Precision T5500 won't boot

Question

Precision T5500 dual-Xeon workstation previously working fine, suddenly won't boot when front panel power switch is pressed. No light (green or amber) appears in the power switch and no other front panel LEDs appear lit. Nothing appears on the monitor screen.

I start with the power cable unplugged and only the monitor cable attached. When I plug in the cable, the front panel lights flash momentarily and fans turn briefly. If I then press and hold the test button on the power supply, the adjacent LED lights up steady green and stays lit. The power supply, system, second CPU riser, and video card fans spin, the optical disk LED lights momentarily, and the front panel hard disk LED lights steadily but no other front panel LEDs light and the system doesn't boot. I do notice that an amber LED on the lower-right corner of the motherboard lights and remains lit even for some time after mains power is removed (while capacitors drain, I suppose).

What's the most likely cause? What are my chances of being able to repair it?

Thanks!

bradthetechnut · Accepted Answer

T5500 Diagnostic Indicators

Not an easy answer as the scenario doesn't fit any of the diagnostic troubleshooting scenarios.

One thing to check is peripheral devices. For example, take out the GPU. Does the T5500 power on? If not, I'd re-seat the GPU and attempt to power on. Still if no power, disconnect the HDD and see if the unit powers on. If it's neither of those two, though your motherboard has the amber light, the problem could lie within it and hopefully it's not dead. If it were one of the processors, you'd get the appropriate error code. Re-seating the CPU's, one at a time, is another way to troubleshoot.

HDD seems to be missing from the diagnostic list. May be you'll have some luck there.

If it were the RAM, an error code would show.

Nothing should look burnt or melted on your motherboard.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Hi @Dr-Frankendell,

Thank you for marking my answer as a solution and the feedback. I'm glad you got it working again.

I recently had to re-seat my RAM per the error code. When the error code came back later, luckily, a restart took care of it. I realized my RAM is a little dicey and is probably showing its age. It doesn't like too many things open on the taskbar and it doesn't come back from standby/sleep. Depending on how much activity, probably my safest bet is to restart to clear out the RAM before putting back to sleep. - Until if I get new RAM.

I bet your T5500 still whips.:Smile: Still a smart move getting a newer computer and having the T5500 as a backup.

Dr-Frankendell · Answer

Thanks for your attention to my problem.  In the end, I removed the wifi adapter card, GPU, and all hard disks with no change in behavior.  Then I re-seated one of the DIMMs and ... everything suddenly went back to normal (and remained normal even after I reconnected everything else).  In the meantime we procured another computer to serve the role of this one, so I now have a sandbox system on which to mess around with server-ish stuff.

david_sun · Answer

bradthetechnut:

I have an interesting problem, maybe you can give me some suggestion, I just got an old T5500, I installed Win10, everything works great. But when I do a hot restart, then the system will power on a few seconds and off, and keep forever. The system cold starts fine and can work for hours no problem. just wonder what can cause this start failure when the system is hot.

thanks,

David Sun

bradthetechnut · Answer

I do have a couple of suggestions.

Replace the CMOS size 2032 battery. A low battery can cause all sorts of bizarre problems. Duracell lithium or Energizer lithium is suggested. They should last around 5 years. Yet I only got 2 years out of Sony.

Is the inside clean - including the fans, heatsink, and etc.? I'd also replace the thermal paste. As long as you bought it used, it's hard knowing the last time it was replaced.

And of course, please let me know how it goes.

bradthetechnut

P.S. I'm not sure what you meant by "keep forever." It shuts off and won't turn on "forever"?

david_sun · Answer

it will on few seconds then off a few seconds, and loop forever. it kind of related to thermo. because I unplug the power cord for a long time, then it can power on without a problem and can keep working for a long time. if you power off and turn on again, then the on and off dead loop happen.

the problem is not fatal, but it is there.

have a great weekend

bradthetechnut · Answer

If you want, download HWiNFO64.sys. You can also keep an eye on temps and verify it's not a temperature issue.

The 3v battery might also seem unrelated, but you might be surprised. It's often the first thing to check. One can also test it with a battery tester if they have one handy.

Due to the T5500's age and buying it used and not refurb, I still stand by my suggestions posted above. It's definitely where to start troubleshooting. Is the PSU clean?

You have a great weekend also.

P.S. It's been hit or miss if I receive an email when somebody replies, so sometimes my responses are a bit delayed.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Another suggestion, as pasted from another post: We suggest you run the hardware diagnostics to check is there any hardware faults. To run diagnostics, restart the computer, as the computer boots, press < F12 > when the Dell Splash Screen appears. When the Boot menu appears, highlight the Diagnostics option and then press < Enter > to start the Diagnostics. If you get any error code and validation code, capture and lets us know.

david_sun · Answer

status update of the troubleshoot,

it passed the F12 diagnosis test without any problem. I let the memory ran for 30 minutes, then stopped it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QGEEqdCDm6Tf4L5o99DGpcEOKLmC7iLR/view?usp=sharing

after I click Ok. the windows 10 not boot. because the system runs the diagnosis program for 30 minutes.

the video clip at this link shows what the computer trying to do something.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qBizJWhatAeinrCidlnYkBWEviYKisuS/view?usp=sharing

if I unplug the PC for one day, and start from a cold state. it can boot to win10 and run without any problem.

It may be related to the power supply, but I don't have a good one to replace. I will try to check the thermal paste solution later.

I appreciate your suggestion and help.

david_sun · Answer

https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Fixed-Workstations/Precision-T7500-BIOS-reboot-problem-is-preserved-in-new-A17/td-p/6135817

I guess this is the problem because I did update the bios to A18. if what claimed in this post is correct,
"The only solution was to downgrade the BIOS to the A09 version, which I did so. And that is the solution you will find on the web for this problem"

I don't want to downgrade to A09. I guess Dell didn't make a perfect solution. I can survive always power off the system and wait hours later to power it on instead of to do a restart. I wonder if it worth to update a solid disk for it.

bradthetechnut · Answer

I finally got to see your video. What an annoying problem.

I had a PC that would do restarts out of the clear blue though it didn't have a virus. The PSU died shortly after.

Other than that, I would have to let one of our other experts or Rockstars answer further.

david_sun · Answer

thank you very much for the update, I am using it once a while now, it works great, just couldn't set it to auto sleep and need to power it fully off when not use. I got this one as an eWaste, it is very likely the PSU problem. I will test it for a while before I invest more in it.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Hi @david_sun,

Any luck getting your PC going? We just had one in the Optiplex forum with a very similar problem. Off and on the PC would go, but without those clicks you have. Wouldn't start warm, but could start cold. The OP (original poster) replaced the PSU and had success.

Amazon, eBay, and newegg are just a few good places to check for PSU's. Be sure it comes with something for a return policy.

gocabraless · Answer

T5500 Riser with re-seat processor 5680 just work again. Check every contact in the lga1366 socket for dirty material and/or missaligned contact. Thank you very much!

KLiKzg · Answer

Have the same problem...T5500 posts up, A18 BIOS, CPU reseated, RAM retested, everything works just find & passed OK.

When booting to Windows 10, it either freezes or stops responding.

So far:
- replaced the PSU with T7500 1,1kW version...no help
- put in new SSD, as it might be some weird boot-read issue...no help
- GPU works, so that is not an issue...tested on Hyrens.
- in Hyrens no Win boot is possible...how?
- ordered in new RAM, waiting for that to arrive

Any new ideas?

Precision Fixed Workstations

Precision T5500 won't boot

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