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Dell OptiPlex 9020 SFF Won't start, Power LED on, CPU Fan quietly revving - FIXED by Updating BIOS :-)
Dell OptiPlex 9020 SFF
system won't show screen, power led is white, cpu fan revs, but not loudly.
Dell Support were friendly & helpful but didn't get me anywhere, so it's DIY :-).
Power supply test (button on PSU) runs OK when turned off and PSU led is green, so not a power supply problem.
Shutdown and remove power for 1min - no change.
Disconnect HDD, AMD graphics card & DVD & one (of 2) memory module- no change.
Remove both DIMM, pwr on - system beeps - good motherboard is alive :-)
Disconnect power, remove last Memory DIMM & swap for the other one & system boots into BIOS Menu (as there's no disks to boot from)
Pwr down, connect HDD - Pwr up -no screen, no boot. (After this you're back to a dead PC agian)
Long story short - ONLY if you change the DIMM & leave ONE DIMM by itself THEN will system start, but not if any disks are connected. (if you only have one DIMM use Slot2 which works)
The Fix.
Download Dell BIOS Updater & Create Boot Disk - here (you can copy the URL, just delete the spaces)
http:// www. dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN143196/EN
instuctions here
http:// www. dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN284433/en#How_to_update_USB_flash_drive
BIOS file Here
http:// www. dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=N08H6&fileId=3542449770&osCode=W764&productCode=optiplex-9020-desktop&languageCode=en&categoryId=BI
In BIOS Menu, Disable SecureBoot, Change BIOS BOOT to Legacy
Run BIOS update from USB
Boot from usb & type BIOS package name o9020a16.exe, enter & you'll be updated to latest version
DON'T POWER OFF - the updater will restart by itself!
In BIOS Menu, Change Boot to UEFI, enable SecureBoot (if you don't you can have startup problems)
Connect HDD & other components & you should be good to go!
Bryn
pturtle
1 Message
2
February 22nd, 2017 08:00
I know it's been a while since this was posted, but I had the exact problem you were having. This post has saved me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post a solution, not just a problem! Hopefully others with this issue will find this great guide and get their computer running again.
Bryn001
3 Posts
0
February 22nd, 2017 16:00
Hi pturtle,
Thank you for the reply & glad that my (rather long) post helped. I hope others find it helpful as well.
Cheers
Bryn
Dave00100
1 Message
1
April 3rd, 2017 08:00
I had same issue.
I swapped out DIMMs and problem solved. Thanks for this post as it really sped up my troubleshooting!
Anonymous User
1 Message
0
September 21st, 2017 07:00
Did your errant unit also emit a single beep while attempting to boot? When you mentioned the fan quietly revving it sounded similar to my issue; the unit continuously cycling on momentarily which gets the cpu fan going for a sec, followed by a beep then the unit shuts off. If I leave it connected to a power source it will repeat this cycle endlessly. Did your 9020 mimick these same symptoms?
Thanks,
Alanu
Bryn001
3 Posts
0
September 21st, 2017 17:00
Hi Alanu,
I can't remember my unit beeping whilst trying to boot (I think I'd have mentioned it in my post :-) )
I've just rebooted my Opti9020 and it doesn't beep at all, so sorry to be of little help.
I see that Dell have eliminated all Power on beep code except "No memory failure" which is 1-3-2 beeps - see here
www.dell.com/.../understanding-beep-codes-on-a-dell-desktop-pc
"Note: Starting from the D4 generation of OptiPlex models onwards (i.e. 7010/9010/9010 AIO), the beep codes will be eliminated, replaced by a single memory error pattern. Now only no memory failure conditions generate the beep code, the beep pattern is 1-3-2 (1 beep, then 3 beeps, then 2 beeps). This beep code tells you that the computer encountered a memory problem. The new beep codes emit only memory failure symptoms. Occasionally, reseating the memory modules may fix the beep code errors."
Good luck & IHTH
Bryn