A Reference Guide to the XPS Laptop Diagnostic Indicators

Dell XPS 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 XPS Notebook series (2014 to Present)
2. Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (2008 to 2014)
3. Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook Series (Prior to 2008)
4. XPS Notebook Audible Beep Codes
5. Glossary of Acronyms
6. Diagnostic Indicator Guides

Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (2014 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.

(Fig.3.1 XPS Ultrabook)

Battery Charge / Status LED status

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.

(Fig.3.2 XPS Ultrabook 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

Diagnostic LED Indicators

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	4	Power Rail Failure	EC ran into power sequencing failure Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3	5	SBIOS Flash Corruption	Flash corruption detected by SBIOS Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting
3	6	ME Error	Timeout waiting on ME to reply to HECI message Contact Tech Support for further troubleshooting

Back to Top

---

Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (2008 to 2014)

Systems during this time period only used LED states to show the Battery and HDD status. The power button state is indicated the XPS logo on the chassis lighting up. (Please check out the beep code section for diagnostics indicators for these models.)

(Fig.2.1 XPS 15)

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

Power Button / XPS Logo LED Indicator

(Fig.2.2 XPS Logo LED)

LED Status	System State
Solid White	On
Flashing White	Standby
Off	Off / Hibernate

Battery Status Indicators

(Fig.2.3 XPS Battery LED)

	LED Status	System State	Battery Charge Status
AC Adapter	Solid White	On / Standby / Off / Hibernate	Charging
	Off	On / Standby / Off / Hibernate	Fully Charged
Battery	Solid Amber	On / Standby	Low Battery (<=10%)
	Off	On / Standby / Off / Hibernate Off / Hibernate	Not Charging

Back to Top

---

Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (Prior to 2008)

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

(Fig.1.1 XPS M1330)

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

System LEDs

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

(Fig.1.2 Caps Lock LEDs)

Icon	Description
	Caps Lock light - Turns on when the Caps Lock is engaged
	Scroll Lock light - Turns on when the Scroll Lock is engaged
	Number Lock light - Turns on when the Number Lock is enabled

Diagnostic LEDs

Flash Code	LED Pattern	Description	Next Step
	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
	On-Flash-On	The memory has encountered an error.	Reseat the memory module(s) Contact Support
	Flash-Flash-Flash	A system board component is faulty.	Contact Support
	Flash-Flash-On	The video card is preventing the system from completing POST.	Contact Support
	Flash-Flash-Off	The keyboard is preventing the system from completing POST.	Reseat the keyboard cable Contact Support
	Flash-Off-Flash	The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization.	Remove any USB devices Contact Support
	On-Flash-Flash	No SODIMMs are installed.	Install the memory module(s) Reseat the memory module(s) Contact Support
	Flash-On-Flash	The LCD encountered a problem during initialization.	Reseat the LCD cable Contact Support
	Off-Flash-Flash	The modem is preventing the system from completing POST.	Reseat the modem Contact Support

Battery LEDs

(Fig.1.3 System Status LEDs)

If the computer is connected to an electrical outlet, the battery light operates as follows:

• Solid blue — The battery is charging.
• Flashing blue — The battery is almost fully charged.

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 red — The battery charge is low.
• Solid red — The battery charge is critically low.

Back to Top

---

XPS Notebook 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 Codes Table

Diagnostic Beep Codes
Code	Cause	Suggested Resolution
1	BIOS ROM Checksum in progress or failure	Contact Technical Support
2	No Memory Modules detected	Troubleshoot the Memory and Memory Slots
3	Chipset Error Time-of-day clock test failure Gate A20 Failure Super I/O chip Failure Keyboard controller test failure	Contact Technical Support
4	RAM read/write error	Troubleshoot the Memory and Memory Slots
5	Real Time Clock Failure	Replace the CMOS Battery, Contact Technical Support if problem persists
6	Video BIOS test Failure	Run the Dell Diagnostics
7	CPU Cache Test Failure	Contact Technical Support
8	LCD Failure	Contact Technical Support

Back to Top

---

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

Back to Top

---

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 technical Support. Contact Us

Back to Top

Recommended Articles

Here are some recommended articles related to this topic that might be of interest to you.

• A reference guide to the XPS Desktop Diagnostic Indicators
• Understanding Beep Codes on a Dell Laptops
• A Reference Guide for Latitude Laptop and Tablet Diagnostic Indicators
• A reference guide to the Vostro Notebook Diagnostic Indicators
• A Reference Guide to Inspiron Laptop Diagnostic Indicators