1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
82
March 11th, 2026 20:43
Optiplex 7020 Crashes
We recently bought 2 new Optiplex 7020 computers and both have the same problem. One was returned, but we had to keep the other as the box and related materials for the other had been disposed of.
The problem is that within a few hours of power up, it will completely crash, with the screen turning into flashing patches of pixels. It is at that point completely unresponsive and has to have the power button pressed for 30 seconds to shut it down. To attempt to resolve it, I have upgraded it to the latest OS version, installed all patches, updated all drivers, cleared the BIOS cache, run the Microsoft DISM fix, run the sfc /scannow fix. It shows no problems what so ever until it crashes and I haven't identified any helpful errors in the error log. It is only running Microsoft Office, Zoom and Teams. Any ideas on what might cause this? Both computers crashed identically.
0 events found
Bob-IT
1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
March 13th, 2026 19:56
Thanks for the reply. Checked the Reliability History report and it only showed improper shutdown errors. Nothing new. No issues with the hard drives either. However, it does appear that I have found the problem. In the BIOS status report, there is an ASF2 force off error each time the system fails. Never saw that type before. Searched it and it took me to a 5 year old Dell Community page and others were reporting the same type of error and problem. One suggested solution was to disable the C-states setting in the BIOS. Tried that and so far, it has not crashed. Too soon to completely pronounce it fixed, but it has run for far longer than it has before. It looks like I have found the solution. The thing is, it was reported and discussed on other Dell models, so this is a problem not unique to this Dell computer. But it does appear to be resolved.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.5K Posts
1
March 12th, 2026 02:54
Look in Reliability History Report for critical (red) errors and/or issues. Those things will drag you down.
Run a SMART status report on those C-Drives (hopefully they are SSD's).