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A Reference Guide to Vostro Laptop Diagnostic Indicators

Summary: The following article is a reference guide to the codes available on each model of Vostro laptop and what those codes indicate.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Instructions

Dell Vostro laptops have a long history of built in diagnostic indicators. These can be audible beeps, power buttons that display different states and colours, specific diagnostics LEDs or a combination of them all, in order to indicate at which point during the Power On Self Test (POST) a system is having issues.

The following article is a reference guide to the codes available on each model and what those codes actually mean. These change through the various models and years. These indicators are merely a starting point to narrow down any troubleshooting you will carry out to identify the cause of your current issue. You can use this as a starting point to narrow down the proper troubleshooting guide you will need or you can contact technical support for further help and they will be looking for these indicators as well.


Table of Contents:

  1. Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop series (2015 to Present)
  2. Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop series (2010 to 2015)
  3. Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop Series (Prior to 2010)
  4. Vostro laptop Audible Beep Codes
  5. Glossary of Acronyms
  6. Diagnostic Indicator Guides

Note: For all the tables below, please remember that the diagnostic LEDs only serve as an indicator of the progress through the POST process. These LEDs do not indicate the problem that caused the POST routine to stop.
Note: Please be aware that if your system completes POST without stopping on a particular error code and then gives a black screen, the most likely reason is that you are experiencing a No Boot issue and not a No POST issue at all.

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Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop series (2015 to Present)

With the latest series, the diagnostics indicator Beeps have mostly been removed from these systems. Instead the Power Button state now gives a blink and colour shift pattern to indicate where its had a problem.

SLN309626_en_US__24Vostro_prod_shot_2017_BK

(Fig.3.1 Vostro 7570)

Note: Please click on the title of the section you want to open below, in order to see the contents.
Note: Diagnostic Error Codes will always supersede any other use of the LED. For instance, battery codes for Low Battery or Battery Failure situations will not be displayed when Diagnostic Error Codes are being displayed.

SLN309626_en_US__27Vostro_Battery_LED_BK

(Fig.3.2 Vostro Battery Status LED)

Power Source Status Power State Description
AC Adapter Off S0 - S5 Fully Charged
White S0 - S5 Charging
Battery Off S0 - S5 Battery Discharging
Solid Amber S0 - S5 Low to Critically Low
  • S0 - ON - System is on
  • S4 - Hibernate - System in in hibernation mode
  • S5 - OFF - System is off
Note: The blinking patterns will consist of 2 sets of numbers. These are represented by First Group (Amber Blinks), Second Group (White Blinks).
  • First Group: The Battery LED blinks in Amber up to 9 times then pauses for 1.5 seconds before running the second group.
  • Second Group: The Battery LED blinks in White up to 9 times then pauses for 3 seconds before running the first group again.

Example: No Memory detected (2, 3), The Battery LED blinks two times amber followed by a pause, then blinks three times white, pause, etc. This pattern continues until the system is powered off.
Power LED Problem Description Suggested Resolution
Amber White
2 1 CPU Failure
  • Run the Intel CPU diagnostics tools
  • If problem persists contact Tech Support for further help
2 2 System Board : BIOS, ROM Failure
  • Flash BIOS to latest revision
  • If problem persists contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
2 3 No Memory / RAM detected
  • Confirm Memory installed
  • Troubleshoot memory further
2 4 Memory / RAM failure
  • Reseat the Memory
  • Troubleshoot the memory further
2 5 Invalid Memory Installed
  • Reseat the Memory
  • Troubleshoot the memory further
2 6 System board, Chipset Error
  • Flash BIOS to latest revision
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
2 7 LCD failure
  • Flash BIOS to latest revision
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 1 CMOS battery failure
  • Troubleshoot the CMOS battery
  • If problem persists contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 2 PCI or Video card/chip failure
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 3 BIOS Recovery 1
  • Recovery Image not found
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 4 BIOS Recovery 2
  • Recovery image found but invalid
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 5 Power Rail Failure
  • EC ran into power sequencing failure
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 6 SBIOS Flash Corruption
  • Flash corruption detected by SBIOS
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3 7 ME Error
  • Timeout waiting on ME to reply to HECI message
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting

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Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop series (2010 to 2015)

With this series of laptops, the Diagnostic indicators changed to use two different methods depending on the model of system you have:

  • One method uses only the Power LED as an indicator. The Diagnostic LED is now the state of the Power LED and how many times it blinks at you.
  • The other method uses the beep codes from the beep code section.

SLN309626_en_US__19Vostro_prod_shot_2013_BK

(Fig.2.1 Vostro 5460)

Power LED State Description
SLN309626_en_US__201380898120460.PowerLEDOff
  • Hibernate or Suspend to Disk (S4)
  • Power is off (S5)
SLN309626_en_US__211380898289708.PowerLEDWhite System is in S0 state, the normal power state of a functioning machine. The BIOS will turn the LED to this state to indicate it has started fetching opcodes.
SLN309626_en_US__221380898267161.BlinkingWhite System is in a low power state, either S1 or S3. This does not indicate a fault condition.
Warning: The power LED only serve as an indicator of the progress through the POST process. These LEDs do not indicate the problem that caused the POST routine to stop.
Note: The Power button has a bi-colour LED. In a No Post situation it displays an Amber LED blinking pattern: The Power Button LED shall blink the corresponding LED codes for the corresponding fault condition. The repeated pattern has a 3 second long pause inserted in the middle.

Example: No Memory detected, Power Button LED blinks two times followed by a pause, blinks two times, pause, etc. This pattern continues until the system is powered off.
LED Behaviour Problem Description Next Steps
1 System Board : BIOS, ROM Failure
  • Flash BIOS to latest revision
  • If problem persists contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
2 No Memory / RAM detected
  • Confirm Memory installed
  • Troubleshoot memory further
3 System board, Chipset Error, Clock Failure, Gate A20 Failure, Super I/O Failure, Keyboard controller failure
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
4 Memory / RAM failure
  • Reseat the Memory
  • Troubleshoot the memory further
5 CMOS battery failure
  • Troubleshoot the CMOS battery
  • If problem persists contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
6 Video card/chip failure
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
7 CPU Failure
  • Run the Intel CPU diagnostics tools
  • Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting

This indicates the Battery power management LEDs codes

Power Source; Battery Charge Off / Hibernate Standby On
Power LED (All; 0-100% charge) Off Blinking White light (repeated) Solid White
Battery LED (AC Adapter; 98-100% charged) Off Off Off
Battery LED (AC Adapter; Below 98% charging) Solid White Solid White Solid White
Battery LED (Battery; discharging) Off Solid Amber Solid Amber
Battery LED (Battery; Below 10% critically low) Off Off Off
HDD LED Off Off White when active
Camera LED (All sources; 0-100% charge) Off Off Sold White when streaming data

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Diagnostic LEDs for the Vostro laptop series (Prior to 2010)

This series used power button LED states and a diagnostics LED pack on laptop systems.

SLN309626_en_US__3Vostro_prod_shot_2007_BK

(Fig.1.1 Vostro 3700)

Note: Please click on the title of the section you want to open below, in order to see the contents.

These models had a block of keyboard status LEDs on the front of the chassis that either lit up solid white, flashed white or were Off. I've included a table below with what these indicated.

SLN309626_en_US__5Vostro_Status_LED_BK

(Fig.1.2 Caps Lock LEDs)

Icon Description
SLN309626_en_US__61395072784135.Caps Caps Lock light - Turns on when the Caps Lock is engaged
SLN309626_en_US__71395072803479.Scroll Scroll Lock light - Turns on when the Scroll Lock is engaged
SLN309626_en_US__81395072849604.Num Number Lock light - Turns on when the Number Lock is enabled
Flash Code LED Pattern Description Next Step
SLN309626_en_US__91366966117019.D1 Flash-On-On The microcontroller is handing control of the system to the processor. This code persists if no processor is detected.
  • Reseat the processor
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__101366966165505.D2 On-Flash-On The memory has encountered an error.
  • Reseat the memory module(s)
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__111366966202304.D3 Flash-Flash-Flash A system board component is faulty.
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__121366966228164.D4 Flash-Flash-On The video card is preventing the system from completing POST.
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__131366966275542.D5 Flash-Flash-Off The keyboard is preventing the system from completing POST.
  • Reseat the keyboard cable
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__141366966307652.D6 Flash-Off-Flash The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization.
  • Remove any USB devices
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__151366966334560.D7 On-Flash-Flash No SODIMMs are installed.
  • Install the memory module(s)
  • Reseat the memory module(s)
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__161366966369858.D8 Flash-On-Flash The LCD encountered a problem during initialization.
  • Reseat the LCD cable
  • Contact Support
SLN309626_en_US__171366966398453.D9 Off-Flash-Flash The modem is preventing the system from completing POST.
  • Reseat the modem
  • Contact Support

SLN309626_en_US__18Vostro_BatteryLow_BK

(Fig.1.3 System Status LEDs)

If the computer is running on a battery, the battery light operates as follows:

  • Off — The battery is adequately charged (or the computer is turned off).
  • Flashing Amber — The battery charge is low.

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Vostro laptop audible Beep codes

In addition to the various types of diagnostics LEDs, there are a number of audible beep codes across some of the models of these systems.

These codes are recognised across manufacturers and have remained the same for some time.

The key to these codes are displayed in the table below.

Note: Please click on the title of the section you want to open below, in order to see the contents.
Beep Code Description Failure Coverage Suggested Action
1 System board, covers BIOS corruption or ROM error System board BIOS ROM failure Run the Dell Diagnostics
2 No Memory/RAM Detected No memory detected Troubleshoot the Memory
3
  • Chipset Error (North and South bridge error, DMA/IMR/Timer error
  • Time-of-Day Clock failure
  • Gate A20 failure
  • Super I/O Failure
  • Keyboard controller failure
System board failure Run the Dell Diagnostics
4 Memory/RAM read/write failure Memory failure Troubleshoot the Memory
5 Real Time Clock power fail COMS battery failure Try reseating the CMOS Battery and run the Dell Diagnostics if that does not resolve the issue
6 Video card/chip Failure Video BIOS Run the Dell Diagnostics
7 CPU Cache Test Failure CPU Failure Run the Dell Diagnostics
8 LCD LCD Failure Contact Technical Support

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Glossary of Acronyms:

Refer to the table for definitions of the acronyms within this article.

Acronym Definition
BIOS Basic Input/Output System
CFG Resource Configuration
CPU Central Processing Unit
DIMM Dual In-line Memory Module
DMA Direct Memory Access
EC Embedded Controller
HECI Host Embedded Controller Interface
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LED Light Emitting Diode
MBF Motherboard Failure
MBIST Memory Built-in Self Test
ME Management Engine
MEM Memory
NVRAM Non-Volatile Random Access Memory
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
POV Post-video Activity
PRV Pre-video Activity
PSU Power Supply Unit
RAM Random Access Memory
RCM Recovery Mode
ROM Read Only Memory
RTC Real Time Clock
S0 System Power State S0 – This is the Working State, where your Windows PC is awake.
S1 System Power State S1 – In this sleep state, the CPU is stopped, and your computer is in standby mode.
S2 System Power State S2 – This state is similar to S1 except that the CPU and system cache are lost because the processor loses power.
S3 System Power State S3 – In this state, data is saved to RAM, hard drives, and other hardware are shut down.
S4 System Power State S4 – In this state, RAM and other data are saved to the hard disk.
S5 System Power State S5 - The System is off.
SBIOS Small Board Interface Operating System
SPI Serial Peripheral Interface
STD Boot Hand Off
STO Storage Device
TPM Trusted Platform Module
USB Universal Serial Bus
VID Video

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Note:
If you are seeing a recognisable code, please follow the instructions and if you have to contact your local support - please make sure you have the code information to hand. The technician will need this information to help you further.

If you are seeing an unrecognisable code, one that isn't listed above - then please get in touch with your local support straight away.

If you require further assistance, please contact Dell Technical Support.

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Additional Information

Affected Products

Vostro
Article Properties
Article Number: 000141346
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2023
Version:  8
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