[SOLVED] What is this extra LED light on my desktop computer?
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What is this extra LED light on my desktop computer?
I noticed it for the first time today. At the bottom of the case is an Intel sticker and behind it, just visible if I crouch down, is a light. It changes from red through yellow to green when I move my head. What does it signify?
Who made the case? Is it a tower design? Where is the case when you crouch, in what position? Move your head which direction with respect to the case? Is the LED actually on the motherboard, seen through a crack or hole? Has it finished booting when you crouch? Does manual provide descriptions of any LEDs?
It's a Lenovo Thinkcentre/Thinkstation but I don't know if they made the case themselves. The form factor is a tower, though I've been told that there's effectively a laptop inside it. The Intel sticker appears to have a translucent strip at its top and it's behind this, on the left hand side of it, that the light appears. So it looks as if you are supposed to see it. I see the colour changes when I raise and lower my head. This is when the computer is running. I don't know about booting because I only just discovered it.
And no, I haven't seen any mention of this light in the online manuals that I found.
@fatmac: no traffic lights in this road. It's purely residential.
It's not an LED. It's a hologram! I watched carefully as the computer powered down last night and it was still shining, so I got suspicious. I took a torch from the kitchen and looked at it carefully in that bright white light. There's a wavy holographic strip at the top of the Intel label, which I took to be a translucent panel. In indirect light, it reflects with these bright coloured spots that change colour as you move your head, but bright direct light shows it up for what it is.
Hazel, my first impression when reading your OP was that it was a hologram. I had a somewhat same experience when I bought a Intel based system with that Intel sticker.
I found this in the graphics design forum at stackexchange:
Quote:
It’s holographic foil and it is applied in the same way as any other metallic foil. Sometimes this is done as a separate process after the printing, but some specialist label printers can apply the foil in line with the other print processes.
The exact pattern of the hologram will depend on what the printer can source, but anybody that can produce such labels should be able to provide you with samples. The Intel one is probably bespoke and exclusive.
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