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#1
diagnostic lights indicate possibly corrupt BIOS
Hello,
We have a four-year-old Dell Optiplex 980 small form factor computer in my office which refused to boot the other day when I wasn't here. The diagnostic light pattern I was given indicates that lights #1, #3, and #4 lit, but not light #2. When I looked at the pattern in Dell's service manual, that particular pattern was not listed! When I tried to boot the computer this morning, I got the same pattern the first time, but the next two times I tried to boot the computer, the pattern I got was lights #2, #3, and #4, which indicates that the computer hardware is operating normally but the BIOS may be corrupt or missing.
One more boot attempt, and the computer booted normally. I'm doing a current backup right now.
What tests/diagnostics should I run to track down the cause of the problem and/or prevent it from happening again?