Why Is My Power Button LED Flickering?

Modified on Tue, Oct 28 at 11:26 AM

Overview

The flickering light on your case's power button is not a malfunction — it’s a functional feature designed to indicate your drive’s activity in real-time. Let’s explore what it means, how it works, and when to troubleshoot.

If you notice the power button on your SSUPD case flickering—especially showing red or white light behavior—this is typically not a defect, but rather part of our dual-LED indicator design. The integrated LED ring around the button contains:

A white LED (Power Indicator)
A red LED (Storage Activity Indicator)

These are both connected to the standard F_PANEL header on the motherboard and controlled independently by the system.

LED Behavior Breakdown

Behavior	Meaning	Normal?
White LED always on	System powered on	✅ Yes
Red LED flickers frequently	Drive read/write (SSD/HDD in use)	✅ Yes
Red LED pulses in standby	Sleep mode signal from BIOS	✅ Yes
Red LED always on, no blink	Possible freeze, bad SSD, reversed pins	⚠️ Check
Red LED flickers but system dead	Could be used as debug blink by motherboard	❌ No

Installation & Cable Notes

Your power button module includes a single ribbon cable routed to the F_PANEL block. Depending on your motherboard:

For Standard layouts, plug directly to the 9-pin block as labeled
For non-standard boards, you may need to use a breakout cable (a cable that splits the unified F_PANEL connector into individual pins like Power SW, PWR LED, HDD LED, etc.).
- Power SW
- PWR LED + / –
- HDD LED + / –

? You may disconnect the red HDD LED pins if you wish to turn off the flickering, without affecting power functionality.

BIOS Control Options (If Available)

Depending on your motherboard brand and BIOS version, you may:

Disable HDD Activity LED entirely
Turn off Power LED Sleep Blink
Customize sleep/off-state LED behavior

Refer to your motherboard manual under:

Power Management
LED Control
ACPI Sleep Options

What If the Red LED Flickers When System Is Off?

If the white LED is off and only the red LED is blinking—even while the PC is shut down:

Your board may be sending standby power to the HDD LED
Check if BIOS has “Deep Sleep” or “ERP Mode” to disable standby LED functions
If the system is unresponsive, refer to motherboard documentation for error blink codes

When to Request a Replacement

The flickering LED does not indicate a fault unless:

The switch physically fails (e.g., stuck, no click, no response)
The white Power LED never turns on even when system powers up (indicates header or LED failure)

In such cases, we offers replacement power button modules:

Ensure you request the correct version for Xhuttle, Meshroom S, or Meshroom D
We offer replacement power button modules for different case models. Submit a support ticket here: Submit RMA Ticket