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
.

Relevant Pages

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