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Strange behavior of power with Optiplex GX620
Hi there, I am a technician in Spain and I collaborate with a Non profit... they purchase second hand computers to setup a classroom for small kids
The case is that I configured around 10 units of Optiplex GX620 the SFF a couple of years ago and they worked fine for one year but recently I have discovered that 3 of them have a very strange behavior when powering on.
The PC´s are connected to a power strip that comes with a switch to power on and off, if we turn off the computer as always (Start Shutdown....) everything goes fine, but if we turn off the power strip after properly turning off the pc, the next morning the PC does not start, and you have to unplug the external Power Supply and press the power button for 10 or 15 seconds, plug the power back in and now it works.
The PC´s have BIOS A11 (latest available)
- I have tested replacing the power supply (External)
- Replacing CMOS Battery
- Replacing RAM
- Replacing HD
- Reinstall entire system
None of the test worked, I found some one talking about a USB damaged, but this is not the case, USB are fine.
I know it sounds stupid but to solve the issue I replaced the power strip with one that has no switch but I still want to find out what is the problem, we are considering sending 12 or more of this PC´s to a school in Etiopia and I am worried that this problem gets worst in Africa due to their problem with electricity.
Thank you all
Vicente
rdunnill
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May 9th, 2013 15:00
I had a similar issue with a much newer design after I upgraded the BIOS: it would not reboot. I had to disconnect it from the power source and cold-boot it.
Reverting to an earlier BIOS fixed the problem.
What happens if you leave the power strip on and turn off each machine manually by pressing its button?
powerpodge
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May 9th, 2013 22:00
You know I have seen odd power-on/off behaviour with older BIOS - are they the latest? Always a good idea. Also a BIOS reset to factory defaults if you hadnt already.
Also - I forget the GX620 settings - but there is a setting in there POWER MANAGEMENT that says if the power is disconnected go to the last state or stay off and other things - is that set to the same on all of them compared to the good ones?
rdunnill
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May 9th, 2013 23:00
Good find!
Vicente Corroch
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May 19th, 2013 11:00
Sorry for the delay, I loaded the last BIOS version, I will try by downgrading it and let you know, regarding the behavior when using the regular power off method it runs fine you can turn it on next day and it works, it only happens when the pc is fully disconnected from the power source either by turning of the power srtip or unpluging from the wall (also by switching off the entire office)
Your Idea of restoring an older BIOS could work the BIOS of thes model comes (like others from dell) with a power management part on the BIOS to automaticaly turn off and to restore the PC in case of power failure, etc. maybe this is not properly working on the last BIOS
I will let you know after testing
rdunnill
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May 19th, 2013 13:00
I suggest NOT disconnecting the machines from power, but keeping them connected and using the on-off buttons to shut them down.
Vicente Corroch
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May 20th, 2013 01:00
I already know that if the pc´s remain connected, the problem is solved, the reason why I brought it to this forum is because that is not always possible as I mentioned before , this pc´s are supposed to be sent to a location were support is very complicated.
I think that this is a bug on the final BIOS update for those pc´s and I thought it was a god idea to share it with this community; I haven’t tested the BIOS downgrade as soon as I do it and verify the results, I will post the results
Thanks