Dell t5820 won’t post 1 amber, 3 white

Question

Hey guys, i got an error with 1 amber 3 whites. I’ve tried changing the bios clock battery, clear cmos, re-seat the ram one by one on every channel, test the psu, checking the distributor and psu cable, minimal boot with just cpu and single stick of ram. After a while i got frustrated and assemble all my perisperhal the system still showing 1 amber 3 white, i tried power cycle it again it can boot idk what fixed it, but 3 days later this bs shows up again and it’s been 2 days power cycle it and don’t work.

if changing mobo or cpu is the only options i don’t think it’s worth it, it’s from 2019 system after all still expensive mobo and cpu, don’t have rebar on bios and can’t use large bar tesla compute card, can’t install driver for AMD GPU in windows. Hell it’s workstation man.. it should be good at doing work.. also my 5820 is using motherboard that can’t be upgraded using newer CPU the xeon W-22xx and they didn’t disclosed it as it only can use W-21xx on the official page, kind of misleading customer. my previous workstation is a dell t5610 from 2013 and it’s still going strong even tough it’s 13 yo now idk what happens to their new business model approach

enough for the rant, lessons learned maybe i should move on from dell for the next workstation

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user_8b5ec3 · Accepted Answer

Update!

I check again one last time before i go to recycling place, i use old broken gpu for booting from AMD suddenly the power button not showing 1 amber 3 white anymore, it glows white like normal but of course it’s not posting because of broken gpu, power cycling a few times, then i’d try one more time with the 5820 oem gpu, it’s turn on like normal!

Then i Checked all hardware for ram, cpu and gpu all normal and stable.

unfortunately the speaker now is dead nothing on windows settings turn it on. Maybe the motherboard got a stroke, idk

somehow the broken GPU cure the 5820. Seems strange. After boot i update the bios to the latest. Dec 2025 before the bios from april 2025. The broken AMD gpu is R7 450 4gb

hnyr28 · Answer

According to the information on the official website, there is a higher possibility that the motherboard is the cause of the problem. You have already tested the memory, so the memory issue can be ruled out!

Chino de Oro · Answer

A couple of suggestions: You may try to perform an RTC reset on your 5820. Ensure the system is off and plugged into AC power, then press and hold the power button for 30 seconds; release it, and the system will automatically restart and complete the reset, indicated by the Dell logo and potential date/time prompts. This process clears NVRAM, BIOS settings, resolving issues that caused the boot problems, and typically requires you to reset date/time in the BIOS (F2) afterward.

Or, you can attempt to perform BIOS recovery https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132453/how-to-recover-the-bios-on-a-dell-computer-or-tablet

From my understanding, those early 5820 systems were built and sold in the mid 2017 when the second gen CPUs of Xeon W-22xx were not released until the end of year 2019. How could Dell or us (consumers) know to check for future compatibilities at the time of purchases.

Anyway, at the time of this post, it's cheaper to get a complete 5820 system with Xeon W-2295 + basic components for a bit over $300 USD instead of getting just a motherboard + CPU for repair/upgrade.

user_8b5ec3 · Answer

Hey guys thanks for the reply, sadly none of them works, i restart the RTC for 3 hour over and over again none of it works. Still the 1 amber 3 white shows up, the only other code i got is 4 amber and 7 white when i open the case and turn it. I make usb bios recovery also it just still 1 amber 3 white shows up, the keyboard not work, no activity on monitor, but the nvme warm and the avago 9440 led blinking

i just check the marketplace for the upgrade you talking about cost 2500$ ish for 4 yo computer it’s a lot of money

mazzinia_ · Answer

@user_8b5ec3​ Chino was correct saying that there are plenty of bargains on ebay. Are you located in US ? if yes , and you want to just move over everything , this is under 250usd https://www.ebay.com/itm/175729732909this is even cheaper https://www.ebay.com/itm/267488300364 at 195, and is a full system ( so you get ram, a gpu and storage )this has a 2nd gen cpu instead, and is under 300usdhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/267513176100With this I mean that there are a lot of bargains to be had ( the 3rd is expecially good )

Chino de Oro · Answer

@user_8b5ec3 , try RTC reset and/or BIOS recovery with your LSI and boot drive removed. Also, disconnect all external USB devices except for mouse, keyboard. As long as you can access BIOS again, you can recover your system.

About the whole, complete systems prices, they were at sale prices. You must monitor often as they would be gone within hours. Not everyday availability prices.

user_8b5ec3 · Answer

@Chino de Oro​ i’ve doing that all reset RTC with all intact, minimal 1 ram and cpu without gpu and other perisperhal, not even a storage, even test the cpu, ram and every components to my friend’s workstation and their components to mine, this means my motherboard is the faulty one, i can’t get into bios as every time i unplug and re plug the power cable to my pc it’s only blink the 1 amber 3 whites, i’d tried to remove ram one by one until no ram present only the cpu and still the same 1 amber 3 whites code. Then i removed the cpu it’s changed the code my speculation is something on motherboard that in charge to give power to the ram dead or something because there’s no heat at the ram modules. My machine build at middle of 2019 and i use it from November 2019, i bought it brand new. sadly i’m not lived in north america as the system is cheaper than the shipping cost it’s not make any sense to buy it and i can’t use nvidia tesla card on it because it’s need a large bar size. I heard even the 7920 can’t do that either. So idk, for cooling i got 3d printer and a cnc for a fan or making waterblock. Why tesla you might asked, the 5820 got 950w psu, 2x 8 pins pcie cable, and one slot empty for cpu eps cable, nvidia tesla p100 or v100 use single eps cable, hmm so it’s basically its build purpose right?? Such a shame the bios crippled it i’m worried this is kind of planed obsolescence like what A*us did. my experience, Just when in time warranty expired the board died. On business perspective it’s outstanding move but consumer perspective, you can judge for yourself. That’s why i bought dell in the first place based on t5610 experienced it build like a tank. then i got bamboozled again lol well thanks guys for your time. I’ll not spend any more time with this machine. Sampai jumpa!

mazzinia_ · Answer

@user_8b5ec3​ glad to hear. It's a bit of a weird situation.. feels like some corruption maybe linked to the firmware parts of the option roms , and that gpu flushed that ( or pushed it in the area used by the audio subsystem ). Dunno if what I'm saying makes sense

user_8b5ec3 · Answer

The speaker now alive after i do DDU, for external and internal speaker. Seems normal now no weird catch or anything.

Now i’m checking in my workshop for static electricity, maybe this is the reason why the bios corrupt or something in the first place.

i installed a ground wire to the pc case too. Just in case. Wink wink.

thank you everyone

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Dell t5820 won’t post 1 amber, 3 white

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