hubby has just come in and says its a dimension 5100
just looked it up on google and he's right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so you think its easy to take it apart ourselves

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...mension%205100

Service Manual

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/en/index.htm

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/sm/index.htm

Again the rear LEDs would be the first step. Let's see if they indicate the problem.

That is what they are there for.

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1120147

Scroll down to:

Diagnostic Lights

silly question does the computer need to be on to get to these diagnostic lights
I'm assuming it would be what if we can't get it to turn on in the morning
I'm reading lots of reports on the web about the same model and the amber lights there must be a design fault surely

There is always a small amount of power going to the motherboard.

That is why they told you to unplug everything and hold in the power switch. This releases the power the motherboard holds.

The motherboard also has a battery like a watch or camera battery which holds power.

In this way the motherboard (BIOS) can remember the time as well as the basic settings of the computer.

This same residual power will power those diagnostic lights. They should be on right now although I know you don't want to look.

don't mind looking at the computer but its what else I might see that worries me lol
will look tomorrow and post what I see

right when I tried the computer this morning I had the same flashing amber light
fiddled around with the wires a bit and got it working
the lights are on the front and I think they're numbered 1 2 3 4 they flash as the computer starts up but once its up and running they are not lit up is that right ???

That is right. I just noticed they were on the front rather than the rear.

After a successful boot they are off.

What wires did you fiddle with?

Perhaps it is a simple connection issue if it is now working.

Is it working ok now?

at the moment it is working ok
my son leaves it on when he goes out but at the moment I'm a bit worried about leaving it on so we've been turning it off
three houses near us have more or less completely burned down due to an electrical fault and I don't want that to be us
when I just went to turn it on we had the same flashing amber light so I just wiggled the big wire at the top ( possibly the power lead ?? ) and it works
on the front there is a green light that looks like a picture of a battery although hubby thinks it looks like the tower and that flashes as the computer turns itself on
fingers crossed its something silly I will let you know how we get on tomorrow
thank you so much for your help and advice
I have posted problems on here before and you are all so kind

right same thing today , turn on the computer and you get the flashing amber light , fiddle about with the top lead ( is that the power lead ?? ) and it all fires up and works ok
do you think I should replace that lead and if so do I have to buy it from dell ???
thank you in advance