Dell Optiplex GX-270

[BadFrog]

Just thought I'd post this in case any folks weren't aware. We have had at least 20 of these GX-270's go belly-up due to bad capacitors on the motherboard. And more drop everyday. The symptoms are, the monitor appears to go into power save mode but moving the mouse or pressing a key does not bring it back. The only way to bring it back is to cycle power to the PC. Eventually that won't work anymore and you have just a blank screen. If you open the case and inspect the motherboard you will see capacitors that have a rounded top as opposed to a flat top and they are the defective ones. In some cases you can even see an orange/brown goo leaking from the tops of the caps. At first we had some problems with turnaround time from Dell but lately they have been on top of it and getting a replacement board to us by the next day.

Hope this helps someone...

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[SimonDavies]

It's normal with Dell's, we have had the 240 and 260 (currently 260's) and they are always falling over (disks, cards, memory etc).
Dell are cheap so you generally get what you pay for

Personally I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, give me a HP\Compaq any day.

Thanks for the warning tho.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[TheLad]

My usual gripe with Dell Optiplex GX260's is dodgy BIOS batteries...

-----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[JockMullin]

All this seems inappropriate to Win XP, hwvr I would have to say the Dell Dimension series of boxes has been much more reliable than Optiplex in my experience, which I also don't recommend.

HPs are good but a bit more expensive in general and Compaqs are great right until you have a problem and hit up against the Send Money For Service wall. Not a problem for corporate accounts or those with good dealer support, tho.

With today's miniscule margins on hardware it's no wonder quality and support are suffering. I have found Dell support to be technically adequate and prepared to be flexible.

Where is Northgate now that we need them? I still use one of their clickety-clack keyboards, vintage 1990. It cost back then what you pay for an intro level CPU box now.

Jock

 

[bcastner]

Jock,

I miss Northgate as well. What I really miss is the IBM keyboard from the original PC, and the PS/2 series. The use of ALPs switches and n-key rollover, the touch and feel, were just great.

Microsoft makes a decent replacement, but I agree with you that it does not replace the Northgate or IBM effort.

 

[BadFrog]

Sorry must of not been paying attention where I was posting this. Any mods please feel free to move this to hardware forums. Thanks.

As far as the clackity clack keyboards go.... well my girlfriend loves those damn things and she hammers the hell outta them! It was driving us all nuts so one day we took her clacker keyboard and filled it with elmers glue! That thing never sounded better, quiet as a mouse! Too bad she found another one hehe.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[aquias]

Ug..."Clicky" keyboards. My first tech job was made a PAIN due to those blasted things. Literally, after I got promoted I went to a supervisor meeting to threaten everyone that if one more of my techs got acosted (literlly, people grabbed you as you walked by to yell about so and so having a "clicky" keyboard...and users would defend their keyboard with a vengence...yes, users did try to steal them from each other) I would personally come over and either write the person up or yank the plug on their system and hand them pen and paper.

 

[Jasen]

They would accost techs to try and get one of they keyboards? Or complain about their neighbor making too much noise?

I loved the feel of those old clackety things too.

 

[aquias]

No, they demanded they be allowed to have them. Like I said, some users would try and swap keyboards with other users when no one was around. It was insane. Eventually, we did a new PC push and instructed the techs to remove every keyboard that made any sound from the floor.

Erm...made a few people more than a bit angry.

 

[traycee]

Kind of an odd thread. But, just to add my 2 cents, it's not just Dell's. I've seen ALOT of custom built systems lately going belly up because of blown and leaky capacitors on the motherboards. It is easier and cheaper to replace the motherboards on an open system as opposed to a proprietary system. Lately, it seems like an epidemic.

 

[BadFrog]

Well if your interested this may shed some light on it:

http://www.badcaps.com/

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[Empmark]

Off topic indeed : )

I too have seen this. It is most prevelant with the optiplex 270s but also is seen in the 280s (I have lost 3). A lot of info is on the Dell boards. One poster noted that the issues occur on motherboards that have the Michicon branded caps. These are orange and black in color, while the Rubycon caps are gold and black. The Rubycon seem to be ok, and are what the refurbs are coming back as.

 

[schubb2003]

Actually this is not a Dell issue...The company that makes their mobo's as well as Abit and others use a company for their caps. This company was producing bad caps, messing with things they appearantly did not understand.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24596

 

[BadFrog]

I think what you meant to say was, "this is not SOLELY a Dell issue". I don't think myself or anyone else in this thread is trying to say it is. Just pointing out that particular model seems to be plagued with bad capacitors.

If the bad caps are in their boards then it is indeed their issue. Perhaps not theirs alone but an issue none-the-less that they are still dealing with.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein