Optiplex 5050 SFF Boot Problem

Hard drives die. Its not a matter of IF its a matter of when.  Especially when they run more than 8 hours a day.

It IS a hardware issue and the event logs will also likely show errors.

There is a reason why drives have 90 day to 1 year warranty.

< the startup process gets stuck with the Dell Logo on the monitor.

Doesn't that mean that those machine are not even Posting ?

So, how do you get them going again ?

Are they connected to a good UPS (like APC).

Are they all running the same BIOS ?

< Hard drives die. Its not a matter of IF its a matter of when.

So, true .

However, would they not instead get a disk error or it would at least Post ... and try to boot ?

Finally, I would assume these have bootable NVMe-SSDs. There is no way they would be failing already.

Thanks everyone for the replies and ideas.

The reason I suspect it's not a hardware issue (SSD, motherboard, etc...) is that this is happening on pretty much all the 5050s we have. Yes, these have 512 GB NVMe Class 40 SSDs. Unless there's a batch issue with a particular component, it's very unlikely that this is a broken component. Dell's diagnostic, accessed by pressing F12 on boot, also did not reveal a hardware issue. I ran both the Thorough and the Quick tests.

<<Doesn't that mean that those machine are not even Posting ?

No Idea. Dell got rid of the POST messages a while ago for that Dell logo and as far as I know, there's no way to enable it. The Logs in BIOS is blank for whatever that's worth.

<<So, how do you get them going again ?

Power down with the hold down power button or pull the plug. On the next boot attempt, most of the time, it will boot. Sometimes it takes a few tries before it will boot.

<<Are they connected to a good UPS (like APC).

Nope, no APC for individual computers. Not sure what you are getting at here. Some type of power fluctuation during boot? Seems unlikely since I've verified that this only happens on cold boot and we've not had any power issues with other equipment.

<

Yes, most were on the same BIOS. My IT company as like many, don't update unless there's a problem. I've updated one of the computers to the latest BIOS and the cold boot issue is still there.

< No Idea. Dell got rid of the POST messages a while ago for that Dell logo and as far as I know, there's no way to enable it. The Logs in BIOS is blank for whatever that's worth.

If it is not getting past the Dell-Logo screen, I would say it is not posting properly. It won't start to boot Windows until the BIOS Posts.

< On the next boot attempt, most of the time, it will boot. Sometimes it takes a few tries before it will boot.

That means it happens on warm-boots also.

< Nope, no APC for individual computers.

Never heard of that in a business setting. All desktops get nice UPS around here.

< Not sure what you are getting at here.

The machines aren't getting the right power, and the motherboard therefore doesn't boot properly. Power-Supply might also dislike AC-power.

< Yes, most were on the same BIOS.

I would start a spreadsheet of problem machines. BIOS version at failure time should be recorded.

< I've updated one of the computers to the latest BIOS and the cold boot issue is still there.

Good troubleshooting. However, you are running out of possibilities here. 

I can tell you I installed a few of these 5050-SFF for clients a while back (similar if not exactly same config). They have run flawlessly for almost 2 years now and the clients love them.

getting boot up problems.

On a cold boot (not sure if it only happens on cold boot), the startup process gets stuck with the Dell Logo on the monitor

booting from m.2 gumstick ssd flash. (check)

but the above statement lacks all needed facts. ?

1: what OS w10-64bit,  (the spec on it says 7 or 10 was shipped)

2: did windows 10 get stuck in some nasty update? (does and can happen) this can be controlled ASK (gpedit)

3: are the fans dead, you said logo  but there are 2 logos.  one for dell monitor and the one just before F2 works

the 2nd logo on all mine show, 5050 in the logo graphic, (my 3020 does)

4: does BIOS work?, seems yes as you ran F2 and ePSA diagnostics.

5: its not dead, if it did all that. so it is pure boot issue,  so turn off FAST boot , that forced w10 to do a true cold bot and not use the funky hiberfil.sys,  , this can happen,.  so learn to use try cold non FAST BOOT.

6: does holding the power button for 10 long seconds wake up the PC? the long reset on any PC is wise.

7: Some PCs hang in sleep mode, or worse hibernate.  (bad drivers)  to solve that, is easy turn all that off and see if one of those 25 PC now works reliably.  even put it  in to presentation mode. 

in the run box type "presentationsettings.exe"  and use that to prevent sleeping as  TEST.

8; make sure  all dvd and sata devices are unplugged but keyboard,/mouse,  dvd trays empty of media.

remove optical disks in trays and remove any USB device that is a memory stick (usb key/thumb drives)

ever seens this.

photo1: see safe mode this is the true cold boot, the one and only.... causes windows to not fast boot. do so.

and last try to use a camera and capture failing screens.  and for sure what logo you saw, EXACTLY.

http://www.pcdied.com/w10/W10-DEAD.html

fast boot turned off only makes ssd boot like 2 seconds faster so its not some kind of big dead.

but does force the abandonment of any old corrupted nasty hiberfil.sys.  (do it and learn how this works)

@Tesla1856 Warm-boot to me means a windows restart. Cold boot means starting the machine in off state and pressing the power button to initiate boot. This issue when happens with the latter situation.

We've gone through several IT companies to manage our computer needs, none have suggested that we get individual UPS for desktops. Perhaps it's industry specific. Remember we've had these machines for 2 years now. No boot up issues until a few weeks ago. Unless all of a sudden our power grid is problematic...

I can't say my experience with these 5050s has been as flawless as yours. When we first got these machines, they had some compatibility issues with some HP monitors we have. The ones with these HP monitors, would cause the screen to flicker incessantly. The remedy turned out to be disabling hardware acceleration in Microsoft Office. Strange problem. Now we have this issue.

I suspect the problem may be Windows Boot Manager. Probably a bug introduced with a recent Windows patch.

@savvy2 

<<1: what OS w10-64bit,  (the spec on it says 7 or 10 was shipped)

Windows 10 64-bit

<<2: did windows 10 get stuck in some nasty update? (does and can happen) this can be controlled ASK (gpedit)

Nope

<<3: are the fans dead, you said logo  but there are 2 logos.  one for dell monitor and the one just before F2 works the 2nd logo on all mine show, 5050 in the logo graphic, (my 3020 does)

We are not using Dell monitors. There's only one logo. Fans work fine.

<<4: does BIOS work?, seems yes as you ran F2 and ePSA diagnostics.

BIOS works, if you press F2 early enough. After it gets stuck, then F2 does not do anything. I suspect the system POSTs, but it gets stuck at Windows Boot Manager.

<<5: its not dead, if it did all that. so it is pure boot issue,  so turn off FAST boot , that forced w10 to do a true cold bot and not use the funky hiberfil.sys,  , this can happen,.  so learn to use try cold non FAST BOOT.

Fast boot is not on

<<6: does holding the power button for 10 long seconds wake up the PC? the long reset on any PC is wise.

Not sure why you are mentioning wake and sleep. The computer is booting from an off state. No hibernate or sleep is being used.

<<7: Some PCs hang in sleep mode, or worse hibernate.  (bad drivers)  to solve that, is easy turn all that off and see if one of those 25 PC now works reliably.  even put it  in to presentation mode. in the run box type "presentationsettings.exe"  and use that to prevent sleeping as  TEST.

See answer to 6. Also, presentationsettings.exe says it's "only available on mobile PCs"

<<8; make sure  all dvd and sata devices are unplugged but keyboard,/mouse,  dvd trays empty of media.

remove optical disks in trays and remove any USB device that is a memory stick (usb key/thumb drives)

Nothing in media drives, no USB sticks

As I mentioned to @Tesla1856 I suspect his is a Windows Boot Manager issue. Probably a bug introduced with a recent patch. It's not a bad one to live with, also most users sign off instead of shut down anyway. Hopefully this gets fixed though.

Appreciate the input.