OptiPlex Manufacturing Mode

Table of Contents:

1. What is manufacturing mode?
2. Symptoms of Manufacturing Mode
3. Onscreen Error Message
4. Solution

What is manufacturing mode?

Manufacturing mode is a special BIOS mode designed to decrease the time systems spend on the assembly line. This is done by skipping nonessential boot functions/tests and by prioritizing removable media boot devices over internal hard drive controllers in the boot order. In combination, these changes decrease the boot time significantly which allows more systems to complete the factory processes in less time. When a system successfully completes the factory processes, it is taken out of Manufacturing mode. It is very unlikely a customer would receive a system in Manufacturing mode out of the box. Manufacturing mode is more likely to be seen when a system board is replaced.

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Symptoms of Manufacturing Mode

• This may happen if the system board hasbeen replaced.
• No <F12> prompt appears on the Dell splash screen. (Be sure the prompt is not turned off in System Setup.)
• The System Setup asset tag reads, pass:12/34.

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Onscreen Error Message

• A system in Manufacturing mode posts a plain English message stating so during the boot process.
• However, the boot process must time out before the message is displayed. The boot process can take up to 55 seconds to time out depending on the network configuration.
• The message is not displayed until after the system attempts to boot to the devices in the boot order.
• It is normal for a system in Manufacturing mode to display several error messages on the screen during the boot process.
  • These errors include hard drive (SATA and IDE) detection failures and PXE Boot errors.
  • Some people often think that these error messages are hardware failures.

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Cause information is not available.

To clear Manufacturing mode, press <Alt><F> at the prompt above. On reboot, the prompt should not appear. During the load process, several more lines of data may be shown on the screen, causing the top messaging about the Manufacturing mode to scroll off the screen. The last lines should always be the same, instructing the user to press <Alt><F> to reboot. This also clears the Manufacturing mode settings.

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Recommended Articles

Here are some recommended articles related to this topic that might be of interest to you.

• Manufacturing/Management Mode Settings Guide (Intel AMT) on Dell Systems