Dell Workstation Owners Club

[lexluthermiester]

Nice, thanks,

Just read Retrorockit's post and he might be right. There were several version of the Optiplex 960 and you need to check your board to verify there is room for a dual slot card like the one I linked above.

 

[remixedcat]

You need to be careful selecting a GPU for the OPTI 960. It's BTX and low profile. The GPU runs towards the CPU cooler and there is no 2nd slot there. So Low Profile and 1 slot wide are needed. The Opti 960 is worse than the 760 for 2 slot cards because they added a couple PS2 ports next to the GPU slot. The Opti 760 you could trim to make some room, but the 960 is crowded there.
Best solution would be a GTX 750Ti low profile single slot with the cabled VGA port moved behind the card, or left off. GT1030 is newer but less powerful. The Low Profile GTX1050 are all 2 slot wide and have a hard mounter DVI port in the 2nd slot. I'm not sure what woukd happen if you desoldered the PS2 sockets to make room for the 1050 card.

Noted. Thanks a lot for this

 

[jeanpat]

Correct. The SATA channels can be enabled/disabled on a per-port basis.
@jeanpat, Make sure the port it's connected to is enabled. It's a very easy thing to over-look and can cause the "unknown device" listings in certain cases. Also, it might be a good idea to unplug the system and pull the CMOS battery to clear the bios just to be sure you don't have any problems there.

Up to now, the connection seems ok:

I have checked all the unknown devices in the BIOS, but the cdroms still don't mount on insertion. Didn't try to remove the cmos battery...

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

It kind of looks like either your SATA data or SATA power cable are inserted at a slight angle...could just be the photo though.

 

[Retrorockit]

Hey buddy, found something that might fit your needs well;
https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Profile-Graphics-ZT-P10500E-10L/dp/B06XHJX4G8
$156 shipped is a great price for a good card. Worth a serious look.

First check the length to see if it will hit the CPU cooler. Then look at the 4th photo. You'll see the DVI port that is going to be very close to the PS2 connectors. If you want to try this I would remove the bracket and test fit/run the card so you don't void the warranty. For this to work work you need to cut the case so the DVI port can stick out the back, and cut the bracket in 1/2 to make a single slot card. I do this sort of thing myself all the time. But advising someone to chop up a new video card is something else again. An Opti 760/780 wouldn't have the PS2 ports, and an Opti 760/ 780 MT you could just drop a full height Zotac GTX1050TI Mini right in it.

 

[TechyTed]

My T3500 arrived yesterday. Not much time to play with it yet, but I did hook it up to a monitor and made sure it booted OK. Woohoo!

 

[david carey]

Hello , first time here . I have a PB 12 issue with my T 3500 . I have some questions .
1/ Has anyone figured out ( not guessed ) what is at fault ? There are many guesses including VRM or Capacitor failure .
2/ Has anyone regained use of the computer after PB 12 ?
3/ What is causing my front fans to spin fast ( separate issue to the PB 12 ) , even from startup ?
For the record I very much like the T 3500 , hoping to upgrade the CPU

 

[TechyTed]

Opened up my T3500 to give it a good dusting. Whew! Dont know where this thing was used, but looks like it might have been in high humidity for a while. The dust was stuck on like mud. Also the CPU cooler was corroded. Almost like rust. So I blew out what I could, popped in the E5520 CPU I had, put new thermal paste on, replaced a broken front fan (had an extra on hand), upgraded the BIOS. Now I am saving up for a faster unlocked W36xx. (Grin)

 

[jeanpat]

Hello , first time here . I have a PB 12 issue with my T 3500 . I have some questions .
1/ Has anyone figured out ( not guessed ) what is at fault ? There are many guesses including VRM or Capacitor failure .
2/ Has anyone regained use of the computer after PB 12 ?
3/ What is causing my front fans to spin fast ( separate issue to the PB 12 ) , even from startup ?
For the record I very much like the T 3500 , hoping to upgrade the CPU

Regarding PB12, found this. Can this youtube channel be helpful?

 

[david carey]

Opened up my T3500 to give it a good dusting. Whew! Dont know where this thing was used, but looks like it might have been in high humidity for a while. The dust was stuck on like mud. Also the CPU cooler was corroded. Almost like rust. So I blew out what I could, popped in the E5520 CPU I had, put new thermal paste on, replaced a broken front fan (had an extra on hand), upgraded the BIOS. Now I am saving up for a faster unlocked W36xx. (Grin)

Mine has the same issue , 80 - 85% humidity ( all the time ) and looking at the front of the case i will need to clean the dust again , probably due to the front fans running fast and sucking in dust .

 

[jeanpat]

Opened up my T3500 to give it a good dusting. Whew! Dont know where this thing was used, but looks like it might have been in high humidity for a while. The dust was stuck on like mud. Also the CPU cooler was corroded. Almost like rust. So I blew out what I could, popped in the E5520 CPU I had, put new thermal paste on, replaced a broken front fan (had an extra on hand), upgraded the BIOS. Now I am saving up for a faster unlocked W36xx. (Grin)

hello,
How did you upgrade the bios? (using windows 7? From which version to which one?)

 

[david carey]

Upgrading the BIOS is simple , just click on it as I recall . I went up quite a few versions to the A17 version .

 

[lexluthermiester]

Upgrading the BIOS is simple , just click on it as I recall . I went up quite a few versions to the A17 version .

You may wish to reset the bios by pulling out the battery in the mobo and unplugging the power then holding the reset button on the power supply for 5 seconds. Updating the bios several versions can cause setting incompatibilities that are not always reset. If the problem persists, reseat your ram, CPU and all installed cards. Also reseat the power connectors on the board.

 

[TechyTed]

Latest BIOS for T3500 = A17

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=CN9VG

Latest BIOS for T5500 = A16

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=G24Y4

Links to respective BIOS above.

There are Windows/DOS executables and Linux executables.

I ran my updates under Windows 10 for both motherboards. Worked without a hitch. The file basically reboots the machine to DOS and does the install.

It will prompt you to run as administrator. Might say run with elevated privileges, but it means as admin.

Do the update with a Nehalem CPU (E55xx, W35xx, X55xx) before switching to a later (X56xx or W36xx) one. BIOS update required first, on the earlier motherboards.

Lexluthermeister’s advice on doing the hard system reset after a BIOS flash is well taken. Doesn’t hurt to clean out any errant settings and start fresh.

 

[david carey]

You may wish to reset the bios by pulling out the battery in the mobo and unplugging the power then holding the reset button on the power supply for 5 seconds. Updating the bios several versions can cause setting incompatibilities that are not always reset. If the problem persists, reseat your ram, CPU and all installed cards. Also reseat the power connectors on the board.

None of these work . The computer IS working , but also exhibits PB 12 generally after a shutdown due to power-cuts ( overnight ) , my UPS needs upgrading . When the machine is warm is can be started up no problems . After a PB 12 I can ,with some effort, get it back working again . The above two questions
1/ Has anyone figured out ( not guessed ) exactly what is at fault ? There are many guesses including VRM or Capacitor failure .
2/ Has anyone regained use of the computer after PB 12 ?
I am still eager to have these questions answered .

 

[lexluthermiester]

There are many guesses including VRM or Capacitor failure .

I doubt it's the VRM's or any of the CPU-power-line caps, if so the system wouldn't boot at all, let alone give an error code.

What does the screen display when that error code is given, if anything?

 

[david carey]

This error code precedes any input to the screen .

 

[lexluthermiester]

This error code precedes any input to the screen .

But something is displayed onscreen?

 

[david carey]

Same display as when there is no PB 12 error , not sure why you are asking .

 

[TechyTed]

Hello , first time here . I have a PB 12 issue with my T 3500 . I have some questions .
1/ Has anyone figured out ( not guessed ) what is at fault ? There are many guesses including VRM or Capacitor failure .
2/ Has anyone regained use of the computer after PB 12 ?”


...
For the record I very much like the T 3500 , hoping to upgrade the CPU

Looks like this was discussed over at the Dell forum.

https://www.dell.com/community/Desk...ht-1-and-2/m-p/4442331/highlight/true#M963003

Have you asked about this over at that forum? Might be somebody who has encountered it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Same display as when there is no PB 12 error , not sure why you are asking .

Sometimes the bios will give an error message that would be useful to help you solve this problem. If no error message is being displayed, and the system boots normally, you could have a front panel daughter-board problem. The Dell diagnostic utilities would also give helpful info if installed. If they're not installed and give them a run to see what they say.

 

[jeanpat]

Hello,
my T5500 (bios A02) is capable to boot with an asus GTX 960 turbo

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hello,
my T5500 (bios A02) is capable to boot with an asus GTX 960 turbo

You should really update that bios my friend. The A02, IIRC, had a few known problems.

 

[jeanpat]

You should really update that bios my friend. The A02, IIRC, had a few known problems.

It's risky and i failed to boot from a freedos usb key (and no w7 under the hand)

 

[techiee]

Hi! I just registered to say that I've found a $60 Dell Precision T7500 with a Dual Intel Xeon X5650, Radeon HD 6870 card, 6GB Ram, and no HDD. I bought a 1TB HDD, upgraded my card to a HD 7870, and everything runs perfectly fine except for Wii U and CEMU emulators. For some reason, my PC is super duper weak with emulators and I was wondering if my old CPU is the culprit? If so, is there any way for me to overclock it? My mobo is a stock one and not a X58 unfortunately and I don't have the budget to replace it. My Dell mobo is 06fw8p with bios updated to latest.