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Diagnostic and Battery Indicators for Dell Latitude Laptops and Tablets

Summary: This article provides Diagnostic and Battery Indicator information for Dell Latitude Notebooks and Tablets.

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.
Check out other resources

Instructions

This article provides information about the Diagnostic LED codes for Dell laptops and tablets. Find information about common troubleshooting steps, helpful links to battery, AC adapter, and other troubleshooting guides to resolve battery and AC adapter related issues.

Dell laptops have different types of onboard visual (LED) and audible (beep code) diagnostic indicators to help detect the symptoms of failed hardware components. Most of these symptoms are related to a failure to power on, complete power on self-test (POST), screen issue, or an issue with booting into the operating system. To learn more about how to troubleshoot such issues, see the Dell knowledge base article Resolve No Power, No Post, No Boot or No Video.

Choose a section below that relates to your computer model to view the information within.

Note: Some laptops use a sequence of audible beep codes to indicate a possible hardware component failure. See the Beep Codes table in the Dell Latitude section below for more information about how to use these codes to troubleshoot your computer.
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Battery Status:
Figure 1: Battery Status:

Power or battery light - Turns white or amber to indicate the power status and remaining battery charge. See the tables below.

LED Light Description
1
Power Light
2
Hard drive light
3
Battery status light
4
Wi-Fi light
Battery light state
Battery State LED Behavior Next Steps

An unsupported or non-Dell AC adapter is attached to your laptop.

Alternately blinking amber light and white light
  1. Disconnect and reconnect the AC adapter.
  2. Try with a known-good AC adapter. If a known-good AC adapter is working, contact Dell Technical Support for AC adapter replacement options.

Temporary battery failure with AC adapter present

Alternately blinking amber light with steady white light
  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Disconnect the AC adapter.
  3. Reseat the battery. For laptops with non-removable battery, go to the next step.
  4. Try with a known-good battery from another similar Dell laptop (if available). If the known-good battery works, contact Dell Technical Support for battery replacement options.
  5. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues to troubleshoot the battery issue.
For more info on battery warranty support, see the Dell knowledge base article Dell Laptop Battery Warranty Support.

Fatal battery failure with AC adapter present

Constantly blinking amber light
  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Disconnect the AC adapter.
  3. Reseat the battery. For laptops with non-removable battery, go to the next step.
  4. Try with a known-good battery from another similar Dell laptop (if available). If the known-good battery works, contact Dell Technical Support for battery replacement options.
  5. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues to troubleshoot the battery issue.
For more info on battery warranty support, see the Dell knowledge base article Dell Laptop Battery Warranty Support.

Battery in full charge mode with AC adapter present

Light off

 No further actions are required.

Battery in charge mode with AC adapter present

White light on

 No further actions are required.

 

Note: To learn more about laptop battery troubleshooting, see the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Dell Laptop Battery Issues.

If the laptop is connected to an electrical outlet, the power or battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

Power State Charging status LED Behavior

On

Any (0-100%)

Solid white

Standby

Any (0-100%)

Breathe white (slow increase and decrease in illumination).

Off, hibernate

>90% charge

Off

Off, hibernate

= 90% charge

Solid white

If the laptop is running on battery power, the power or battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

Power State Remaining battery power LED Behavior

On

= 10% charge

Solid white

On

<10% charge

Solid amber

Standby

= 10% charge

Breathe white (slow increase and decrease in illumination).

Standby

<10% charge

Solid amber

Off, hibernate

Any (0-100%)

Off
Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

Currently Shipping Models:

The three LED indicator lights are located near the front right-side of the computer, as shown below:

Diagnostic LED
Figure 2: Diagnostic LED

The battery LEDs on these laptops blink in an amber or white pattern to indicate hardware component failures. Use the table below to determine what each LED flash sequence means.

Note: The first number in the LED Flash Sequence column represents the number of amber-colored flashes, while the second number represents the number of white-colored flashes.
Example: No Memory or RAM detected is (2,3): The battery LED blinks two times in amber, then three times in white.
The battery LED will stop blinking for 1.5 seconds between the amber and white flashes, and the sequence will repeat after a 3 second pause.

The following table depicts the amber and white blinking patterns with possible troubleshooting resolution:

LED Flash Sequence Fault Description Faults
2,1 CPU Possible CPU Failure
2,2 Motherboard BIOS Motherboard (Includes BIOS Corruption or ROM Error)
2,3 Memory No memory or RAM detected
2,4 Memory Memory or RAM failure
2,5 Memory Invalid Memory Installed
2,6 Motherboard Chipset Motherboard or Chipset Error
2,7 LCD LCD Failure
3,1 RTC Power Failure CMOS Battery Failure
3,2 PCI or Video PCI or Video Card or Chip Failure
3,3 BIOS Recovery 1 Recovery Image Not Found
3,4 BIOS Recovery 2 Recovery Image Found But Invalid
Note: If the error code is not listed above, contact Dell Technical Support. To learn more about Dell ePSA diagnostics, see the Dell knowledge base article Resolve Hardware Issues using ePSA Diagnostics.

Legacy Models:

Led Light Descriptions
Figure 3: Led Light Descriptions

LED Light Description
1
Power Light
2
Hard drive light
3
Battery status light
4
Wi-Fi light

The table below shows how to read the LED codes on a Dell laptop when a possible error occurs:

Storage LED
Storage LED
Battery LED
Battery LED
Wireless LED
Wireless LED
Fault Description Next Steps
Blinking
Solid
Solid
A possible processor failure has occurred. Contact Dell Support
Solid
Blinking
Solid
The memory modules are detected but has encountered an error. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Blinking
Blinking
A system board failure has occurred. Contact Dell Support
Blinking
Blinking
Solid
A possible graphics card or video failure has occurred. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Display or Video Issues on Dell Laptop LCD Panel.
Blinking
Blinking
Off
The computer failed during hard drive initialization or Option ROM initialization. See the Dell knowledge base article How to resolve HDD (Hard drive) issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Off
Blinking
The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization. Check ports for damage and remove any USB devices.
See the Dell knowledge base article Troubleshooting Ports on a Dell Computer.
Solid
Blinking
Blinking
No memory modules are installed or detected. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
Blinking
Solid
Blinking
The LCD encountered a problem during initialization. See the Dell knowledge base article How to Troubleshoot Display or Video Issues on Dell Laptop LCD Panel.
Off
Blinking
Blinking
The modem is preventing the computer from completing POST. Try reseating or removing any Modem cards.
Off
Blinking
Off
The memory failed to initialize, or it is unsupported. See the Dell knowledge base article How to diagnose and resolve common memory issues on a Dell Computer.
Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

Battery Status

If the computer is connected to an AC adapter, the battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

  • Solid Green - The battery is charging.
  • Flashing Green - The battery is almost fully charged.

If the computer is running on battery power, the battery light operates as follows. For specific information about your Dell laptop, see the User Manual of your Dell laptop.

  • Off - The battery is adequately charged (or the computer is turned off)
  • Flashing orange - The battery charge is low.
  • Solid orange - The battery charge is critically low.
Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources

LED Error Codes

The following table shows the possible LED codes that may display in a no-POST situation:

Flash Code Description Next Step
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock On, Scroll Lock On
Figure 4: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock On, Scroll Lock On		 The microcontroller is handing control of the computer to the processor. This code persists if no processor is detected.
  1. Reseat the processor.
  2. Replace the system board.
  3. Replace the processor.
Num Lock On, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock On
Figure 5: Num Lock On, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock On		 The memory has encountered an error.
  1. Reseat the memory modules.
  2. Replace the memory modules.
  3. Replace the system board.
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing
Figure 6: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing		 A system board component is faulty. Replace the system board.
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock On
Figure 7: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock On		 The video card is preventing the computer from completing POST.
  1. Replace the video card.
  2. Replace the system board.
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Off
Figure 8: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Off		 The keyboard is preventing the computer from completing POST.
  1. Reseat the keyboard cable.
  2. Replace the keyboard.
  3. Replace the system board.
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Off, Scroll Lock Flashing
Figure 9: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock Off, Scroll Lock Flashing		 The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization.
  1. Remove any USB devices.
  2. Replace the system board.
Num Lock On, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing
Figure 10: Num Lock On, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing		 No SODIMMs are installed.
  1. Install the memory modules.
  2. Reseat the memory modules.
  3. Replace the memory modules.
  4. Replace the system board.
Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock On, Scroll Lock Flashing
Figure 11: Num Lock Flashing, Caps Lock On, Scroll Lock Flashing		 The LCD encountered a problem during initialization.
  1. Reseat the LCD cable.
  2. Replace the LCD panel.
  3. Replace the video card.
Num Lock Off, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing
Figure 12: Num Lock Off, Caps Lock Flashing, Scroll Lock Flashing		 The modem is preventing the computer from completing POST.
  1. Reseat the modem.
  2. Replace the modem.
  3. Replace the system board.
Note: Helpful troubleshooting resources If an error code is not listed above, contact Dell Technical Support.

Beep Codes

The computer may emit a series of beeps during startup if the display cannot show errors or problems. These series of short, repetitive beeps, called beep codes, identify various computer faults.

Beep Code Fault Description Suggested Remedy
1 BIOS ROM checksum in progress or failure System board failure (covers BIOS corruption or ROM error).
2 Memory No memory or RAM detected
3
  • Chipset Error (North and South bridge error, DMA/IMR/Timer error)
  • Time-Of-Day Clock test failure
  • Gate A20 failure
  • Super input/output chip failure
  • Keyboard controller test failure
 System board failure
4 RAM Read/Write failure Memory or RAM failure
5 Real-time clock power failure
  1. Reseat the CMOS battery connection.
  2. If the problem persists, this may indicate a possible CMOS battery or system board failure.
6 Video BIOS test failure Video card or Chip failure
7 CPU cache test failure Processor failure
8 LCD LCD failure

LED Error Codes

The Power Button LED, or an agreed-upon alternate LED, blinks in a repeating pattern to communicate diagnostic information. See the table below for these LED blinking codes and their corresponding errors.

Note: For the No memory or RAM detected error, the Power Button LED blinks two times followed by a pause, and then repeats until the computer is powered off.

LED Codes
Figure 13: LED Codes

LED Code Fault Description Suggested Remedy
1 System Board: BIOS ROM failure System board (covers BIOS corruption or ROM error).
2 Memory No memory or RAM detected
3
  • System board failure
  • Chipset Error
  • Clock failure
  • Gate A20 failure
  • Super I/O failure
  • Keyboard controller failure
 System board failure
4 Memory Memory or RAM failure
5 Real-time clock failure
  1. Reseat the CMOS battery connection.
  2. If the problem persists, this may indicate possible battery or system board failure.
6 Video BIOS Video card or Chip failure
7 CPU Processor failure
8 LCD LCD failure
Note:
What to do next? - If the LED codes point towards possible battery failure, see the Dell knowledge base articles. If an error code is not listed above, contact Dell Technical Support.

Additional Information

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Affected Products

Latitude
Article Properties
Article Number: 000131044
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2023
Version:  8
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