blinking power light

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

Hi guys I have a new pc with windows 11. I've search everywhere and people tell me it because the hard drive is working but I don't think that is the case. So here's what happens. When I boot the tower and not everytime but most times the power light blinks slowly. The reason I don't think its the hard drive is because if I put it into sleep mode and then take it out it no longer blinks. Like at all. I've checked power settings and don't see anything that would make it do that.

Anak · Jun 4, 2023

backdrop001 said:
if I put it into sleep mode and then take it out it no longer blinks. Like at all.

Hi backdrop001 welcome to 11F!

There is something about you're statement that has me confused or maybe it's a new way of doing things.
In all the years I've been using computers it is imperative to shutdown the pc before pulling a drive in order to avoid damaging it, even in sleep mode the drive is running and in control of various programs like sleep mode and other mission critical operations. Sure, nothing won't blink on the machine b/c you pulled it's heart.

Is it blinks. Like at all or is it blinks at all. Like implies that it still does blink.

I'm surprised your machine still works, you should run a drive info program like CrystalDiskInfo D/L the standard edition to check out the drive to see how much life it has left.

bty: I could of gave more on the drive but you don't have your system specs filled out and we don't know if it's a HDD or an SSD.

fireberd · Jun 4, 2023

On many Dell's a blinking power light indicates standby and/or diagnostic info.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

Anak said:
Hi backdrop001 welcome to 11F!

There is something about you're statement that has me confused or maybe it's a new way of doing things.
In all the years I've been using computers it is imperative to shutdown the pc before pulling a drive in order to avoid damaging it, even in sleep mode the drive is running and in control of various programs like sleep mode and other mission critical operations. Sure, nothing won't blink on the machine b/c you pulled it's heart.

Is it blinks. Like at all or is it blinks at all. Like implies that it still does blink.

I'm surprised your machine still works, you should run a drive info program like CrystalDiskInfo D/L the standard edition to check out the drive to see how much life it has left.

bty: I could of gave more on the drive but you don't have your system specs filled out and we don't know if it's a HDD or an SSD.

either I'm minsundering you or you are misunderstanding me lol. Its a new computer I haven't pulled any drive. But when I boot it up it does that and the power light on the tower blinks and doesn't stop unless I put the pc into sleep mode and take it out. It runs fine when blinking so I'm not understaning why it does that until I put into sleep mode. Doesn't do it everytime either.

glasskuter · Jun 4, 2023

The key is...is it the larger light on your power button (applies to strictly power ie on, off, sleep) or is it the tiny light elsewhere on your case. It's usually white and indicates disk access.

Wisewiz · Jun 4, 2023

@backdrop001,

Anak's problem with your first message is that it's not at all clear what you mean by "take it out." Anak's take on that is that you mean you put the computer to sleep (hibernate) and then you take out the hard drive, and Anak is wondering why in the h**l you would take the hard drive out of a running (even sleeping) computer. Could you be talking about an external hard drive that you unplug while the computer is sleeping?
Are you actually taking anything out of the computer, or is that just a phrase you use to mean something else?

Come on back and clear this all up, if you can.

Scott · Jun 4, 2023

Wisewiz said:
Come on back and clear this all up, if you can.

@backdrop001 is talking about taking it out of sleep mode, not taking out the hard drive.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@backdrop001,

Anak's problem with your first message is that it's not at all clear what you mean by "take it out." Anak's take on that is that you mean you put the computer to sleep (hibernate) and then you take out the hard drive, and Anak is wondering why in the h**l you would take the hard drive out of a running (even sleeping) computer. Could you be talking about an external hard drive that you unplug while the computer is sleeping?
Are you actually taking anything out of the computer, or is that just a phrase you use to mean something else?

Come on back and clear this all up, if you can.

oh sorry I mean take it out of sleep mode, I put it in sleep mode and then take it right out of sleep mode and no more blinking light.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

fireberd said:
On many Dell's a blinking power light indicates standby and/or diagnostic info.

its an I buypower PC not a dell. And the blinking goes away right after I put it in sleep mode and the blinking doesn't come back when I take it out of sleep mode. So kinda scratching my head on this one. Some had said hard drive activity but if that was the case why would it stay solid after putting it in sleep mode and taking it back out of sleep mode.

Anak · Jun 4, 2023

backdrop001 said:
if I put it into sleep mode and then take it out it no longer blinks.

Huh?

backdrop001 said:
But when I boot it up it does that and the power light on the tower blinks and doesn't stop unless I put the pc into sleep mode and take it out.

Much better. But.
There's still the matter of "pc into sleep mode and take it out" to me there's two subjects there but only one modifier, Maybe, then take it out of sleep, would isolate sleep?

I apologise for being picky, two months ago I had a bad med reaction and my cognition is off a bit.

Wisewiz said:
Anak is wondering why in the h**l you would take the hard drive out of a running (even sleeping) computer.

Thanks.

Scott said:
@backdrop001 is talking about taking it out of sleep mode, not taking out the hard drive.

Thx.

fireberd said:
On many Dell's a blinking power light indicates standby and/or diagnostic info.

My Acer to.

glasskuter said:
The key is...is it the larger light on your power button (applies to strictly power ie on, off, sleep) or is it the tiny light elsewhere on your case. It's usually white and indicates disk access.

Hi glasskuter,
Wait till the OP gets a chance to see his machine in a dark room with all the blinkin' lights bouncin' off the wall.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

Anak said:
Huh?

Much better. But.
There's still the matter of "pc into sleep mode and take it out" to me there's two subjects there but only one modifier, Maybe, then take it out of sleep, would isolate sleep?

I apologise for being picky, two months ago I had a bad med reaction and my cognition is off a bit.

Thanks.

Thx.

My Acer to.

Hi glasskuter,
Wait till the OP gets a chance to see his machine in a dark room with all the blinkin' lights bouncin' off the wall.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

oh I have lots of lights on this PC but never had a power button do this and was scratching my head lol. I have had pc's blink showing hard drive activity but it was never a slow blink like this and then stops if I put the pc in sleep mode. Seems it should be the other way around. Shrugs

bobkn · Jun 4, 2023

I've never seen a PC that showed HD activity by modulating the power LED.

It has been a while since I bought a case with an HD activity LED. Those seem to be going the way of slots for optical drives.

backdrop001 · Jun 4, 2023

bobkn said:
I've never seen a PC that showed HD activity by modulating the power LED.

It has been a while since I bought a case with an HD activity LED. Those seem to be going the way of slots for optical drives.

Yeah I really don't think its an activity light because like I said it doesn't do it everytime and when it does the minute I put it in sleep mode its completly solid the rest of the time.

Wisewiz · Jun 4, 2023

@bobkn

Agreed. I have never had a power-on indicator blink to indicate disk activity or anything else. I'm almost certain the power lights on my last fifteen or more computers indicated nothing but the presence of current in the box.

I have had HDD activity lights on a lot of desktop PCs (and there's one on each of my current office Lenovo desktops), but the circumstances for my checking to see whether the HDD activity light is flashing are few and far between. (Hmmm. Maybe if I'm doing a System Restore from a Restore Point. They take a few minutes, with no screen indication of activity for long periods, so I might check the HDD light then, to satisfy myself that something is happening.)

OP states that this is a "new" computer. I'm wondering whether it would be productive to take the thing back to the source and see whether the dealer can verify that a blinking power light that stops blinking under certain circumstances (not directly tied to whether there's actually any HDD activity) is a sign of malfunction or not.

glasskuter · Jun 4, 2023

OP for the best support, you need to fill out the system specs portion of your forum profile. You user manual should tell you how the light works. In some computers a certain sequence of blink codes at startup have special meaning. But I've never seen a system where a steady power light didn't indicate on, a blinking power light indicating some kind of sleep/standby state.

Anak · Jun 5, 2023

backdrop001 said:
oh I have lots of lights on this PC but never had a power button do this and was scratching my head lol. I have had pc's blink showing hard drive activity but it was never a slow blink like this and then stops if I put the pc in sleep mode. Seems it should be the other way around. Shrugs

A mystery to be sure.

WXC · Jun 5, 2023

backdrop001 said:
Hi guys I have a new pc with windows 11. I've search everywhere and people tell me it because the hard drive is working but I don't think that is the case. So here's what happens. When I boot the tower and not everytime but most times the power light blinks slowly. The reason I don't think its the hard drive is because if I put it into sleep mode and then take it out it no longer blinks. Like at all. I've checked power settings and don't see anything that would make it do that.

Contact Support and ask, perhaps.

IBuyPower Support

Wishing you good luck.

backdrop001 · Jun 13, 2023

They said the hard drive thing but that's not it. Because right now no blinking at all. But later when I boot up that's when it'll blink unless I restart or put in sleep mode and then wake it up. So wierd. Checked all the connections and everything is connected so not sure why it does that.

pparks1 · Jun 13, 2023

i would suspect that one of the case cables going to the motherboard is plugged in backwards. I've done that with hard drives in the past where the light is on with no activity and goes out with activity.

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