7010 BIOS A29 - Not Updating, No Progress Bar, LAN Broken

Question

I spent sometime reading 7010 BIOS topics on this forum, I could not find posts related bios failure to show progress bar or at this stage.

Current BIOS is A12 and my company gave away these PCs after there warranty period, I do not know all history about this PC. Other configurations: i3 3220, 250GB HDD, 4 GB RAM, MT Model.

Primarily I use it as my second PC with Linux terminal/ssh without a monitor for my random builds since last year, had no issues still I decided get a decent SDD and increase RAM to 8GB.

Issue 1: Unable to update to A29

I used FreeDOS method to boot in DOS, and attempted to update BIOS to A29. No errors were displayed, it rebooted normally, then I expected "progress bar" which did not happed as expected, but booted back to FreeDOS prompt.

I was surprised with this fail, BIOS update failure ??? I tried to with incremental updates A13, A16, A20 ... none of them showed up "progress bar" after "restart to bios update".

I pulled up an empty HDD, installed Window10, again attempted to update BIOS, this step also resulted same as above. I.e no errors, no progress bar, and update did NOT kick-started.

After reading several posts here, I also used DDDP, this also resulted above.

As last try at midnight frustration, I also tried to replace CMOS Battery, clear drain NVMRAM and even "Jumper Drain" method. Thing is A12 is struck, PC boots, I can use all peripherals, run diagnostics from BIOS, also using DDDP. No errors reported.

It might be my mistake to jump from A12 to A29 in first attempt, but I need help to here ..

Issue 2: Ethernet/LAN port failing after BIOS Update attempt.

I would have ignored BIOS update issues, if LAN did not break.

After several BIOS update attempts, my fresh-boot does not get Ethernet active and its in "no-device" state in linux and Ethernet Device is missing in Windows.

If hammer F12 on boot, just do not change any settings but exit by pressing "ESC" will get me LAN back to active state. It's crazy.

Question : A12 to A29 there are several security fixes, and improvements. But, are there any blocking changes, if I plan to upgrade CPU from i3 to i5/i7 ?

Please help me with any pointers, suggestions, missing steps .. to resolve

bradthetechnut · Answer

Other than BIOS being stuck and ethernet issues, did PC work ok after installing SSD and RAM?

May need to download Ethernet driver. Remove old one first if it shows in Win10 > Control Panel > Programs. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/optiplex-7010/drivers I'm not familiar with Linux.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=5m70h

I've never had to use bootable flash drive to update BIOS. One thing to try is Dell SupportAssist. It'll scan your PC for any needed drivers.

Normally, if BIOS has to be updated in increments, the Dell site lets you know that. Older Optiplex's did require increments. I don't know the 7010 to be one of them. If BIOS was locked since company purchased, I believe it would ask for a password.

You might've ran across posts where users were less than delighted with SupportAssist. But it's worked for me and other users, including another user with a 7010.

You shouldn't have any trouble upgrading CPU's. I7-3770 is tops for the 7010. Use new thermal paste. Upon 1st startup, it'll detect new CPU and ask to restart. It might do that for both of your drives.

SupportAssist will likely take a little while, but I've found it be worth it. Some time ago, I transferred an HDD from a 755 to a 790 (7010 predecessor) and away it went.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Try replacing the size 2032 CMOS battery.  Probably still on the original and they're good for 5 years.  I've had update issues myself with a low battery.  It can cause other seemingly unrelated bizarre problems.  New battery can often be the place to start.

hoysala · Answer

Thank you for the good pointers and suggestions, they made me to revisit some of my debug steps. my issues are still *not resolved*

> Other than BIOS being stuck and ethernet issues, did PC work ok after installing SSD and RAM?

I wanted first update BIOS before upgrading SSD, RAM and CPU, however I ended up adding new SSD, but *not* RAM and CPU yet. I lost little confidence with this 7010 MT.

> May need to download Ethernet driver. Remove old one first if it shows in Win10 > Control Panel > Programs. > https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/optiplex-7010/drivers I'm not familiar with Linux.

I tried using standard drivers, and also extra drivers proposed. But no luck.

> I've never had to use bootable flash drive to update BIOS. One thing to try is Dell SupportAssist. It'll scan your PC for any needed drivers.

On windows setup, I have Dell SupportAssist, it successfully installed 2 automatic once, and asked me to manually install BIOS A29, which I tried, but there is no progress in update, reboot retains A12 BIOS.

> Normally, if BIOS has to be updated in increments, the Dell site lets you know that. Older Optiplex's did require increments. I don't know the 7010 to be one of them. If BIOS was locked since company purchased, I believe it would ask for a password.

I agree with you, if its was locked, reseting CMOS will wipe passwords.

First time when I went to DELL software download page, I download latest A29, checked hash + size as 8 MB, this made me to believe BIOS is FULL update not an incremental one.

Between, I went to store again and brought new CMOS battery measured 3.3 volts, previous one too measured 3.2+ and the original battery measured 0.4v *I only measured it today*. New battery did not changed anything thing, BIOS version is struck at A12.

New Status:

Today I rerun full diagnostics from DDDP, I noticed "Interrupt Controller - PIC Functionality Test" with Error Code 4C00:0522, "Msg SYSTEM - The Interrupt Controller, or a device attached to it, is not working".

Builtin BIOS Self-Tests and System Board Diagnostics are ALL still passing.

Now, I'm clueless where to look into.

bradthetechnut · Answer

You've been doing a good job of troubleshooting.

Suggestion: https://www.delltechnicalsupportnumber.com/blog/how-to-fix-dell-error-code-4c00-0522/ And scroll down to solution #3. 1 & 2 you tried already.

hoysala · Answer

Mother board is officially dead now.

After several CMOS / NVM, BIOS update retries, including downgrading to Windows 7 to get things working. I finally get to see Amber Lights (2) (3) (4).

I will drop this mother board in e-recycle bin. I will look for replacement or alternative board on eBay.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Double checking - it is a 7010, and not a 3010, we were working with? Reason being is the 3010 still had the diagnostiic numbers. Starting with the 7010, Dell went with orange blink patterns for the power light to show error codes.

I just had another user get the 2,3,4 error code on a 780 and we couldn't fight it using all applicable troubleshooting steps we could think of.

Whether you have a 7010 or 3010, sorry to hear it didn't work out. I'm still going to screengrab a table below that was correct models just previous to the 7010:

Capture+_2021-03-12-17-12-17.png

You're right about e-cycling and replacing. Typically, if BIOS is done, so is the MB.

Chr15t0 · Answer

UPDATE: I put the service jumper on and was then able to flash the BIOS. I am not sure why that was necessary, but it worked!

Optiplex Desktops

7010 BIOS A29 - Not Updating, No Progress Bar, LAN Broken

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