Starting from scratch help

P.S. The 3620 currently has a P2411Hb monitor that may have come with it.  That's fine for now but I want to end up with two monitors.  The K620 graphics card has a DVI-D output for the P2411Hb and an unused DisplayPort output.  That seems a bit strange but both are new to me, VGA is my background.  I see inexpensive monitors with HDMI connections.  Is it just a matter of using a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter?  This is going to be used for general desktop purposes.

Hello @BillT3620 , look at the motherboard edge toward the bottom of the case, you will see a blue jumper on PWSD, you can pull it for a few second then put it back.  It will clear the BIOS password for you.  While you are at it, replace a fresh CR2032 coin cell batt as it's part of maintenance.

You are also correct that you can use a Displayport (computer) to HDMI (monitor) cable/adapter for your monitor setup.

You can use the service tag to check on Dell support website for original configurations.  It will tell you if the machine had Windows license or not (most likely would be Windows for Workstation). 

Hi Chino,

Thanks for your response. I found the PWSD jumper but will hold off pulling it until I get the fan mounted (I guess I could cobble somethng with zip ties).

I wasn't quite right about the SSD. It's a SK Hynix SC308 128GB with a Dell part number and it apparently came with the system. I'm used to clunky mechanical hard drives and am amazed at how much capacity can be put in such a small drive.

The service tag number was helpful. The system was sold in Aug 2016 and support expired in Aug 2021. I found an original configuration listing and am currently trying to understand it but it's confusing as to whether the system came with Windows 10, Ubuntu, or anything. I also see that something named SupportAssist may be able to install an image of the OS. But I've also seen the statement "Your device has reached the end of service life and can no longer be renewed, upgraded, or extended." so it's not clear if I can install the image.

Give me a while, it could be a couple weeks till the fan mounts arrive, and I'll get back here. This will also give me time to better understand what I have.

Hello Bill,

If you are dealing with the case fan, it's best to secure it with rubber anti-vibration mounts.

You are impressed now with a small 128GB drive, you will be at awe to see 4TB is the norm.

You found the original configurations, click on expand all to see the detail items.  Windows with part number and have a quantity meant you have it.  I attached a sample below for reference.

Your system just reached the end of life for receiving support from Dell for warranty but system drivers are still active.  I like a clean install without any Support Assist as it always works well for me.

Don't know where you get your stuff but combine your purchase on Amazon for free shipping and easy return if you have issue.  Any other question, just throw it here and you 'll get your system up and running at no time.

Chino,

I've attached a pic of my system configuration where all lines with a quantity of 0 have been removed. This is from a csv file that I downloaded and played with a bit with Excel.  There's no mention of any OS, Windows, Linux or otherwise, in what remains. Does that mean that it came without an OS?  I can post the full configuration if there's any question.

128GB is fine for now but I may add a second drive as I see used drives for as little as $21 or new from Dell for $32. Before that I will increase the system memory to 16GB and add a CD/DVD optical drive. I'm used to optical drives with an IDE interface but gather that it's obsolete nowadays and the 3620 doesn't support it. I also see that the 3620 supports a 1TB PCIe drive that is blazing fast but pricey relative to the SATA drives. However after all that I see that there's still a serial port.

Bill

P.S. I really like the ability to add pics directly to a post without having to first download them to a picture hosting site and use a link to them here.

Hello Bill, when you posted a picture, this website wouldn't show it but jus a square block with a triangle inside.  After mod review your picture and approve it, everyone will be able to see.  Your picture is not visible to me at this time.  I will let you know when I see it.

Because everyone preference is different, the computer configuration to meet yours can be affected by your need, budget, and market availability.  Let just start off with making your system up and running first, and then you can decide which components to update later.

If you are in the US, the products and pricing are in your favor because many sellers with off leased and surplus.  For general components, you won't have trouble finding them.  But that will be for later day, let just wait for mods coming back from weekend break and approve your picture first.

Hello Bill, your attached picture became visible to me and I can't see any item indicating the operating system.  If you want me to look, I probably can try.

So far, I can see the system has an i5 skylake CPU, an 8GB single channel memory, 128GB SATA ssd.and a quadro 2GB Maxwell graphics card.  The specs are basic yet plenty sufficient to run most home/office tasks on a dual monitors setup.  After you get your fan properly secure, you can reset the CMOS to get access to BIOS settings.  I had an outline of general steps for system setup from scratch recently.  You can view my post here.

Don't forget to replace the coin cell battery and re-paste your CPU while you at it.

Chino,

I got tired of waiting for the new fan mounts and rigged up something temporary.  It seems to work fine.  Then I removed the PSWD jumper, started it up, and observed that the BIOS didn't ask for a password.  I then shut things down, reinstalled the jumper, rebooted, changed the BIOS boot sequence to put the USB device first, saved, and shut down.  Afterwards booting brought me to the Fedora opening page where it wants my user name and password, both of which are unknown.  I then powered off, inserted the Windows 10 Pro USB device, and powered on.  The screen was blank for about 15 minutes and then Fedora appeared like before.  So something's not right.

I see that under BIOS>Maintenance there's a Data Wipe option and it will erase the SSD during the next boot.  I've been curious to see what's on the SSD but am willing to erase it if that will help.  Would you recommend doing so?  I agther that it just erases the disk but leaves it formatted.

Hello Bill, I would of set BIOS settings to default first, then go over to make change to match with components and usage, don't set USB as first boot.  Set boot mode to UEFI, enabled TPM (ready for Win 11 later on).  Set SATA operation to AHCI.  And yes, you can set to wipe the disk on next boot.  It's secure erase, so it will delete everything including file partition.  Pay attention at the arrow keys to complete the erasure.  I can't prove it but it should reset your SSD to factory and restore performance.

Plug in your Windows installation USB (recommend to make a new one) and restart machine.  Upon the Dell logo, tap, tap your F12 key until you see the message of preparing one time boot.  Select your USB as boot device.  Follow instruction on screen to install Windows.  Select I don't have a key if Windows asks, and select Win 10 Pro (see below for reason).  Select the unallocated partition (your SSD) and click next to let Windows partition it and installation will start (you don't need to format it).  

If your machine has Windows for workstation, install a pro version will allow you to upgrade to workstation by select troubleshooting on Windows activation screen.  If there is no Windows license in your system, you can use your USB license key to activate afterward.  That way, you get to save your license key if your system already has one.

Also, remember to remove your ethernet so Windows installation will give you option to set up local account.  Just select I don't have internet and accept limited setup.  Otherwise, log in to your Microsoft account if you prefer.

After the installation is complete, you will need to manually install chipset driver, ME driver.  Then plug in your ethernet to activate Windows and run Windows update to get remaining drivers.  Some are under optional updates.  It doesn't hurt to install all of them.

If your Windows USB is old, it's better to create a new one using Windows 10 creation tool.  The latest 22H2 is out.

And if you decide to peek at the linux installation, just download a live distro, boot it, mount the ssd, and delete the passwd data for the admin/user and/or just look at what's inside while mounted.

Chino,

It's working, sort of. Here's what I went through:

I'd been repeatedly trying the Microsoft W10 USB in various ports and started seeing DISK ERROR when booting before Fedora came up. I began to wonder in the part was faulty so I plugged it into this computer and was able to inspect its contents. So I don't know what the issue was.

Setting the boot sequence to UEFI didn't work. The only option was Ubuntu, which I didn't expect to work. I accidently booted with it set to that and got a message stating "No bootable systems" with options to retry or run the system diagnostics. I ran the diagnostics and it passed. So I set it back to boot from USB. By the way, this system has ten USB ports, six of which are supposed to be 3.0. The BIOS says it will append a "*" to the 3.0 ports. But it didn't mark any of them. No idea why.

I used the link that you provided and downloaded W10 to an old flash drive. Microsoft warned that it would erase whatever was on it and it did. Unlike the Microsoft part, it worked. During the install it reached a point where it showed two partitions on the SSD but said that W10 couldn't be installed on either because they weren't NTFS formatted. I got fed up and deleted both and two new ones were created. I proceeded and it said that it wanted to restart. I did so and it took me down the same path to where it wanted to restart again. I got into the BIOS and changed the boot sequence to have the SSD first and Windows started. The very first time there was a screen about which OS I wanted. Both were W10 and I suspect that this had to do with my second pass through Setup. I never saw it again so Windows may have been smart enough to get rid of it. Windows tried to get me to connect with the internet with various offers but, as mentioned below, I'm not currently connected.

I received a message that Windows couldn't find a driver for the P2411H monitor and set the resolution to 1024x768, I tried changing it to 1280x1024 and later to the listed resolution of 1920x1080. Both worked. Device Monitor lists the Display adapter as Microsoft Basic Display Adapter and the Monitor as Generic PnP Monitor. I got onto the Dell website and the driver there is for W7 through Vista but not W10. That may be an issue. I've downloaded that driver, an exe file, and will try it later. I've created a restore point in case it fails.

I don't have internet access yet because I don't want to use a wired connection and don't yet have a wireless adapter (it's on order). I've installed some software including Inkscape. It works except that selecting things with the mouse is erratic. Also when I try to draw a box on the desktop, it sometimes will skip a bit before it starts or sometimes won't produce a box at all. I'm wondering if that has something to do with the display. The mouse is a wired Logitech USB mouse that may have come with the system. I have a PS/2 and a wireless USB mouse that I've yet to try. All I can say is that something's not right.

I appreciate your help and we're slowly getting there.

Hello Bill,

I am not sure if you may have skipped the instruction to install drivers.  You can download and copy these drivers to your machine for installation.

Intel Chipset Device Software, run installation on this one and restart your machine.

Intel Management Engine Components Installer, run install

Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver, extract to a folder and point to it when update driver for atapi/ide/sata controller in device manager.

Intel UHD/HD/Iris/Iris Plus Graphics Driver, extract this integrated intel video driver to a folder, then go to device manager, you will see 2 generic display driver, pick one and choose manually update, browse and point to this folder, if it says you have the best driver then point to the nvidia folder (below)

NVIDIA Quadro Graphics Driver, extract to a folder and update one of microsoft basic display in device manager.

After this, you should be able to change your monitor resolution without the .inf monitor driver.

Realtek High Definition Audio Driver, extract it to a folder, run update one of your high definition audio driver in device manager, the application will be installed later when you have internet.

Intel PCIe Ethernet Network Driver, extract to a folder and update your LAN in device manager.

All of those drivers are Windows 10 drivers for your system.  If my post answer your question, you can select Accept as Solution to mark it solved.

Chino,

I tried a different mouse and the problem seemed to go away.  But I want to play with things some more before saying that it's fixed.  I went through Device Manager again and there's no mention of Nvida, Quadro, or K620.  That's surprising.  Also there are two USB ports on the side of the P2411H monitor that apparently are dead.  I really don't care but I wonder nonetheless.  I don't recall all the steps that I went through during Setup but I don't think there was any point where I was told to install any drivers. I thought that Setup did that.  Your driver list was appreciated but I think you (and I) missed something.  I checked the BIOS version and it's 1.3.6.  That's about 57 versions out of date and is probably the original.  Give me some time to work through all this and to install a network adapter and I'll be happy to mark it as Accept as Solution.

Thanks again.

Hello Bill,  it's not too late to install needed drivers.  This was part of previous post " After the installation is complete, you will need to manually install chipset driver, ME driver.  Then plug in your ethernet to activate Windows and run Windows update to get remaining drivers.  Some are under optional updates.  It doesn't hurt to install all of them."

From the list of drivers I posted, go ahead and install the chipset and ME.  I don't advise people to update BIOS unless to fix issue, so it's up to you to bring BIOS up to date.  

No rush or pressure to close your thread, any question or issue, just drop it here, I will monitor your threat a bit more.

Chino,

In one of your early replys, you recommended re-pasting the CPU. I assume that you're referring to using a thermal conducting compound between the CPU and its heat sink. In going though the T3620 owner's manual, including the section about replacing the CPU, there's no mention of using it at all. Are you recommending that I use it there anyway? I'm going to install a program to monitor the temperatures and fan speeds to see what they look like.

The link that you provided above to drivers for my system puts the BIOS update in the Critical Importance category. Do you disagree with that? I see that Dell recommends updating in stages rather than going all the way to the most recent version. They also recommend first making sure that the Intel Graphic driver is updated to version 10.18.15.4279, A01 or later. So the update procedure is more complicated than it first appears.

I've wondered if replacing the CPU with something more recent like an i7 variant would lead to a significant performance improvement. The consensus seems to be that the improvements would be modest and that this is something for gamers. Am I right about that?