High Fan is the only thing that happens. Amber light - solid.

OK, I use GX280s as home servers and ran into a similar problem with one of them...

The problem may be serious and not worth fixing (motherboard).

Turn power on
Fan(s) come on full power, sounds like a jet engine, or eventually gets that loud.

See if you power light has gone amber.

You get nothing on the screen, no Dell splash screen/post, nothing.

This is what I posted a while back concerning the above. Obviously I cannot bee 100% certain as I do not have your box in front of me. This a known issue.

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See if the power light goes amber after power up. I had (have - still siting in my basement) one that did same. Power up, fans go full blast . Power light goes and stays amber. This is USUALLY caused by bad capacitors on the mother board. Known GX280 problem going back. If you look on the motherboard, the capacitors should have flat tops and not leaking. If the are rounded or leaking, the MB has probably gone bad. Bottom line this is usually a defective motherboard. Mine was a bad caps issue, you issue could be different, but it does sound like the motherboard.

You can google "gx280 solid amber light loud fan" and see the issues. Here is one link.

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/111476-gx280-solid-amber-light-and-loud-fan

I just replaced one of my old 280s with a dual core Dell Precision 390 workstation for about $118, and that included shipping, off of ebay.

If the power button is a solid amber it is likely a motherboard due to a failed capacitor (Check the capacitors on the motherboard see if any tops are bulging)
If flashing amber, most likely a failed power supply
http://www.fixya.com/support/r4282412-find_no_post_diagnostic_information_dell

Solid Amber light is a No-Boot scenario for all DELL PC. It may be either Power Supply, motherboard, memory or Proc. If you try to call Dell customer support they might try to let you isolate the problem by opening up your pc. But they will replace the parts necessary if they found out that its broken and your XPS is still under warranty.

You can call 1-800-232-8544 be sure to have you Service Tag or Express Service code ready.

The cooling fan racing is a symptom of a No Post state in the Motherboard. The Power LED and diagnostic LED indications would be helpful in resolving your issue. If the power LED is flashing Amber, the power supply is suspect, solid Amber points to the motherboard or something connected to it. The DIAG LEDs 1234 on the front or ABCD on the back give more specific information.

Initial Impression, is motherboard failure, post the DIAG and Power LED indications for more exact diagnosis

Noise is most likely CPU Fan racing. Fault is most likely motherboard failure (Solid Amber power LED is usually MB and thermal events could be associated) Replace the motherboard

The fans running full tilt are an indication of a NO POST failure with the motherboard.

The POWER LED on the tower, is it Solid Green? Solid Amber? Flashing Amber?

The diagnostic LEDs? (Numbered 1234) are any illuminated?

General trouble shooting is as follows:

1. Power system off, disconnect all external connections except the power cord, turn the system on see if any change. If you get a change, reconnect items one at a time till you ID the failure. (Twice I've seen a bad mouse cause a no post, so don't assume items are good) If no change go to step 2
2. If no change, then POWER LED is likely a solid amber. Open the tower, remove all PCI and PCI-E cards, see if the symptoms change. If they do, like before add items back one at a time till you ID the failure.
3. Disconnect power to all drives, see if anything changes ....
4. Remove the RAM, see if there is a change, if no change then replace the motherboard. If you get a change, try RAM modules individually see if one is faulty.

As a hardware repair technician at a local university, I have seen the amber power light problem on quite a few Dell computers. If the machine is in warranty, Dell insists the power supply be the first thing replaced, even if it tests ok. If that does not do it, then they send me a new motherboard. Of the dozens of machines that have had this problem, only 1 of them needed a new motherboard. The power supply alone resolved the problem on all the rest. I have found this to be true on out-of-warranty systems as well.

First check your memory, it may be loose which can cause the computer to appear in a "hibernation" state. I recommend taking the memory out and putting it back in. The memory sticks are located on the motherboard. Be sure you are grounded before touching anything inside of the computer. Reboot the computer. If this doesn't help, then the problem is the motherboard. Look on eBay for a reasonable new motherboard. You can find them from $39.99 and up. Replacing the motherboard is simple. Just take the old one off and put the new one in making sure to reconnect everything back to normal. If the motherboard is bad, I highly recommend replacing the power source as well because it may have been caused by a surge. These can be found on eBay for approximately $24.00.

If the cause is the motherboard, this would be a good time to consider upgrading your computer. Unfortunately, when you replace the motherboard, you cannot use the OEM of the Windows Operating System that came with the computer because Microsoft considers a new motherboard a new computer. So you will need to purchase a new Operating system as well and I recommend an OEM CD for system builders which can be found on Newegg or Tiger direct.

One of two things:

Either the power supply is marginal

or

the motherboard is bad.

Good luck.

To el_cid_132: Did you mean to say a solid amber light on the MONITOR's power button? If, after all you've tried with the computer, you still have no display, it's a pretty good bet your monitor is bad. Try another monitor to verify the computer function. Take a close look at the pins in the monitor's input cable plug. They are pretty easy to bend, and you may have one not making contact.

To Jaffe: It's a simple job to remove the hard drive from your laptop and hook up to another computer to copy anythig off that you want to keep. I don't know what a shop in your area would charge, but it should be reasonable. As for replacing the system board, a quick Google search for "MX6448 motherboard" turned up several sources, price range $250-$300. Usually it's not worth putting a new system board into a laptop unless it's a very high-end model. You can buy basic laptops now for around $400, and you'd be getting brand-new with a warranty.