7010, Not waking up, black screen

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@JOcean wrote:

Ok...this is way off the wall but here goes. Have you noticed anything in the house like dim lights or flickering lights. Maybe a problem with a tv or some other device. My point is could there be voltage surges or spikes that are getting the computers? And along that vein....is it a possible power supply problem in the system?

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I don't think that is off the wall at all. I haven't noticed anything with the other electronics, the other desktop, or anything. But it did dawn on me that maybe there was something electrical going on that shorted the computers out.

"Cable disconnected"...

Have you tried a different video cable, or at least confirmed the current cable is fully/correctly connected at both ends?

Have you tried a different video port on monitor and PC? And have you made sure the monitor is connected to the add-in video card, not to onboard video, assuming you have an add-in card?

Does this monitor have its own On-Screen Display (OSD) which you open by pressing a key(s) on the monitor itself? If so, open the OSD and verify the monitor is set to accept video from the port you're actually using on the PC (which port is that?). Most monitors are "dumb" so you have to tell them exactly what port you're connecting it to on the PC, eg HDMI, DisplayPort, DVi, VGA port on the PC. But if you're using an cable adapter, eg HDMI(PC)>VGA(monitor) make sure you tell the monitor to look for video signal on its VGA port, not some other port.

Is this PC still under warranty? You mentioned getting it as a gift, so who's name is the registered owner according to Dell's records? If it's not registered in your name and it still has warranty coverage, you'll have to transfer ownership to you, but that requires knowing some info about the person who's name it's registered in. And hopefully that person will cooperate with you.  It takes ~2-3 weeks to transfer ownership but once that's done, assuming there's remaining warranty, you might want to contact Dell Tech Support for assistance.

BTW: When you said you transferred Windows from the old PC, does that mean you (re)installed Win 10 on this PC using the Microsoft Win 10 installer on a bootable USB stick, or did you just try copying Windows files from the old PC onto this one?

I had this happen to me. It is the motherboard with a broken capacitor or it might be the hard drive. You can get a motherboard here.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Optiplex-7010-Socket-LGA1155-Motherboard-0V8WGR-V8WGR/253966813240?epid=16025546643&hash=item3b219a0838:g:zrQAAOSwU1Nb4IFe:rk:4:pf:0

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@RoHe wrote:

"Cable disconnected"...

Have you tried a different video cable, or at least confirmed the current cable is fully/correctly connected at both ends?

Have you tried a different video port on monitor and PC? And have you made sure the monitor is connected to the add-in video card, not to onboard video, assuming you have an add-in card?

Does this monitor have its own On-Screen Display (OSD) which you open by pressing a key(s) on the monitor itself? If so, open the OSD and verify the monitor is set to accept video from the port you're actually using on the PC (which port is that?). Most monitors are "dumb" so you have to tell them exactly what port you're connecting it to on the PC, eg HDMI, DisplayPort, DVi, VGA port on the PC. But if you're using an cable adapter, eg HDMI(PC)>VGA(monitor) make sure you tell the monitor to look for video signal on its VGA port, not some other port.

Is this PC still under warranty? You mentioned getting it as a gift, so who's name is the registered owner according to Dell's records? If it's not registered in your name and it still has warranty coverage, you'll have to transfer ownership to you, but that requires knowing some info about the person who's name it's registered in. And hopefully that person will cooperate with you.  It takes ~2-3 weeks to transfer ownership but once that's done, assuming there's remaining warranty, you might want to contact Dell Tech Support for assistance.

BTW: When you said you transferred Windows from the old PC, does that mean you (re)installed Win 10 on this PC using the Microsoft Win 10 installer on a bootable USB stick, or did you just try copying Windows files from the old PC onto this one?

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When I took that pic, the cable was disconnected, I just wanted to show that the monitor is working, it is just not working with the computer.  I tried swapping out a computer the other day, just to rule out connectivity issues related to wires or outlets and the new computer works.

SO it looks like the thing that is potentially causing the problem is that I transferred desktop files from the original computer that stopped working to the second computer that stopped working.  Windows was already installed on the second non-working computer.

Maybe it is some sort of virus...?  

It happened to two computers in a row and the variable I have found after ruling out everything seems to be that I transferred some files from the first harddrive to the second.  Maybe there was a problem with those files mostly desktop files that were Word, Excel, PDFs, a few videos, pix etc) 

Are you still getting the 3-2 blink code (possible USB failure)?

Did you try replacing the battery as has been suggested? I'd do that before you go any further. Might be an easy $2 fix. Be sure to press/hold the power button for ~30 sec after removing the old battery, before installing a new battery.

Unanswered questions:
Did you check the monitor's OSD to make sure it's set to accept video input from the port being used on the PC?
What's the warranty status of this PC?

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@RoHe wrote:

Are you still getting the 3-2 blink code (possible USB failure)?

Did you try replacing the battery as has been suggested? I'd do that before you go any further. Might be an easy $2 fix. Be sure to press/hold the power button for ~30 sec after removing the old battery, before installing a new battery.

Unanswered questions:
Did you check the monitor's OSD to make sure it's set to accept video input from the port being used on the PC?
What's the warranty status of this PC?

 

 

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Hi Ron,

I believe the warranty is expired.

I will try changing the battery, thank you.

I am going to check the blinking code again, too.  I don't know what the OSD is, I am going to go look that up and check as you suggested.  (I guess the plus side to this is I am learning a lot about hardware....)

If you know the Service Tag, you can look up the warranty status on the support page. But you won't be able to get warranty support unless the PC is registered in your name.

You must have missed one of my earlier posts where I explained: OSD = On Screen Display. Basically its the configuration screen for your monitor. You access it by pressing a key or combination of keys directly on the monitor. Since most monitors are dumb, you have to tell them exactly which input port on the monitor will get the video signal from the PC.

If you're using a "straight connection", eg HDMI(PC)>HDMI(monitor) you choose HDMI on the monitor's OSD. But if you're using something like HDMI(PC)>adapter>VGA(monitor), you'd choose VGA on the OSD.

Thanks Ron, I looked up the warranty using the tag, and saw it is expired.  I think I did miss your explanation about the OSD. Thank you so much, that helps a lot.  

thanks! i had same problem with refurb optiplex 7010 i ordered, out of the box it looked like it was stuck sleep mode with flashing power led when i attempted to power on and would not show bios. they are sending replacement but HAD to figure out what was wrong with this one being a computer nerd. after i pulled the memory i noticed one of the 4 was different card for HP and allowed it to boot up perfectly with just matching memory cards installed

@JOcean​ wow. i've trouble shooted a lot of this over the years. pulling the 

RAM was a new one. replaced it one at a time. booted up each time. now to replace the cmos battery. thx. always nice to teach an old dog a new trick.