Interesting experience with an Optiplex GX270 SFF

Last week, I delivered a computer to a client, the sister of a guy whose company
buys some of my gear. I finished up the installation of the computer, and the
lady asked me if I would like her daughter's old non-working computer from
college. Of course I took it away, and it was an Optiplex GX270 small form
factor teeny tiny desktop. First, I tested the entire system and sure enough it
would not power up. Then I removed the power supply and motherboard, and tested
them separately. The PSU was good and the motherboard caused the famous
blinking power light on the front panel. I inspected the motherboard
capacitors and found no evidence of bulging or leakage. I tried a different CPU
and memory, with the same result. Finally, before deciding to toss the board
into the electronic scrap pile, I put in a new C2032 CMOS battery. Bingo! The
board booted right up and, to be more certain, I ran a couple of hours of
diagnostics on it. Then I reassembled the system which needed a good dusting
anyway.

This makes me wonder about three things. Why oh why oh why would a motherboard
BIOS refuse even display the initial BIOS screen if the C2032 battery dead?
STUPID coding of the BIOS. I wonder if it has been fixed with the last A07
BIOS update. Finally, how many of these computers were trashed because the
battery finally died?

The GX270 SFF motheboard has clear signs of manufacture by Foxconn, who also
crank out a great many Intel-branded boards. It was not made by Asus, who
apparently made the GX270 tower boards with the famous exploding and leaky
capacitors.

So FWIW... Ben Myers

> Finally, before deciding to toss the board into the electronic
> scrap pile, I put in a new C2032 CMOS battery.
> Bingo! The board booted right up

Always handy to know !

"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
news:0dm4o3dsu5pqicojgsfuu13up1n6jkj4ai@4ax.com...
> Last week, I delivered a computer to a client, the sister of a guy whose
> company
> buys some of my gear. I finished up the installation of the computer, and
> the
> lady asked me if I would like her daughter's old non-working computer from
> college. Of course I took it away, and it was an Optiplex GX270 small
> form
> factor teeny tiny desktop. First, I tested the entire system and sure
> enough it
> would not power up. Then I removed the power supply and motherboard, and
> tested
> them separately. The PSU was good and the motherboard caused the famous
> blinking power light on the front panel. I inspected the motherboard
> capacitors and found no evidence of bulging or leakage. I tried a
> different CPU
> and memory, with the same result. Finally, before deciding to toss the
> board
> into the electronic scrap pile, I put in a new C2032 CMOS battery.
> Bingo! The
> board booted right up and, to be more certain, I ran a couple of hours of
> diagnostics on it. Then I reassembled the system which needed a good
> dusting
> anyway.
>
> This makes me wonder about three things. Why oh why oh why would a
> motherboard
> BIOS refuse even display the initial BIOS screen if the C2032 battery
> dead?
> STUPID coding of the BIOS. I wonder if it has been fixed with the last
> A07
> BIOS update. Finally, how many of these computers were trashed because
> the
> battery finally died?
>
> The GX270 SFF motheboard has clear signs of manufacture by Foxconn, who
> also
> crank out a great many Intel-branded boards. It was not made by Asus, who
> apparently made the GX270 tower boards with the famous exploding and leaky
> capacitors.
>
> So FWIW... Ben Myers



That's crazy. But maybe not.

Absent the battery, it would certainly go no POST, right?

So......hmm.

Maybe a bad CMOS battery that wasn't fully making contact?

Can you put the old CMOS battery in and double-check ? lol


Great story. Thanks.

Stew

Nearly all motherboards will POST without a C2032 battery then complain that the
CMOS settings are corrupted or lost or blah-blah-blah, same as if there was a
dead battery. I just found it most strange that the board displayed nothing at
all and flashed its power light.

The old CMOS battery is in a pile with other batteries I changed out of systems.
Not sure I could find it. It was making very solid contact before I removed
it... Ben Myers

On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 14:27:30 -0600, "S.Lewis" <NVRambo@techie.com> wrote:

>
>"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
>news:0dm4o3dsu5pqicojgsfuu13up1n6jkj4ai@4ax.com.. .
>> Last week, I delivered a computer to a client, the sister of a guy whose
>> company
>> buys some of my gear. I finished up the installation of the computer, and
>> the
>> lady asked me if I would like her daughter's old non-working computer from
>> college. Of course I took it away, and it was an Optiplex GX270 small
>> form
>> factor teeny tiny desktop. First, I tested the entire system and sure
>> enough it
>> would not power up. Then I removed the power supply and motherboard, and
>> tested
>> them separately. The PSU was good and the motherboard caused the famous
>> blinking power light on the front panel. I inspected the motherboard
>> capacitors and found no evidence of bulging or leakage. I tried a
>> different CPU
>> and memory, with the same result. Finally, before deciding to toss the
>> board
>> into the electronic scrap pile, I put in a new C2032 CMOS battery.
>> Bingo! The
>> board booted right up and, to be more certain, I ran a couple of hours of
>> diagnostics on it. Then I reassembled the system which needed a good
>> dusting
>> anyway.
>>
>> This makes me wonder about three things. Why oh why oh why would a
>> motherboard
>> BIOS refuse even display the initial BIOS screen if the C2032 battery
>> dead?
>> STUPID coding of the BIOS. I wonder if it has been fixed with the last
>> A07
>> BIOS update. Finally, how many of these computers were trashed because
>> the
>> battery finally died?
>>
>> The GX270 SFF motheboard has clear signs of manufacture by Foxconn, who
>> also
>> crank out a great many Intel-branded boards. It was not made by Asus, who
>> apparently made the GX270 tower boards with the famous exploding and leaky
>> capacitors.
>>
>> So FWIW... Ben Myers
>
>
>
>That's crazy. But maybe not.
>
>Absent the battery, it would certainly go no POST, right?
>
>So......hmm.
>
>Maybe a bad CMOS battery that wasn't fully making contact?
>
>Can you put the old CMOS battery in and double-check ? lol
>
>
>Great story. Thanks.
>
>Stew
>
>

"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
news:r445o3h5cg3g2kma2v63s6p6r0pdc16t90@4ax.com...
> Nearly all motherboards will POST without a C2032 battery then complain
> that the
> CMOS settings are corrupted or lost or blah-blah-blah, same as if there
> was a
> dead battery. I just found it most strange that the board displayed
> nothing at
> all and flashed its power light.
>
> The old CMOS battery is in a pile with other batteries I changed out of
> systems.
> Not sure I could find it. It was making very solid contact before I
> removed
> it... Ben Myers
>


I would've sworn that I'd seen Dells that wouldn't POST with the battery
missing, but I could be mistaken.

And I agree, your scenario was very strange indeed - but advantageous as it
turns out. I don't know that I would've gone that additional step to check
the CMOS battery before tossing the board.

Nice work, man.


Stew