Optiplex 7010 boot issue with certain LCDs

It does seem to be somehow related to resolution/framerate - if I leave the enable legacy boot options checked, the computer starts in lower resolution (1280x1024@60Hz) meaning I can get pass the Dell logo and boot stuff like Windows installer or even safe boot Windows. Of course, attempting standard Windows boot (UEFI install) results in black screen, but this time its on Windows level as Windows boots into recovery after few attempts.

In the spirit of "one step forward, two steps back", I managed to break sleep in Windows while tinkering with the settings. Instead of waking up, the computer powers on, powers down immediately, powers up again, powers down again and then powers on and starts from scratch - with hybrid sleep, it continues where it left. Without hybrid sleep, I get fresh start.

I am such a fool 

It also might help experts here to know what size is your 7010?

Also, I take it you didn't try 2 GPU's at the same time? - As in hopefully not.

You are not a fool.  Stop that.   Problems like these aren't uncommon.

"When booting however, I get the Dell logo on the 2560x1440 display and then only black screen. I can not enter F2 or F12 settings. The secondary screen connected to integrated graphics shows only underscore in upper left-hand corner."

Integrated graphics can't be used at the same time as a GPU card on a 7010.  So that's one place to start.

On some high res. screens, and some TV's, people don't even get the Dell logo at startup.  Nothing appears until Windows appears.  This is due to PC not recognizing screen until Windows and drivers kick in.  To see Dell logo and BIOS or Boot Menu, they have to temporarily hook up VGA monitor.  But that doesn't sound like the problem your having.

Make sure any GPU card drivers are up to date.

It might also help experts here to know what version of Win10 (assuming Win10?) you have, as what is the latest update you have on it.  I doubt you have raw Win10 with no updates, which didn't have sleep.

As for breaking sleep and having on & off issue - Might be time to replace size 2032 battery.  Another place to start.  Low batteries cause seemingly related bizarre problems, including boot and on & off problems.

Suggestion:  In power management > choose what the power button does > set to sleep.  Might be a setting for sleep button on keyboard if you have that.

Another thing I do in power management - my PC automatically shuts off and sleeps never unless I do so manually.

May need to double check power management settings in BIOS.

I'm not quite the expert when it comes to hooking up all kinds of different monitors, so I'm letting our other experts chime in.

By the way, I'm not sure that you "broke" sleep.  And more specifically, if CMOS battery hasn't been replaced within the last 5 years, now is a good time.

Thank you for the reply.

The size is Micro Tower, the OS is Windows 10 (20H2) with refind bootloader.

Nvidia driver is latest available from Nvidia. Intel graphics driver is latest available from Dell (stock Intel drivers dont work). Re-installed Windows, but kept files and apps (turns out it kept almost everything else as well).

I had no idea the integrated graphics is not meant to work along with discrete graphics. I have been using the two since I got the computer - even using that setup now as I am writing this. Then again the issues persist even with only single screen connected to the Nvidia card.

Changed the CR2032 already, reset the CMOS and NVRAM using the header, re-flashed the bios to A29 again. The power button was set to sleep - only changed it to hibernation after the sleep issues appeared.

To be honest I pretty much gave up on using the QHD screen with the OptiPlex for the time being, I plan to take the display to work - it should be better than the LCDs provided by the company. Since I cant get any better graphics card at the moment anyway, this is not going to be a big issue for months. I am going to do some testing with clean install of Windows (have some empty HDDs laying around) and see if the sleep works with that - should help isolating the issue.

You're reply popped in just before mine did.

Hibernation has the potential to be a little slow.  On the other hand, if an SSD is installed, it's rather quick.  Faster than normal boot time.  I normally never use hibernation, accidentally hit hibernation, and was quite surprised.

It's interesting you dual graphics (onboard and GPU card) to work.  Normally them things will say something like "Halt!  Unsupported video configuration."

Some tinkering and another coin battery later:

To make the QHD work I had to enable legacy boot option check in BIOS despite booting in UEFI mode - the logo was now low-res, did not get black screen and for whatever reason Windows did decide to work.

If I boot with either the onboard Intel or Nvidia graphics, everything seems to work, including waking up from sleep.

I can boot with dual graphics configuration, but if I select Nvidia as the primary, Windows does seem to boot but no image on either display. If I select Intel as primary, Windows does boot into system with both displays working, but computer does not wake up from sleep.

I am pretty sure the sleep worked with both GPUs enabled until all this started week ago. I should investigate this further, but until then I have to decide between having two graphics and being able to use sleep. Hibernation seems to be a good alternative.

It looks like you did a pretty good job of troubleshooting.

I think you meant "mini tower" and not "micro tower"?  USFF's and micros have no expansion slots.  7010 didn't come in a micro.

If you use any adapters, remember those things can be an issue sometimes.

If you reinstall Win10, if it's without the updates, remember it doesn't have sleep.

I forgot to ask about the on & off issue - Is it without any GPU's installed?

Yes, its the Tower.

The main issue with hibernation is waiting for the bios (and in my case bootloader as well). SSD does great job after that and Windows resumes within seconds. I am using PCI-Express based SSD, but even SATA III performs pretty well. Sleep is instant, though.

It does say that, while the primary graphics is set on Auto in Bios - that option disables the onboard graphics, if there is a graphics card present. I had to detach all displays from the onboard graphics, enter the Bios, select one of the graphics as primary and then the onboard graphics is enabled (if there is screen connected to it at launch).

I am pretty sure I had the Nvidia set as primary, because I remember the logo being on the main screen. I will grab some display with DVI tomorrow and see what happens, but at least now I have some rough idea what works.

I have exactly this problem:

"On some high res. screens, and some TV's, people don't even get the Dell logo at startup.  Nothing appears until Windows appears.  This is due to PC not recognizing screen until Windows and drivers kick in.  To see Dell logo and BIOS or Boot Menu, they have to temporarily hook up VGA monitor."

Anybody knows the solution?

Was this any help?  @Maho Jakobic wrote:

"To make the QHD work I had to enable legacy boot option check in BIOS despite booting in UEFI mode - the logo was now low-res, did not get black screen and for whatever reason Windows did decide to work.

If I boot with either the onboard Intel or Nvidia graphics, everything seems to work, including waking up from sleep.

I can boot with dual graphics configuration, but if I select Nvidia as the primary, Windows does seem to boot but no image on either display. If I select Intel as primary, Windows does boot into system with both displays working, but computer does not wake up from sleep."

Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately I was too quick in quoting yesterday.

I have only onboard graphic card (Intel HD 2500) with VGA and 2xDisplayPort. If DisplayPort monitor is connected, the BIOS actually stops (I assume) at syncronisation with DP and doesn't go any further, it doesn't boot Windows at all. With only VGA monitor all is good and after Windows is booted, all works perfectly (double display management, 4K resolution). The most simple solution is, that I power on DisplayPort monitor only after Windows are up and running (power switch). I also tried with lower resolution on DP monitor, it didn't help. I upgraded all Dell drivers (including BIOS), no help. I haven't find much of BIOS configuration to try something else. Is anyware in BIOS something about configuring graphics ports, like to set VGA to be first at boot (ignorig DP)?

Windows might allow that, to switch on or ignore certain monitors.  I think it does allow which monitor is primary so it knows where to put the taskbar and so on.  But as far as I know, onboard graphics in BIOS doesn't have boot or switch options between DP or VGA. 

Normally, I might suggest using a graphics card.  However, this seems to be a 7010 problem and the original poster of this thread wasn't having any luck.  But the poster did try using both onboard and discrete graphics, something the 7010 isn't normally capable of.

If you want to try it, there's GPU's with both VGA & DP.  A couple of options that came up is the RX 550 and the GT 710.  But, I'm not 100% sure how many monitors you're trying to use, if it's 2 or 3.  https://www.google.com/search?q=graphics+card+with+vga+and+display+port&oq=graphics+card+with+vga+and+display+port&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i22i29i30.18954j0j7&client=ms-android-americamovil-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#scso=_p3OiYefjMMaStAaO4I_ICA3:498.3333435058594 

I want to use only one monitore (a new one). I made a few aditional changes (BIOS Video-boot back to automatic, another upgrade of BIOS, ..) and now it works with DP monitor correctly. I'm not sure, which change was crucial.

I agree in a case that wouldn't help, buying another video card could be a solution.  Thanks.

That reminds me, I forgot to ask a couple of questions for whatever reason.  So hopefully the 7010 is on A29, which was the last BIOS for it.

I wondered if your monitor might be new or almost too new for the 7010.  On which case if I would've remembered, brand, model #, and date of mfr. (if handy) also help.  Dell smartly has monitor size and year of mfr. in its model #.

So I'm glad you got it working.  I'm betting one or both of those helped, either updating BIOS and/or having video in BIOS on auto.