XPS 2720 AIO, replacement fan(s)

When it comes up, to the black screen, it only says “system fan failure” press F1 or F2. 

That's ambiguous, but I'd suspect that's the CPU fan because I don't think BIOS monitors the PSU fan, but I could be totally wrong about that.

Reboot and start tapping F12. When the menu opens, choose the Diagnostics option and run the fan test(s). See if that tells you which one may be the problem.

You might want to open the case and make sure both fans turn freely and their blades are clean. Re-seat the CPU fan connection to the motherboard too. Looks like the PSU fan connects directly to the PSU and has its own connector.

BTW: This may be a good time to replace the motherboard battery, which might clear the fan error, assuming it's not an ongoing problem.

According to the Service Manual, there's a CPU fan and a PSU fan. Do you know which one you need? The Parts People site lists both of them, but they're out of stock there too.

Google may be able to help you find either of them, and there's always eBay for used ones.

When I restart after hitting F1 (before we messaged) it goes into an “preparing automatic repair” mode. It goes to the blue Automatic Repair  “your PC did not start correctly” screen. Only when I leave it off a long time then I get the black screen message. I don’t hear any fans at the moment but will try to run the test you mentioned and open the back to see what I can find about the fans. If I can find them I will replace both fans. It is 6 years old. I did see the battery listed and will replace that while I’m in there. Thank you for your help. I’m using google to see if I can find the fans.

Hi Ron,

I did get the F12 function to work. The preliminary check found no issues with any of the hardware. The CPU fan and the MXM fan both show operating. The “Thorough Test Mode” hasn’t show any issues yet either. With 96% complete. Do you think my issue may not be hardware and instead be related to the most recent security software download? I understood that it was critical. If so, what now?

What version of Windows?

Are you saying the PC won't boot to desktop when you press F1 and it goes into Auto Repair?  That sounds like there may be a software issue (doesn't exclude a hardware (HDD) issue too).

What color is power button and is it steady or blinking?

If the motherboard battery died, BIOS would have been reset to the default settings which may not be suitable for your hardware. Reboot and tap F2 to see if you can open BIOS setup. First thing would be to copy all current settings, to be safe.

Then look for the SATA Mode option. If it's set to ATA, change to AHCI. Don't change anything else in BIOS setup, but save the change to SATA Mode, if you made one, and exit setup. PC will try to boot itself automatically.

If it doesn't boot, open BIOS setup again and check the SATA Mode option. If it reverted back to ATA, that's a sure sign the battery died. So next thing would be to replace it with a fresh CR2032 coin cell (~$2).  Check Owners Manual for instructions.  Then change SATA Mode to AHCI again and see if it boots now. Be a good idea to replace the battery even if BIOS didn't revert to ATA, to rule it out.

If it still won't boot and this is Win 10, try to launch the Windows Recovery Environment. Power PC on and when you see the Dell splash screen, immediately power PC off by pressing/holding the power button. Then immediately power on again. Repeat the on/off cycle 3 times and PC should boot into the RE. Follow prompts to Troubleshooting>Startup Repair and run that.

Let us know what happens...

Hi, I’m stuck.

I believe it is windows 10.

The power button is solids and white.

I did F2 and got into Aptio Setup Utility and found SATA Mode.

There is where I have stopped. The SATA mode has three options.. it is currently on “RAID’, although I do see the other two options listed: ATA and ACHI. 

Please let me know what to select and I’ll proceed with.the rest of your instructions. I have the replacement battery for when that time comes.

Thank you again

*** I received and email that said this didn’t get delivered.. so please excuse me if I have duplicated my post.

Hi, I’m stuck.

I believe it is windows 10.

The power button is solids and white.

I did F2 and got into Aptio Setup Utility and found SATA Mode.

There is where I have stopped. The SATA mode has three options.. it is currently on “RAID’, although I do see the other two options listed: ATA and ACHI. 

Please let me know what to select and I’ll proceed with.the rest of your instructions. I have the replacement battery for when that time comes.

Thank you again

@RayKeg  Did the diagnostics give you any error messages when it was completely done, including RAM and hard drive tests?

If BIOS is set to RAID, you probably have an mSATA SSD serving as the cache to speed up performance from the HDD. If you don't know for certain, go to the Support page and enter your Service Tag (don't post it here). When that opens, click the View Product Specs link under Quick Links on right side of page. Look on the components list to see if both a HDD and a (32-GB) mSATA SSD are listed for your PC. If you have both drives, BIOS has to be set to RAID. Don't attempt to boot with BIOS set to AHCI or ATA.

Assuming you have the mSATA SSD, launch the Windows Recovery Environment, go to Troubleshooting > Startup Repair and run that, as I explained above.

Are your personal files backed up on external media?

Hi Ron,

My apologies for the delay. It looks as though I have both a 2 TB Hard Drive and a Solid State Drive 32. Assuming I am reading the specs right. The diagnostics didn’t provide any error messages for anything. I even did the “thorough test mode” when the first part came back with no errors.

Note: I have not changed the “coin battery” as of yet.

I did do the power off/on sequence you discussed. On the way to the recovery it once again had that black screen “service fan error” message...press F1 or F2. I did F2 and troubleshooting>startup repair. It came back “ start up repair couldn’t repair your pc” Either shutdown or advanced options buttons display. I will shutdown until further instructions. 

As for personal files…I use the “one drive” for most of my files, however, there are also files that are not backed up located on my desktop. I know this is mental error and that I should have done it. If I lose those files then so be it. 
I will change the battery tomorrow and used compressed air to perhaps try to clean the fans. Then I will try this startup repair function (after first looking to make sure the BIOS SATA is still on RAID).

Does this sound like a reasonable course of action? Or do you have another idea I should do instead?

Thanks again,

Ray

So you do have a 32-GB cache SSD.

To replace the battery:

1. Reboot and start tapping F2 when you see the Dell splash screen to open BIOS setup
2. Copy all current BIOS settings, to be safe
3. Power off, unplug
4. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
5. Open case and remove motherboard battery (check Service Manual for details)
6. Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
7. Install fresh CR2032 battery
8. Close up and connect mouse, monitor and keyboard
9. Reboot and immediately start tapping F2 to open BIOS setup. Change SATA Mode to RAID which got reset, probably to ATA, when you removed the battery. Save the change and exit. PC should boot automatically.

Hopefully clearing BIOS will clear the fan error. If not, then you probably will have to replace the fan(s).

Hi Ron,

I decided to run the diagnostics again. I received an error message saying:

Error Code 2000-0511

validation:87703

Msg: The (MXM) fan failed to respond correctly.

Note: the MXM fan’s current speed is fluctuating slightly but at 1700+/- 

I have changed the battery and am running the pic with the back and motherboard cover off. It appears that I have three fans, I blew them all off with compressed air, and although the CPU fan was a little dusty all three are indeed spinning. I’m back to the Blue screen with Automatic Repair options of “restart” and “advanced options”. 
I changed the SATA mode back to RAID and the other other change I saw was boot mode and I changed it back to UEFI. 

So now you should go shopping for an MXM fan. Non-Dell fans don't have a sensor BIOS has to read to know it's working correctly, so look for a Dell OEM replacement. A non-Dell fan will give that same error message...