There is no "Inspiron 2305".  There is a Dimension 2350, is this what you have?  

A solid amber power light can also indicate a motherboard problem.

www.dell.com/.../19

Any help?  This is disassembled on the kitchen counter on the chance that a fix requires it.

I assume that you are talk about an Inspiron One 2305 all-in-one desktop computer.  I would suggest that you test the output of the AC adapter using a volt meter.  The adapter could have gone bad or been subject to a surge that rendered it defective.  Or the buyer could have plugged in the wrong type of adapter and damaged the system board.  But start with troubleshooting the adapter before assuming the worst.

These units are commonly misdiagnosed by Dell. These all-in-ones have issues with the red SATA cables and inverters. Bad SATA cables cause a "no boot" issue, Dell usually sends the HDD w/o a new cable, thus causing a repeat dispatch. The bad inverters can cause 2 different issues, 1) No Post (inverter shorts out and causes amber power light and no post, Dell usually sends motherboard). 2) Dim or no video (Dell splash logo is dim or screen goes black, this is a common bad inverter symptom, Dell usually sends LCD, usually no need to change LCD).

Thanks Greg for the response.  On POST, I get no BIOS beep, or any other indication that the computer is attempting to boot.  The fans turn on & spin, that's it.  The hard drive doesn't spin-up.  My experience is primarily with standard desktops, and a bad HD cable would still allow the POST to move forward farther than this, so I do not think that is the problem.  As far as a bad inverter, I suppose it's possible but for the fact that the unit is practically new, and worked just fine when I gave it back to the customer.  It was during the customer's attempts at getting the "TV" functions to work that the computer side of the unit stopped working.  I'm still thinking this is a "mode" situation where the 2305 is in "TV" mode and something very simple (like a button sequence) ought to send it back into "computer mode".

Does any of this sound possible?  Thanks in advance.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood the problem. The TV mode issue is probably a coincidence, usually a beep on POST indicates a RAM failure on POST. Try re-seating the RAM, or isolating the RAM cards (try one at a time) to see if perhaps one of the cards may be bad. It could also be a bad card slot on the motherboard, so be sure to test both slots with known good RAM.

I can give you disassembly instructions if you need it, just let me know. I've worked on hundreds of these all-in-ones.

You're right, a bad SATA cable will usually allow POST, (although sometimes it will freeze up on the splash screen when the cable is bad) but I thought it was a no BOOT issue, not a no POST problem, that's why I mentioned it.

If the testing the RAM does not work, try unplugging the inverter to see if it will POST. If that still does not work, try turning on the machine w/o any RAM at all, you should get a beep error (just like the one you are getting now). If there is no beep, then the motherboard is bad.

Hope this helps.

Gregg

Thanks again Greg.  The first time I disassembed the machine, I disconnected the memory, hard drive, etc... which resulted in no change at all.  Since then I've read a bit about the possibility that the SATA cable(s) could be bad, so I've disassembled the machine a 2nd time,and have disconnected the SATA from the motherboard (instead of just removing it from the hard drive).  No change.  I've unplugged most of the other cables, and still the machine has a solid amber power light, both the fans spin, but no BIOS beep.

During reassembly, I noticed one of the screws on the case was missing.  Couldn't say for certain if it was there when I took it apart the first time.  During the second breakdown, another screw fell off the screwdriver is now lost somewhere in the machine.  I'm wondering if the first missing screw was also lost inside the machine because the Owner disassembled it (for some reason), lost the screw, didn't tell me about it, and the screw is inside there somewhere causing this problem.  I know I'm grasping at straws here.  I'm assuming since you've done hundreds, you'd know if there was some kind of super secret button-push, video-to-computer mode change sequence, so I guess I'll give up hope on that one.

Tomorrow I'll have to start digging for the missing screw(s).  Is there any advice you can give me?

Also, no chance of an onboard fuse?  Any points on the motherboard that can be measured for the presence of power/voltage?

Again, thanks for you time & expertise.