Precision 5820, motherboard failure?

Question

So, this week my Precision 5820 Tower stopped operating after the latest update from Dell. Of course, I am in the middle of a huge project and mostly dependent upon the processing power of this unit. To be fair, it has worked well for the short time I've owned it. Delivered on Jan 8th 2021, just over 1 year old. in exchange for $2400.00 in cash.

As I said, it worked well, after we ironed out a few bugs with the video card. That is UNTIL I decided to upgrade/increase my RAM and then ordered from Dell what I presumed would be the correct type of memory stick.

Well, it wasn't. My PC stopped working and a tech at Dell support managed to get it up and running again. But still, no extra memory. And I don't have the guts to try again.

Anyway, two days ago, I installed the latest Dell update and my system shut down to restart. It never recovered. I'm not very happy. After a lengthy conversation with Louie at tech support, he told me that the motherboard wasn't working. After only a year, the motherboard doesn't work?

A tech is coming to our home office on Monday to hopefully repair it under warranty. Sorry for your inconvenience just doesn't cut it. I do not feel I can rely on this system again. I will not be recommending this product to anyone, nor the salesman who sold me the wrong memory sticks in the first place.

Lastly, Dell assisted in building this unit, specific to my business needs. I don't recommend that process either.

rmaston · Accepted Answer

It took 2 days for the new (refurb) motherboard to arrive. The tech replaced it and my system is back up and running. I have disabled automatic Dell Command updates so it doesn't update the bios and brick the system again, I hope.

mght1 · Answer

Follow Up to: '5820 Precision motherboard failure?' So yesterday afternoon, the Dell tech showed up. A super nice guy who really knew his stuff. He changed out the motherboard on my 5820, and very soon had it up and running. Thank you, Mark it was really good to meet you.  I re-built my A/V studio and now, everything seems to be working properly. And so it should.  Worth pointing out, though three things. 1. The appointment emails from Unisys provide very little response time for confirming the appointment and each time the link had expired. 2. The failure of the motherboard was likely due to a 'critical update'  from Dell which apparently mashed up the BIOS. Thank you Dell. While there are probably other ways to repair the BIOS but since the unit wouldn't boot up at all, switching out the motherboard was probably the best option. 3.If you run audio and video plugins expect, for some brands, to reinstall your licenses if you have them on your OS. For example, it appears that Waves plug in licenses ID the PC with its 12 digit code, something like, A4BB6 and so on. Once the new motherboard had been installed, this ID code had changed. My licenses did not recognize the 5820. Solution, send all of your licenses to the Waves license cloud and then re-activate the plug-ins from there. additionally, download them to a USB flash drive. Problem solved.  I hope to have a problem-free day back at work. Thank you to Louie in support and of course Mark for his courteous professionalism.

mazzinia_ · Answer

If I may offer a piece of advice, always turn off auto updates and let the Dell update assistant software only display what's new.

This way you retain the option to install what you really need "if" you need it. And even at that point, I would go to the drivers and support site and download and install myself.

In your case "feels" like a bios update was performed on auto and well... personally I am old and follow the old mantra of "if it's not broken, don't fix it" as in ... i would never perform a bios update unless I have absolutely no other choice

mght1 · Answer

Hi, 3 Zinc. Thank you for your suggestion. It really does make sense. And your helpful advice. At this point I am still chasing my tail. The service from Dell is erratic, disorganized, and inconsistent to say the very least.

I am still waiting for the tech to show up with the part. Still, that's another story.

Thanks again for your input. I'll let you know how it turns out.

mazzinia_ · Answer

Sorry to hear about the difficulties.

I've had to use prosupport ( that 99.999% is the same service you have activated ) a couple of times while under warranty. In my personal case , the first time i've found well trained techs to discuss with online, and also a valid support out of hours by phone ( at that point that one was either from US or India ). The second time was to replace one part and well... that took some months (the part was still operational, but degraded enough to be substituted. A fan ) due to the fact that local stocks are not available (so the next business day is a variable thing, but i would expect a very quick response for something as vital as a motherboard).

What I can instead comment is that the company that's being outsourced here to execute repairs, is not exactly having a policy to have their techs read the hardware manual on a computer they never had the chance to touch before.

Luckily I did, so I directed him to what to disassemble in the proper order... ( aside this , he acted professionally anyway )

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi, Our records indicate that the service has been completed. Could you check if your system is working fine now and confirm if I can be of any further assistance?

mazzinia_ · Answer

Hello,  was this in response to me ? I made an example to the original poster , but all is fine here since long time

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you for all your time and patience. Please feel free to reach us here if you need any assistance.

mght1 · Answer

FYI, the 5820 will not boot up this morning. This machine has proven to be totally unreliable. Probably the worst characteristic of any computer: you never know if it will work. I've put an email into the service dept. and awaiting a call.

I have a lot of work to do right now so this doesn't help.

mazzinia_ · Answer

Sorry to hear.... 2 months for another failure is quite ....

mght1 · Answer

Crazy. Support is good...but this is not a helpful substitue in practice. Changing the motherboard isn't solving the problem. It is so time-consuming after having several days out of commision, to then go through all of the user licences and re-introduce the new ID

I will mever biy a Dell compiter again

You'll see from my latest post that I await a visit from a tech who, so tjey say, will likely replace.the motherboard...again!

mght1 · Answer

*buy

mazzinia_ · Answer

Well, changing the motherboard is a solution, if the replacement board died. If the motherboard died (again) for no hw causes, in that case it would be different.

Now it would be useful to know how it died, to understand if it was natural causes ( bad luck ), or induced by something external ( psu, by example , or another update done in the background )

mazzinia_ · Answer

My bad : hw = hardware psu = the power supply

mght1 · Answer

I agree. It would be useful to know why it has died again. That way we could solve the problem. It would also be useful if the 'tech support, offered at the time of my purchase actually knew how to diagnose a problem like this one instead of thanking me for my "time and patience" which, regretfully, has now expired.

BTW What does 'psu' and 'hw' mean? Thanks

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Precision 5820, motherboard failure?

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