DELL OPTIPLEX 780 motherboard issues.

[Koldov]

Hi All,

 

Looking for help on this as I think the motherboard is kaput!

 

There is no GFX, no LAN and going into device manager it says the Intel Chipset 'has a problem'...

 

Do you think DELL keep parts for old models?

 

Identification on the board is scarce as usual with DELL/INTEL boards but these seems to be the pertinent numbers:

 

DP/N 03NVJ6

 

or

 

E93839 GA0404

 

Also as usual it seems to be unique layout, but if anyone has alternatives please let me know.

 

Kol.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Koldov

[m25man]

What are the capacitors like?

These are the common failure components.

Normally you can pull the cans off and solder the replacements directly to the pins of the old ones to save reworking the Mobo

[Koldov]

Ah yes, learning component soldering... Another thing on my 'to do' list!

 

Kol.

[FN-GM]

I would bother just buy one from eBay. - Dell OptiPlex 780 SFF Socket LGA775 PCI Express Motherboard 3NVJ6 03NVJ6 | eBay

[Koldov]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Such a hassle if it doesn't work though, I try to steer clear of electronics from Fleabay...

 

Shame, because I'd seen this one!

 

GENUINE DELL OPTIPLEX 780 SFF SYSTEMBOARD MOTHERBOARD CN-03NVJ6 3NVJ6 inc VAT | eBay

 

Also, school policy dictates it's a bit of a no-no.

 

Kol.

[FN-GM]

Shouldn't the machine be retired from service now anyway?

[Koldov]

Shouldn't the machine be retired from service now anyway?

 

Yeah, it's 5 years old so I guess if we were a school with an ICT refresh policy it would be...

 

However, they are seen as 'bricks and mortar' and not something that needs to be updated - If it wasn't for BSF funding at the time, I'm sure they wouldn't have been purchased in the first place and I'd still be trying to patch together the old AMD Sempron - 512MB - Windows XP boxes!

 

Honestly though, we are not really a progressive, forward thinking, IT led School and for the little amount of 'internet research', MS office, Scratch and such that the children do, it's hard to push for a whole new refresh of IT suite computers because they are more than capable.

 

This is the first one I've really had any problems with so far (touch wood) and although it has been limping through for a while they haven't done too badly at all.

 

Kol.

[difinity]

Have you tried another power supply ? If it is caps on a 2010 PC it's more likely in the PSU than on their motherboards after they paid for using poor quality back in 2005, they started using better quality. Some of the caps on the motherboard might be marked KY or FM ?

[simonmpoulton]

From experience with this model it has a common issue with the Intel chipset going flakey. Usually the USB goes first followed by the symptoms you describe. The cases are small and the cooling isnt great so failure is inevitable at some point.

 

Given the age of the machine surely the most sensible course of action is to replace it with a new unit? I can understand that they may not wish to pay to replace all the PC's but surely the £50 you would spend on a new board is better going towards the cost of a new system? You can build a basic Pentium dual core PC with off-the-shelf components for less than £200 or alternatively you can pick up a refurbished Dell Optiplex 3020 for £210 + Vat on the Dell outlet.