it by ordering a power supply but maybe that's what I need to do. Thanks again.

Don't know of any old PC PSU's around to try but that's an interesting thought. I know I can order a new one for about $40 and may end up doing that.

When I press the power button on the front of the tower I get no lights  and nothing happens. When I plug the power cord into the PSU on the back there is a green LED that lights up (near where that button SHOULD be) and stays steady until about 30 seconds after I unplug it. The only amber light is a small one on the motherboard near where the drives plug in. It also comes on steady when I plug the unit in. It never flashes or reacts in any way. Unlike when it was running properly, there are no lights on the front of the tower at any time.

green LED is the BIST button.  

1. Turn off the system.
2. Press the BIST button on the system and check whether the LED lights up.
3. The light should be solid on not flickering or flashing and the power supply fan should also turn on to speed. If the fan is not spinning up properly this should be considered a BIST failure even if the LED lights up.

• If the BIST LED lights up, then the power supply can deliver power to the system but something else is impeding the POST process. The next step is to check whether the power button might be at fault.

orange LED on mobo gets power from 5V sb (standby) of psu when it is plugged in power without turning on pc.

one thing you can try is to jump start motherboard power switch header in case the power button is broken.  this is pinout of power switch header of V270 mobo which is probably similar to V260.   do you have a mini tower or slim tower?  this video shows how to upgrade mini tower psu.

PS used V260 motherboard on eBay

"1 Turn off the system".- It is off as not being able to start it is the problem

"2 Press the BIST button on the system and check whether the LED lights up".- There is no BIST Button on the PSU as previously stated. The green LED is just a light. It is not a button and doesn't move.

The LED light comes on solid when the unit is plugged in. No fans come on and the power button on the front does nothing.

"one thing you can try is to jump start motherboard" Any instructions on how to do that? I'll give anything a try at this point.

Thanks.

How to run self-test without the button on the PSU

1. Turn off the system.
2. Disconnect the power cord from the PSU, and wait for 15 seconds.
3. After 15 seconds, connect the power cord back to the PSU.
4. The LED light should stay on for 3 seconds and then turn off.

• If the BIST LED lights up, then the power supply can deliver power to the system but something else is impeding the POST process. The next step is to check whether the power button might be at fault. 

unplug the power switch cable from motherboard.  use a flat blade screwdriver to temporarily short the two power switch pins on motherboard.

please upload a close up pic of your 260 MT motherboard front panel IO header.  260 header may look slightly different from 230 or 270 but Dell tends to use generic pinout.  finding the missing pin of the multi pin header gives you landmark.

The LED light comes on and stays on. It does NOT go out after 3 seconds.

As for jumping the power switch, looking at the diagram you supplied before (it just showed up on my page - slow internet here) I jumped the 3rd set of pins (from the bottom on this picture) and got no reaction.  So, which way are you leaning - PSU or motherboard?

Thanks for the eBay motherboard link. I might need it.

if no change, try this too

Well, no reaction jumping either set of those pins. A new PSU is on order. Will be here Tuesday. I'll keep you informed.

Truly appreciate the help.

Got the new power supply yesterday. Finally got around to putting it in today. It works great and everything is back to normal. Thanks for all the help.

Glad to hear. It is the psu that took a bullet for your pc during that storm.