No vid output

Perhaps the monitor is faulty? Did you check that with a device known to work.

Listen to Larry though, he is the Hardware Guru here at Fixya.

The amber light can mean that the power supply isn't providing enough power to the system board or that the system board (or the CPU on the board) isn't working.

Since your fans are working, your power supply hasn't completely failed and the board is providing power to the system fans. Thus, either the power supply is giving limited power, your CPU has failed or the motherboard isn't talking to the CPU anymore. (The BIOS is only accessible when the CPU is operational.) I'd first try a new power supply. Make sure to get one that has at least the same power rating as the original, matches the wiring in your case and will fit in your case. (Note: you need to be careful. 1) Some Dell systems use a proprietary power supply (shape and wiring). 2) Many current power supplies are rated by their peak power output, not their stable power output. You want to match or exceed the stable power output of the current power supply.)

If the power supply doesn't solve the problem, I suggest getting a new computer is better than a new CPU or motherboard. (The Dell Studio XPS 7100 was released in 2010.) Replacing the CPU or the motherboard makes your computer a new machine to Microsoft and you may have trouble getting a working license. (You'd have to call Microsoft for activation and they probably will want to charge you for a new license.) Take your hard drive out of the current machine to get your data from it. You can put the drive inside another desktop with SATA ports, use an external drive enclosure (3.5") or SATA drive dock, or a USB to SATA drive adapter.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

It probably is the power-supply, if the CPU-fan does not spin.
Try a different power-supply.

try only connect Monitor and keyboard, and check for booting (disconnect all the rest (HDD, CD DRIVE, Sound Card, Network Card, ....) then try connect one by one and always off to change hardware config.

If dont work with monitor and keyboard, try reset bios(jumper),check again, then replace memory modules (must be compatible to new motherboard), evan dont work, send back the motherboard for defective motherboard.

Remove the BIOS recovery jumper near the battery on the motherboard and attempt to boot. If the system displays a startup screen, replace the jumper on pins 1 and 2 (pin 1 will have an arrow by it) and configure your bios appropriately.

These more up to date cards have a special PCI-E connector actually on the card which you have to connect to your psu too.

It shouldnt beep if theres no problems

If you cant get video or anything , make sure that the cardrs power conenctor is plugged into the psu

Just because it doesnt beep doesnt mean the vid is not gone

place board on a non metal surface hooked to
monitor
keyboard
mouse
powersupply UNPLUGGED RIGHT NOW
cpu with heatsink and fan attached
ram

plug power supply in (will not shock you just dont lick it ok)
if board does not come on take a small flat head screw driver look at where the power wire would slide on cross those two pins should come on. again will not shock you.

still no video try pci (most basic video mobos support) card
still no video could be cpu I have had several of these be bad caouse no video also
try anouther cpu same setup
still no vid mobo shot sorry

What kind of fan do you have installed? Cpu wise? it sounds like your cpu is overheating when your playing games. Due to high graphics. Try getting a better cooling system to stop the shutdowns. 
With the ram, is it because your Gpu shares some of the ram? 
This is common with chipsets and some GPUs. 
Sorry or posting twice, im having some issues of my own here ;)

The way that I solved the problem was to unhook each and every connection to the motherboard except for the 4-pin and 24-pin power supply connections, the processor, the cpu fan and the power on switch connectors, once I have done that, then I plugged in the power supply and turned it on, in which that worked! After that, I would hook everything up to the motherboard one piece at a time, in which after each piece I would turn the power supply on again to see if that was the problem. Starting with the hard drive, the memory sticks and then the DVD drive, and found out that was the problem. The cable between the DVD drive and motherboard was the wrong cable for that motherboard. I will purchase a new cable and see if that works!

1. If the MB has jumpers, you must make sure they match you CPU.
2. Make sure you have the right memory modules and that they are installed correctly.
3. Unplug all drive cables from the mother board (HD, CD, DVD, Etc) and then try to boot. If you see video, plug them back in one at a time.

Hope that helps...

Geno