Bad MB or PSU?

I'm confused. As I understood it from your original post and your last post, a fan comes on briefly and then shuts down. That's what I, and others, am trying to troubleshoot. However, you're now saying none of the fans are stopping. Perhaps you would clarify that.

As i mentioned, one has to let the memory test finish to get to the other options. The memory test took about 5 minutes on my Dell. Note that it's 8 years old so, I don't know if the tests it has are available on your system.

By the way, you're not wasting our time.

Nasty7 said:

When I first plug it in one of the fans comes on briefly and then shuts off

Only when First Plugged in. The fan comes on Briefly then shuts down, meaning the fan, not the computer. Nothing has been started at this point, only plugged in. Hope that is a little more clear.

I understood about the computer but does the fan come back on?

Yes, everything works fine in Linux, Hirens Boot CD or even when the pc is just ide with nothing running. When I get time will install Windows 7 and see if there is any difference. I assume there is something wrong because they did decide to get a new computer and trash this one. I find sometimes that computers are still good though and just need a little fix, hopefully this is the case with this one.

I love these little SFF Dell pc's! I have a small work space so these things are great.

Thanks, Nasty

If all the fans are running, I don't see a problem. The fact that it's shutting down briefly doesn't sound like anything to worry about.

It's not normal, I've never seen one computer do this ever, so to me it is an indication that something else is wrong. I will look into it further when I have time.

wither 2 said:

If all the fans are running, I don't see a problem. The fact that it's shutting down briefly doesn't sound like anything to worry about.

Not disregarding what you are saying wither 2 and I hope you are correct. I've just never seen this before, and I've seen a few computers in my time as a hobbyist and working on them for others part time. This is a new computer to me, meaning I've never actually worked on a Optiplex 9010 so can't really say if this is normal.

I did install Windows 7 Pro x64 and all seems to be running well is it was with Linux from a USB, and Hirens Boot USB.

Don't know if it will help but am running Dell Support Assistant now.

I ran the Dell Support Assistant and it was pretty impressive from the GUI, though who knows how good it really is. There was a System Board Test, so that was also impressive and just what I wanted. It came up clean so I will keep using it to see if I see anything weird happen.

It's a hard one to chase down. Problem is, by the time you're far enough along to run any tests, the fans are running. It could be something like during the POST, the CPU voltage is set to nothing while the memory tests are running. Maybe it temporarily stops a fan. A little far fetched to me. I wonder if you could get some insight by posting in the Dell community.

Yeah I will post on the Dell Forums and hopefully will find someone that can verify that this is normal or not. I already asked on person there so will see.

And I want to look at the MB Diagram to see what pieces are inline with the Power and the Fans. I had it on all day yesterday and it seems solid. And like you said it won't be easy to diagnose, especially for someone like me that has no clue about electronics for the most part. I do have a good Multimeter and am capable of taking it apart, I just don't have the tools to remove and re-solder anything.