A Reference Guide to the XPS Laptop Diagnostic Indicators
Resumen: This article is a reference guide to the diagnostic codes available on each model of XPS laptops and what those codes actually indicate.
Instrucciones
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:
- Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (2014 to Present)
- Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook series (2008 to 2014)
- Diagnostic LEDs for the XPS Notebook Series (Prior to 2008)
- XPS Notebook Audible Beep Codes
- Glossary of Acronyms
- 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)
(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
- 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 |
|
| 2 | 2 | System Board : BIOS, ROM Failure |
|
| 2 | 3 | No Memory / RAM detected |
|
| 2 | 4 | Memory / RAM failure |
|
| 2 | 5 | Invalid Memory Installed |
|
| 2 | 6 | System board, Chipset Error |
|
| 2 | 7 | LCD failure |
|
| 3 | 1 | CMOS battery failure |
|
| 3 | 2 | PCI or Video card/chip failure |
|
| 3 | 3 | BIOS Recovery 1 |
|
| 3 | 4 | BIOS Recovery 2 |
|
| 3 | 4 | Power Rail Failure |
|
| 3 | 5 | SBIOS Flash Corruption |
|
| 3 | 6 | ME Error |
|
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)
(Fig.2.2 XPS Logo LED)
| LED Status | System State |
|---|---|
| Solid White | On |
| Flashing White | Standby |
| Off | Off / Hibernate |
(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 |
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)
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 |
| 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. |
|
 |
On-Flash-On | The memory has encountered an error. |
|
 |
Flash-Flash-Flash | A system board component is faulty. |
|
 |
Flash-Flash-On | The video card is preventing the system from completing POST. |
|
 |
Flash-Flash-Off | The keyboard is preventing the system from completing POST. |
|
 |
Flash-Off-Flash | The USB controller encountered a problem during initialization. |
|
 |
On-Flash-Flash | No SODIMMs are installed. |
|
 |
Flash-On-Flash | The LCD encountered a problem during initialization. |
|
 |
Off-Flash-Flash | The modem is preventing the system from completing POST. |
|
(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.
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.
| 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 |
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 |
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
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