1 2 3 Green Led Error Optiplex 760

Hi 99nawazish99,

1 2 3 LED's with an Amber Power button indicates a possible coin cell battery failure and needs to be replaced.  If 1 2 3 LED's glow with Blue Power button, then ensure that all the hard drive and optical drive cables are properly connected to the system board.

Please let me know about your findings.

Thanks For The Fast Reply Brother!

but its neither amber nor blue its green ! the power button is green..

Hi 99nawazish99,

Thank you for your reply and for providing an update on the status. This indicates and issue with video. I suggest you to reseat the video card and run the hardware diagnostics by booting from the Resource CD.

Please let me know about your findings and the system form factor.

I have A Mini Tower And The Video Card Plays And Seems okay to me !

Hi 99nawazish99,

Thank you for your reply and for providing an update on the status. Please run the hardware diagnostics by booting from the Resource CD and let me know the results.

thanks for the reply

I Have The Latest Drivers And The Diagnosis Gives 100% results and no error's what so ever !

I have a similar problem and it is driving me batty! I have a bunch of Optiplex 760, mostly USFF. Most boot right up fine, but some do not post. I have a green power light, diags on the back stop w 123 lit green, 4 unlit, the system beeps twice.  NOTHING on screen. I have tried swapping EVERYTHING, unplugging EVERYTHING, plugging, different power bricks, etc. With working systems, they pop right up, but with trouble systems, nothing works. I had one that would boot up ONCE if i left it unplugged all night, but then the problem reappeared on the next restart. I have tried new batteries, different processors, RAM, etc. Pulled mobo from sys, tried with all fans and connectors connected AND disconnected.  Systems were 'tested and working' when purchased (ebay) then get here and have prob.  Thought 'bad mobo?', ordered 'tested and working' mobos and have SAME PROB.  But grab a working sys off the shelf and plug into same power bricks and boot right up.  I am completely perplexed!!! Never seen this and never had issues with 755, which is what I used mostly until now.  But these 760s have me regretting it. Dell docs say that these lights indicate 'another failure has occurred' but NO HINT as to WHAT it could POSSIBLY BE!!

I have a whole project waiting on a handful of these troublesome 760s and can find no hint as to what the problem is. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!??!!

2 Beeps could be Bad power supply and or Bad Ram. Integrated Video Steals from System Ram for the display hense no display with Bad Ram.

I have tried multiple power bricks (only option with USFF), and multiple pieces of RAM by various mfg out of other working 760 systems. RAM is fine. There is no display so I cannot see what it is pausing on (press F1 etc.). If i press F1 it cycles a bit more than beeps twice again. I can assume F2 would take me to BIOS but you can't SEE anything since there is no display and the BIOS for this requires a mouse... no keyboard shortcuts.  Plug any of this stuff in a working sys and it pops right up. I have a hard drive hooked up, no DVD, fans hooked up. No idea what it is whining about now.

I got lucky with a couple in that if i could blindly get it to boot to the HD, video would eventually come on (in Windows) and I could install the latest BIOS update. But I can't get that to work if I can't figure it out blindly. No idea why video refuses to kick on. And with USFF, again, NO OPTIONS to use an alternate display source.

Thanks for replying tho.

UPDATE: I have had some success and I can give some tips, but there is a lot of trial and error.

The problem is some BIOS issue where the display does not come on so you cannot reply to whatever it is whining about.

So here are the steps I have had some success with (4 systems now).

First, I suggest having a drive that is already set to boot to XP or W7 on a 760 system. Also, have the latest BIOS download on that drive or available (A15 is latest).

Second, I try to minimize the errors by having what it needs in place, etc. Make sure fans are hooked up (it will whine about the HD fan, so hook that up too); I pulled the DVD to it can boot to HD, no USB but K/M.

Next, you will need to get to the BIOS reset jumpers and all, which are beneath the HD fan. I prop the HD out of the way, but plugged in, remove the screw holding the HD fan and pull it out of the way but leave it plugged in.

Now here are a series of things I did and found but I don't know if all is necessary.

I reset the BIOS pw. Pull the blue jumper by the battery, turn on sys, wait until you hear a couple beeps. Turn off. I turn on and wait until the 2 beeps again.

Now I reset BIOS to default, by using another jumper (you must have one SOMEWHERE), and plugging it onto the jumper posts by a capacitor about an inch away from the battery. Just put it on for a couple seconds then pull it off. The system will automatically kick on. Let it do it's thing for a bit, and it will likely shutdown and restart itself as part of the 'reset'.

Let it boot up to the 2 beeps. Now I try pressing F1 and waiting a minute. It may reboot or it may beep again. I press F1 again if it beeps. If it loops back to the beep again, I shut down.

NOW, there is sometimes a situation where it seems to be asking some crazy question about how the system is utilized, and refers to a sticker in the lid. It sometimes came up on the screen that I could actually see, but I think that was where I was blindly stuck on some. My sys says 'AMT-DASH-VPRO', which the best option in the list is for Option 1, which is AMT-DASH... there are other options, but I am not sure what they are. ANYWAY, when I suspect I am on that screen (if I can't see it), I now press '1' , then 'y' (for Yes), then maybe Enter (not sure if needed - I press slowly and give several seconds for the sys to do something before pressing anything else).  Now IF that was what was holding you up, the sys will reboot again.

I now end up with 2 beeps again, so I press F1 to continue, wait a few seconds and if it beeps press F1 again. But if I am lucky, I can see the system booting from the HD, even though I CAN'T SEE IT.  Eventually Windows boots and I get a picture.  At this point, I install the latest BIOS update (if in W7, be sure to RightClick and 'Run as Admin'!). It will reboot the PC and install the update (takes several minutes), but I seem to have video at boot now.  So after the update, I press F2 to go to BIOS and set date/time and any other options.

If it did not boot, I may reset BIOS by jumper again and try the various F1 attempts. The point is to FINALLY get past F1 so it will boot to Windows so you can install the BIOS update.  But that AMT-Dash thing gets in the way sometimes. At least it did with all 3 replacement motherboards I ordered (maybe because they were not part of an existing system).

I spent days on this and am relieved to have some booting systems again. Hope it helps.

That's just it.... NOTHING is on the monitor so you can't see WHAT the problem is.  But by jumping thru enough hoops I got it to boot to Windows so I could update the BIOS and now all the boards I did that on work just fine.

123 means there is some error message on the monitor... I had an error F1 to continue F2 to setup utility along with some error like floppy disk seek failure... whats the error message you see on the monitor??

Hi 99nawazish99,

Thank you for your reply and for providing an update on the status. I suggest you to update the BIOS to the latest version and can be downloaded from the following link:
http://dell.to/QjjZDA

You may also follow the workaround provided by Zdude42 and let me know about the status.