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XPS 8300 5 Beeps at startup
I replaced a motherboard on an XPS 8300. The system was up and working fine, except I noticed at startup, it kept saying "system is operating in manufacturing mode". So I go into the BIOS, I typed in the Service Tag, and then went adjust some boot order settings to disable the Network Boot and put the USB Boot before the RAID Array (it's a 2 disk mirror). Upon reboot, it still shows in manufacturing mode, so I go back into the BIOS, service tag was saved before the boot order settings did not save.
Repeated the procedure for the boot devices, saved, restarted. Same thing, go back into the BIOS, service tag is still there and boot order is back to default...it didn't save. So I F9 to Load Defaults, checked the service tag, went through all the options to verify they were correct and rebooted.
System spins up, and after a few seconds all I get now is 5 Beeps. I checked the code, RTC/CMOS Battery failure. I tried 4 different batteries from working systems, no luck. Moved the jumper on the motherboard to clear CMOS (numerous times), still no luck. Unplugged everything, drained the board with the power button, popped the CMOS battery and let sit for about 15 minutes. Connected everything back in, no change. I striped the system down to nothing...no drives, no external video, nothing but power and a keyboard...nada.. 5 beeps. I think the board was killed by the F9 load defaults, but it makes no sense why that would happen. It was working fine, other than the manufacturing mode message, before loading the defaults. There is no jumper on the Service Mode location, and both the password reset and cmos reset are in positions 2-3.
Prior to me loading the defaults, I ran the system diagnostics after putting in the new board and everything checked out OK. It seems loading the defaults, while the board was stuck in Manufacturing Mode did me in.
Anyone know if there's a way to recover without buying another board? I have a usb inserted with the latest BIOS, renamed to AMIBIOS.ROM, but it never gets far enough for me to try any of the BIOS recovery tricks.
Thanks,
Jason
DELL-Chris M
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July 20th, 2017 19:00
I see on other threads that users were on the main BIOS screen, then pressed Alt-F, then F9, then added the Service Tag and set the boot order. Did you already try this?
jason_la
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July 21st, 2017 10:00
I did see the alt-f posts, and I tried it before the F9, but it didn't appear to do anything. Not sure if it did or not because nothing happened on the screen. At this point with the power cable plugged in and the system off, there is an amber light on the system board and activity lights on the onboard NIC. When I hit the power, in about 3 seconds the power button flashes amber and I get 5 beeps. No screen output.
DELL-Chris M
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July 21st, 2017 13:00
I think the 5 beeps is misleading. Rather than a bad CMOS battery, perhaps a corrupted CMOS? Looks like you have covered all of the troubleshooting =
Blinking Amber Power LED =
* Remove and then reinstall any cards
* Remove and then reinstall the graphics card, if applicable
* Ensure the 4Pin ATX Power Connector is connected to motherboard
* Reseat the 4Pin ATX Power Connector for the Processor
* Blinking Frequency: 0.5 Seconds ON, 0.5 Seconds OFF
* When the CPU is not seated properly or not detected, the system will automatically power off
jason_la
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July 21st, 2017 13:00
Yeah I'm thinking the CMOS got corrupted with the F9 Load Defaults when it was in manufacturing mode, because that was the last action prior to rebooting and it dying. It sure would be nice if this thing had some kind of recovery mode but it appears the XPS 8300 does not.
According to this:
https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln300716/bios-recovery-options-on-a-dell-pc-or-tablet?lang=en
Only the XPS 12,13,15 and 8900 have BIOS recovery.
https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln300716/bios-recovery-options-on-a-dell-pc-or-tablet?lang=en
I ordered another board from a different supplier. Hopefully it's not in manufacturing mode, and if it is, I know what NOT to do.
Thanks for the suggestions.