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.