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2607
February 2nd, 2020 19:00
Optiplex 780 Mini Tower stuck in boot loop
Hello all. I acquired a couple 780 Mini Towers. The price was right (free) so I decided to give them a try. I have installed windows 10 pro on both, and updated the BIOS and other drivers to the best of my ability. I gave them a thorough cleaning, as they are school district surplus and have sat for who knows how long. One of the machines is stuck in a boot loop. It will perform fine for a couple days and suddenly shuts down. Now I cannot get online via ethernet and am getting a e1k error in event manager. Any suggestions? And don't tell me to get new computers (haha). I am determined to make these work
Thank you
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Patriot65
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February 3rd, 2020 09:00
Thank you for your prompt response. I am only referencing one of my 780s. One works perfectly, the other is a POS. I totally understand where you're coming from regarding old computers. I happen to have inherited close to 50 outdated computers; some 780s, some old HP mini towers and laptops-all school district salvage. I even have an IBM Thinkpad! I have been cannibalizing to build these 2, since they came with windows 7. I didn't think to replace the RTC battery. The fan is good, Hard drive is newer (contemplating a SSD), all drivers are updated. It's funny how opinions differ in the land of computers. I have had IT guys tell me they just love the 780s. But at any rate, the battery is a cheap fix, since I have about 50 of them...haha I have a tester, as well. Trust me, if I can't get the thing operational in the next few days, it will be on the next dump run.
savvy2
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2.5K Posts
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February 3rd, 2020 04:00
you skipped step 1 on all old PC, a new RTC coin cell battery. if below 2.9vdc BIOS will go nuts. will.
I can not see your screens to assess what they are telling you nor see your POST codes.
780MT is full-sized PC. old CORE2 CPU, relic, and slow. circ 2009. BTX horrors, and non standard PCU 24 pin power connector horror #2, sure. that is what you got.
next is the CPU fan does it work right, spin at normal speed? if not the PC will overheat.
after the battery is replaced then next step is finding the HDD bad, run a real SPART test on it and
see one zillion hours there on the HDD from hard long school usage or SMART FAILING.
The BTX has a non standard fan and mount, very hard to deal with overheating here.
the thermal compound (aka, heat sink grease) will be bad at high hours PCs, and needs to be replaced this TIM grease compound.
Boot loops, can be many reason,
over heating
bad hdd or bad corrupted OS or both in most cases this old.
Battery is dead, and boots wrong. for that 1 reason
some BIOS, NO 2 are the same but some BIOS boot loops if no good bootable device is present,
some stall, others loop, this is the land of OZ and BIOS.
best is lets fix one PC at a time, mixing 2 on one post is wild CHAOS. (like your Doctor treating 2 patients at once (horror)
1 PC 1 POST. ok>?
780s are dumper fodder, for sure. BTX is top reason to move on, but can be fixed. if lots and lots of free time and cash.,
the question is how much cash on 0 dollar box, last 780-mt sold for 12 buck on ebay , and that is too much.
far far better PCs are $50 each, vastly better, so do not spend 50 bucks fix'n any 780.. ever.
there 2 choices in life, upgrade or throw good money at bad, your choice but why do the bad thing.
BTX all should be recycled, sorry, but should. if you had 10 of them mix parts until one ran. ? works.