Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > linux.debian.user > #176758

Re: Dell BIOS

Show all headers | View raw

Martin McCormick composed on 2017-01-16 11:52 (UTC-0600):

> 	I don't know how common this is but the BIOS' of two Dell
> Optiplexes plus the BIOS of another Dell Dimension don't stay set
> the way one would like them to. As a computer user who happens to

What models are they? If of approximately 2002 to 2007 vintage, they could be 
victims of the bad capacitor plague:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

I've resurrected several, but also failed on several, by replacing bad caps.

> be blind, the setup process is a royal pain in the backside
> because since there is no OS booted, the only output device is
> the VGA output. I have to hook it up to a monitor and have
> someone like my kind and patient wife or, before I retired, a
> coworker change the boot sequence order from floppy-C:-CDROM to
> CDROM-floppy-C: or CDROM-C:-floppy which prevents the hard drive
> from grabbing the boot sequence each time.

I sympathize. I have a bunch of different models Optiplexes. I've had three 
different ones waste an obscene amount of my time lately. Each of these is 
installed in locations that make opening them up for maintenance a significant 
inconvenience.

The first, a 780 with a Dell PCIe DVI port card and connected via DisplayPort, 
when shut down from Linux puts my new Dell 21:9 display to sleep in a fashion 
from which it cannot be awakened until after I remove and replace the 780's 
power cable. Even after a BIOS update it took quite some time to determine that 
the only way to acquire normal behavior was to remove the DVI port card.

The second, a 745, even with latest BIOS, has taken to reporting low battery 
voltage, after the previous battery voltage was reduced to nil. I replaced it 
with a brand new battery with measured voltage up to specification, but it still 
pauses at every power up to report low voltage even though clock is correct.

The third, a 270, has decided to randomly report failed RAM. Each time it has 
done so I've opened it, wiggled or removed and replaced the sticks, and then it 
would work normally. As I write this I'm running Memtest86+ on it after having 
replaced both sticks with matched pair of different brand but same 3-3-3-8 CL3 
specification.

> 	I don't think the CMOS batteries are dead because the
> clock still seems to keep time so I am guessing that something
> happens that the BIOS code sees as an error maybe during bootup
> so it decides to re-order the sequence. One doesn't discover this
> until the next time the CDROM doesn't spin up when a bootable
> disk is in it. By the way, the CDROM works fine when mounting a
> CD or ripping one.

Clocks will keep time even with voltage quite low. Batteries are cheap enough, 
as little as $2US for a card of 5 or 6, that they should be replaced, or at 
least checked with a voltmeter, if ever there is any indication of a problem 
that might be CMOS related. It's also a good idea when a battery has needed to 
be changed, to clear CMOS, then restore any desired custom settings.
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

  Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Back to linux.debian.user | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening "Martin McCormick" <martin.m@suddenlink.net> - 2017-01-14 22:40 +0100
  Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> - 2017-01-14 23:10 +0100
  Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Mirko Parthey <mirko.parthey@web.de> - 2017-01-14 23:20 +0100
    Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening "Martin McCormick" <martin.m@suddenlink.net> - 2017-01-15 15:20 +0100
      Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> - 2017-01-15 15:50 +0100
        Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2017-01-15 16:00 +0100
      Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2017-01-15 19:30 +0100
        Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> - 2017-01-15 20:00 +0100
    Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. "Martin McCormick" <martin.m@suddenlink.net> - 2017-01-15 22:40 +0100
      Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> - 2017-01-15 23:30 +0100
      Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2017-01-16 00:10 +0100
      Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2017-01-16 00:30 +0100
        Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. John Darrah <xyllyx@gmail.com> - 2017-01-16 02:40 +0100
          Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Solved. Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2017-01-16 04:00 +0100
  Re: Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2017-01-15 16:10 +0100
    Dell BIOS ( was Low Level Format of 1.4 Mb Floppy Isn't Happening) "Martin McCormick" <martin.m@suddenlink.net> - 2017-01-16 19:00 +0100
      Re: Dell BIOS Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-01-16 19:50 +0100
        Re: Dell BIOS "Martin McCormick" <martin.m@suddenlink.net> - 2017-01-16 22:00 +0100
          Re: Dell BIOS Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2017-01-16 22:40 +0100
            Re: Dell BIOS John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2017-01-16 23:00 +0100
              Re: Dell BIOS Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2017-01-16 23:30 +0100
                Re: Dell BIOS John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2017-01-17 00:30 +0100
      Re: Dell BIOS Mirko Parthey <mirko.parthey@web.de> - 2017-01-17 00:40 +0100
        Re: Dell BIOS Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-01-17 02:10 +0100

csiph-web