Dell T110ii help

I posted on the discord yesterday about a T110ii that I can’t get to boot. I did a little more research, and it seems that both my E3-1200 v2 series CPU and 1600 MHz RAM are only supported with a later BIOS version. Since it won’t pass POST, i don’t have any way of confirming the BIOS version to see if this is indeed the problem. It looks like i’d have to buy a new v1 CPU and a stick of 1333MHz ram just to test it out. And then I might just find out that the motherboard is toast.

I’m considering just scrapping the Dell, taking the $70 loss, and starting over with a new case & motherboard.

Any advice?

From the user manual:
Important Information
• The Dell PowerEdge R210 II and T110 II systems, originally installed with
Intel Xeon E3-1200 series processors, support Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2 series
processors after a BIOS and baseboard management controller (BMC)
firmware upgrade.
• To support Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2 series processors on your system, you must
install:
– BIOS version 2.0.5 or later
– BMC version 1.85 or later
You can download the latest version of the BIOS and BMC firmware at
support.dell.com.
• Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2 series processors support:
– Generation 3 PCIe expansion cards
– DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 MHz memory module speeds
For information on the memory configuration guidelines, see your
system’s Owner’s Manual at support.dell.com/manuals.

DDR3 1600 memory can run at 1333, unless the RAM you have is just not compatible with the board at all, you should be fine. Which processor do you have? If it’s just a 1220, then maybe it would be worth it for you to get a 1270. Someone may come along and offer to sell you a v1 CPU real cheap, or you can get one for $20 or less on eBay and flash your BIOS. Worst case you spend $20 and have an extra V1 CPU in case you need to test or flash another motherboard.

Agreed, the RAM isn’t the issue here. It’s just the CPU version.

Do you know if the non-Xeon 1155 CPUs support ECC RAM? It looks like a minimum of $20 for a new processor unless I also upgrade the RAM. The table in the build guide indicates ECC for all the Xeon options.

Good idea, from my limited research it looks like a Celeron G530 should work and they cost $5. Dell lists G500 for the T110 II and from what I’ve read it should work with ECC on the C20x chipset.

Thanks for the tip. I ordered one for a whopping $4.50 shipped.

I’m out of ideas for this one. I’ve tried two different CPUs and two different types of DDR3 ECC UDIMs.

Is there any other way to troubleshoot this machine?

Are all the fans hooked up? It could be something stupid like it failing to see a fan header active and it shuts it down or maybe a tamper switch is triggered. Beyond that…I got nothing.

It only has one fan in the back, and it definitely runs when it tries to boot.