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[Guide] Install High Sierra or Mojave on the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 9010 Desktop PC - Revision II

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with the appropriate flags, screen turns to Disco party, before kernel panic.. :)
 

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removed the Palit Nvidia 650GTX.
installed Mojave like a charm !!!
all working...
Thank you TRS96!!!

a simple question.. i use 2 24 inch monitors at 1920*1080.
which kind of a vga card would be a nice upgrade ?
i use 10% adobe premiere, 30% adobe photoshop and lightroom, no games..
i suppose less than 100-150$.. with 2 DP ports..
 
rhhousehold said:
Success! Got Metal HD4000 accelerated graphics working using this flashing process https://www.win-raid.com/t1053f39-Optiplex-and-VPro-AMT-ME-9.html#msg75549

Basically, setup a bootable FreeDOS USB drive with all of the files (FPT.EXE, fparts.txt, A29_AMT.bin, O7010A29.EXE) needed for enabling AMT on the 7010. If the BIOS is not already at A29, flash the BIOS to version A29 by running the update file. Then, shut the PC off and put a jumper on the the service mode pins. Then simply reboot up the PC with FreeDOS USB drive and run these commands:

FPT -rewrite -desc -f A29_AMT.bin
FPT -rewrite -ME -f A29_AMT.bin
FPT -greset

The first command will write to the Flash Descriptor and includes the change to enable AMT if it a machine that has the AMT lockout (6 according to the sticker inside the cover) as well as the change to disable the 3G driver since the Intel Anti-theft Technology is disabled in the ME due to being EOL. The second command flashes the ME region which includes enabling full AMT, including KVM, and the disabling of the EOL Intel Anti-theft Technology.

After the machine reboots, shut the PC off and remove the jumper from the service mode pins and boot back up and hold Ctrl+P when it reboots to go setup AMT. It will be listed as MEBx in the F12 boot options menu. The password starts as "admin" but you must specify a more elaborate password with uppercase/lowercase and punctuation characters. Then basically make sure AMT is enabled and continue to setup BIOS per the instructions for MacOS listed in the guide.

Metal shows up in the system report after these fixes. I applied it to my 2 7010 systems (both had ME lockout 6), a MT and USFF. There are service mode pins on all 7010 motherboards. Check the Dell 7010 manual to determine their locations.
Click to expand...


Thanks so much for this man! Your steps were very very helpful and allowed me to fix the same problem, so thank you so much for outlining all this!
 
Paok1926 said:
i suppose less than 100-150$.. with 2 DP ports..
Click to expand...
What you can use depends on the form factor of your 9010. Do you have USFF, SFF, DT or MT form factor ? It should be listed in your profile. If you can use a full height card (MT) The Sapphire RX 570 Mini-ITX version is a good choice. It does need 6 pin power though. At newegg right now it's selling for less than $120. Has one DP and one HDMI 2.0b.

https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-rx-570-100412p4gitxl/p/N82E16814202311
 
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Low Profile, Single Slot RX 560 @ Amazon.com
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This is kind of like the Unicorn of RX 560s. Didn't think they even existed but here it is. Made by Visiontek. If you want AMD graphics in your SFF Optiplex this is another option that won't block the only other PCIe slot you have to use.

LP RX560 at Amazon

That's the good news, bad news is the price they're asking. Over $180. You can install one into your Optiplex and only use up one PCIe slot. Has a small fan and a good sized metal heatsink around it. All four outputs are mini-DP. It's similar to the NVS 510 by Nvidia. You can run four 4K displays from this single card. Appears to come with a full height bracket for use in the Optiplex MTs. May not be included with used versions that are found on Ebay.

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Here's an interesting video from Phil's Computer Lab about how to perform upgrades on the 7010/9010 SFF model. Note that none of the Nvidia Graphics upgrades he shows will work with Mojave or Catalina.

 
anyone has a similar problem?

Just got myself the Dell 9010 USFF.

Followed the guide and after switching to AHCI in BIOS i am unable to POST or see the BIOS anymore.
Just a black screen and my monitor showing NO SIGNAL.

Am using an i7 3770s, 16GB RAM and Displayport Out (to HDMI)

HELP!!!
 
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From the guide in post #1: Preliminary Steps

2. Replace the CMOS Battery
The CMOS battery in these is likely to have lost it's ability to hold a charge. These Dells are at least 5 years old so it's a good idea to replace it. My USFF and SFF model both had a battery like this. I kept getting a black screen at boot up on my 7010, was not able to even access the BIOS until I removed the battery for a minute and reseated it. Replace it altogether with a fresh new one before you make the BIOS changes in step 1.

What you should do is unplug from power, remove the CMOS battery and then wait 2 minutes. Put the battery back, plug in an boot up, then you can see your BIOS again. Enable Legacy Option ROMs. Long term solution is to get a new CMOS for the board so it remembers the BIOS changes you make.
 
trs96 said:
From the guide in post #1: Preliminary Steps

2. Replace the CMOS Battery
The CMOS battery in these is likely to have lost it's ability to hold a charge. These Dells are at least 5 years old so it's a good idea to replace it. My USFF and SFF model both had a battery like this. I kept getting a black screen at boot up on my 7010, was not able to even access the BIOS until I removed the battery for a minute and reseated it. Replace it altogether with a fresh new one before you make the BIOS changes in step 1.

What you should do is unplug from power, remove the CMOS battery and then wait 2 minutes. Put the battery back, plug in an boot up, then you can see your BIOS again. Enable Legacy Option ROMs. Long term solution is to get a new CMOS for the board so it remembers the BIOS changes you make.
Click to expand...

Ok will try that thanks trs96
 
some comments, after 1 month of usage:

1. sometimes when i try to use a windows VM under VirtualBox, system reboots
2. almost every time, i cannot shutdown normally. system starts shutdown process, but i have to press the button, after 5-10 minute wait..
3. I have a WD external 4Tb USB3 hard disk. After every reboot is not mounted, i have to disconnect/reconnect in order to use it.
 
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