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Dell forum: Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot

by: litchj March 21, 2009 10:53 AM PDT

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Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot

by litchj - 3/21/09 10:53 AM

I am looking at a friend's Dell Optiplex GX270. Apparently, the screen went black while he was using it and it won't boot anymore. I have run Dell Diagnostics on the machine and the hard drive. All tests are successful. I have pulled the drive and I would expect to get a "drive not ready" error or something similar from the BIOS. I can get to a boot menu by pressing F12, and I can get the CMOS setup to come up by pressing F2. Can I assume that this machine only needs a rebuild of WindowsXP, or could something be wrong with the hardware? This machine has an UltraATA hard drive in it. I tried booting a standard ATA drive that I know has a good installation of WinXP, but it would not boot either. This has me confused on how to proceed.


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Found Articles About Motherboard Issues

by litchj - 3/21/09 12:51 PM

In Reply to: Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot by litchj

After doing more searching, I found some articles about the motherboard in this model PC having issues with its capacitors. This apparently causes the black screen issue. Does anyone know any more about this?


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Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot

by Tombee56 - 3/21/09 2:51 PM

In Reply to: Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot by litchj

As a field engineer for Dell, I have replaced more than enough of GX270 motherboards. I would suggest you look at the capacitors on the motherboard. If they are swollen, then you have found your problem. Look at the top of the caps. If you see a "K" then the cap is OK. If you see an "X" then it's swollen. Only answer is a new mobo.
Here in UK, although Dell's warranty would have expired, they made the goodwill gesture of extending for swollen caps on mobos. However, that extension expired about December 2007.
BTW The part number is DLC-FG015


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Failed Capacitor

by litchj - 3/22/09 8:24 AM

In Reply to: Dell OptiPlex GX270 Won't Boot by Tombee56

Thank you so much for the information about how to detect a bad capacitor on the GX270 motherboard. Yes, in fact, there is one capacitor bulging with an X on the top. All others have the K as you mentioned. I guess this machine is junk. You have saved me time and $$ trying to fix this PC.


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