Dell R720XD power button problem

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Robert1958

New Member
May 20, 2017
5
0
1
65
Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a few Dell R720XD's off ebay and I'm experiencing a very strange problem.. When I push the power button on the front left ear nothing happens.. If I change out a power supply or pop out the battery back up the unit will boot, just not from the power button.. Has anyone experienced this before?

Thanks in advance..
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
113
New York City
www.glaver.org
I recently purchased a few Dell R720XD's off ebay and I'm experiencing a very strange problem.. When I push the power button on the front left ear nothing happens.. If I change out a power supply or pop out the battery back up the unit will boot, just not from the power button.. Has anyone experienced this before?
If it is anything like the NX3100, one ear has the power button, the 4 boot diagnostic lights, the HDD activity LED and a pushbutton LED (blue) to trigger the locate function. The other ear has a VGA and USB ports. I know why Dell did this on the NX3100 (to get 12 3.5" drives in 2 RU), but I don't like it - there is a fragile ribbon cable from each ear into the case.

If you aren't getting the diagnostic lights or other indications on the ear with the power button, I'd suspect the cable. If all that stuff is working properly, then my guess (I don't have any 11G servers, just 10G) is that Dell added a power button enable / disable to the BIOS setup menu, since the optional locking ("Darth Vader") bezel doesn't cover the power switch, which was a problem on the 10G boxes. That option might be in either the main (F2) BIOS menu or the DRAC (Control-E) menu.

BTW, the Locate button "should" work even with the power off.
 

Robert1958

New Member
May 20, 2017
5
0
1
65
Hi Terry,

Thanks for the reply!! The NX3100 looks pretty close to the R720XD, I don't think they did much in the design from the NX3100 to the R720XD and yes mine is a 12 bay of 3.5" drives.

The push button does lite up (green on my unit) and there are 6 diagnostic lights that come on as well and the locate button will light up blue and flash when pushed.. I've already checked the BIOS setting for the power button and that is set to enabled as it should be..

So I'm thinking at this point I may have a bad motherboard..
 

Robert1958

New Member
May 20, 2017
5
0
1
65
My mistake, hit the ID buttons for the wrong server.. The one with the power button issues, when I push the ID button it doesn't flash from the front or back. I did swap the left ear with one that was working and no problem. The ear, buttons, lights and cable are okay..

Seems more and more like the motherboard..
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
1,708
515
113
Canada
I would be flashing/ updating the BIOS, iDrac/ Lifecycle and power supply firmware etc with the ISO first, before condemning the Mainboard :)
 

Robert1958

New Member
May 20, 2017
5
0
1
65
Found the problem.. The jerks I purchased these servers from severed a few of the wires in the main ribbon cable from the backplane to the motherboard.. Thanks for all your help..