In this post I will show you how you can modify the BIOS of your Dell OptiPlex 9020, 7020 or 3020 so that they can support an NVMe SSD drive as a boot device. These machines have a UEFI BIOS, but they do not contain an NVMe driver. By adding the driver into the BIOS you can boot from a PCIe NVMe SSD.
I managed to achieve these speeds:
The speed results above are from the same SSD. ( Samsung 970 EVOPlus )
It took me quite a bit of research to figure out how to do this modification. But it is actually very easy and provides an immense boost in speed. Here is the card and SSD installed and working in OptiPlex 7020.
Warning
This blog post contains instructions on how to modify your BIOS.
You could easily break your machine. Proceed at your own risk!
Required Hardware
In order to carry out this upgrade, you will need a few things:
- An NVMe SSD. I used a 512Gb Samsung 970 EVOPlus
- An NVMe to PCIe Adapter, I used this one from Amazon.
- A Dell OptiPlex 9020, 7020 or 3020 to upgrade.
I have personally tried this procedure on the 3020 and 7020 Small Form Factor and a 9020 Minitower. It works for every variant of the machine. There are slight variations in the procedure for each machine.
Procedure Overview
This process involves five steps:
- Upgrade your current BIOS if required.
- Backup your current BIOS.
- Add NVMe driver support into the BIOS backup.
- Writing the modified BIOS back to the system.
- Install the PCIe NVMe SSD and Adapter.
- Optimise BIOS settings.
Machine Preparation
Before starting the the physical installation of the NVMe SSD you can do all of the required preparation while the machine is running on your existing drive.
Upgrade your BIOS
The first step, is to upgrade your current BIOS:
Just download the BIOS update from the Dell website and run the update. Before the update runs it will show your current version and the version that you will be updated to:
Install Intel Management Engine Components
Next install the Intel Management Engine Components from Dell. These management components will allow you to access the BIOS in order to back it up. Reboot once after installation of the management tools.
Download Intel Management Engine Tools
Now download Intel ME System Tools and extract the Zip file to your machine. For the purposes of this blog post I will assume that it has been extracted to: C:\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7.
The Intel ME System Tools will be used to backup the BIOS and write the modified image back to the machine.
Backup your current BIOS
Parts of the BIOS are protected and cannot be read to or written from. In order to get a complete backup the machine must be put into service mode.
- Switch the machine off completely.
- Disconnect it from the mains Power.
- Move the jumper from the two pin PSWD connector, to the two PIN SERVICE_MODE connector. It is located between the Power Supply and the PCI Slot closest to it:
Note: If you have a spare jumper you could leave the password jumper in place.
Once the machine is in service mode, turn it back on, you will receive some warning notifications:
First a warning informing you that the password has been disabled. Don’t worry about this as you will be putting the password jumper back where it should be soon. It will show this message:
Next, you will also receive a message notifying you that service mode is enabled:
When your machine is booted up again you can take a backup of your existing firmware. Open a command prompt as administrator:
Run the following commands:
cd "\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7\Flash Programming Tool\WIN64" fptw64.exe -d backup.bin
The example above is from an OptiPlex 7020, the output from the 3020 will look slightly different as it only has a single flash device and will give output such as:
Platform: Intel(R) H81 Express Chipset
Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid
--- Flash Devices Found ---
MX25L6405D ID:0xc22017 Size: 8192KB (65535Kb)
- Reading Flash [0x800000] 8192KB of 8192KB - 100% complete.
Writing flash contents to file "backup.bin"...
Memory Dump Complete
FPT Operation Passed
You will now have a file named backup.bin which contains a full backup of your BIOS. Leave the command prompt open as we are going to use it again to write the modified BIOS back.
Modify the BIOS Image
Download and open UEFITool 0.28.0 to modify your BIOS (Direct link to version I used).
Open the backup.bin from the previous step in UEFI Tool and expand it like so:
Scroll to the bottom of this section and you should see an area that looks like this:
Now, download this NVMe Express Driver and save it to your machine. Next, right click on the final DXE Driver before the Freeform entries. Specifically these is IDs:
- D95D6B4F-92FA-4E78-9C48-C68C0813688E for the OptiPlex 7020 or 9020
- 6C58FC74-64DA-4D83-8BCD-9FD574C97316 for the OptiPlex 3020
Right click the item and choose Insert After:
Choose the file NvmExpressDxe_Small.ffs that you just downloaded and you will see it appear right after the item that you selected:
Now go to File -> Save Image File and save the file as nvme.bin.
Write the new BIOS to the machine
You are now ready to write the new file back to the machine. Go back to the command prompt session. Type the following command:
fptw64.exe -bios -f nvme.bin
You should get output like this:
Shut down the machine and take the jumper off the service pins and move it back to the password reset pins if you took it from there.
Install the PCI NVMe SSD
If you have not yet installed your SSD into the machine, you can do it now. For the 7020 use the blue PCI slot, it is approximately twice as fast as the smaller black one.
For the 3020 you need to install it into the PCI Slot closest to the Power Supply.
Optimise BIOS Settings
Now that you have written the new BIOS, restart the machine.
You should be able to see the adapter in the BIOS:
If you are not going to have any SATA drives connected you need to disable them in the BIOS, here you can see I have disabled all of the ports that do not have a drive connected:
Finally, if you want the maximum possible speed from your new drive, consider disabling C-States in the BIOS. This makes it marginally faster, but I doubt you would notice much difference:
Conclusion
Upgrading a Dell Optiplex 9020, 7020 or 3020 with PCI NVMe Solid State drive is a brilliant upgrade, and completely transforms the machine. Especially if you are upgrading from a hard drive.
Again, here is the PCI adapter that I used:
- 512Gb Samsung 970 EVOPlus
- NVMe to PCI Adapter (The adapter comes with a heatsink also)
If you try it, I would love to know how you got on and what your results were.
Tony says
Will this work on my Dell Optiplex 7010?
Paulie says
I haven’t tried it on a 7010 yet. But I do have one I can try it on. Will try it out and report back.
Tony says
I cannot backup the BIOS in my Dell7010, it keep saying error, cannot work in this FPT platform….. but I can backup my Dell 3020 .
Reading Flash [0x8000000] 8192KB of 8192KB – 100% complete. Writing flash contents to file “backup.bin”… Memory Dump complete FPT Operation Passed , I wonder whether should I proceed to Write the new BIOS to the machine ? Please advise!
Paulie says
That tool will not be able to backup a 7010 – it will need a different version of fpt.
Tony says
Hi Paulie, I know very little about BIOS. I never deal with BIOS before. I have no idea of what I need to do with what you advised about different version of fpt. Could you make another detail post just like this Dell 7020 step by step that is for Dell 7010 PLEASE? You are my hero. Happy Christmas to you!
Paulie says
Hi Tony,
Yes – I will try. I have a 7010 so just need to try it out. Will report back soon! I am somewhat confident it will work.
Paul
Paulie says
I’ve now done it on 7010 also. Will write it up later today.
Tony says
Great! I am waiting anxiously for your new post for Dell 7010. Could you also post how to do the Dell 3020? I follow the procedure that you posted for Dell 7020 here. Now I can backup my Dell 3020 successfully.
Reading Flash [0x8000000] 8192KB of 8192KB – 100% complete. Writing flash contents to file “backup.bin”… Memory Dump complete FPT Operation Passed , I wonder whether should I proceed to Write the new BIOS to the machine ? Please advise!
Paulie says
The post is live now:
How to modify the BIOS on a Dell Optiplex 7010 to enable NVMe SSDs
Be interested to hear how you get on. I cannot comment on the 3020. I do not have one to try it out with, but I might consider buying one if these two blog posts prove to be popular.
Paulie says
I have now tried out this procedure on a Dell OptiPlex 3020 and it works perfectly well! I will be updating the post to include some images of the 3020.
Tony says
Great! Looking forward to see your new post for Dell 3020. Thanks!
Paulie says
I have just updated this post with the information for the OptiPlex 3020. Please let me know if you were successful in any of your upgrades!
Kaz says
This is great guide. I followed it step-by-step and was able to get NVMe boot working on my 7020 SFF. Thank you. This was exactly what I needed. Thank you. You made my day!
Paulie says
Brilliant news, getting lots of reports that this is working really well for people! It’s like a new machine after.
ybuasen says
This is very great article. I followed and was able to get NVMe boot working on my 7020. I spent only an hour to get everything sort out on new NVMe SSD.
Thank you very much!!! You are the man.
One little thing I would like to share in case it is related. After getting NVMe boot working, the hibernate and shutdown on my PC was not working properly anymore. The PC just restart immediately after shutdown and go to login screen after hibernate. I spent few days trying to figure out until discover that it was because TPM in BIOS was inactivated after the BIOS was modified. Once I reactivated TPM, the hibernate and shutdown started working again.
Paulie says
Really glad you found it useful! Thanks for the tip regarding hibernation. I’ve got a 9020 on the way to test it with, which I am going to build a Hackintosh with.
Patrick says
oPTIPLEX 9020 bin looks different but nvme boot works just fine following the instructions (using UFITool 0.28.0. The latest UEFITool insert doesn’t work). Thanks !!!
Paulie says
Thanks for letting everyone know Patrick – very useful.
trs96 says
Tried this on my 3020 SFF and now Windows 10 boot times are close to 6 seconds. Big improvement over a mechanical platter drive. There is one small typo in the guide. The first cd command is missing a backslash before Intel. Spotted it easily after it didn’t work the first try.
cd “Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7Flash Programming ToolWIN64”
should be: cd “\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7Flash Programming ToolWIN64”
Great guide Paul !
Paulie says
Thanks for letting me know, will update shorty. So cool to hear the results people are getting – it’s an incredible improvement.
Glatio says
Yes it works ! ! on Dell OptiPlex mt 7020 thank you ! (i have to keep one disk ssd or hdd installed)
And please what about on the Dell Optiplex mt 9020 ?
mccn says
Thanks for this art work perfect ! 😀
JakaRanga says
Hi everybody,
I was trying to put a NVMe drive in an Optiplex 3020 thinking (naively) it will be okay to boot on (spoiler it’s not).
Your great tutorial worked just perfectly for me, and I owe you a great thanks.
I have now Ubuntu Server running from the NVMe storage alongside a RAID 1 of two 1To HDDs, that’s super cool !
GG
Jan Skowron says
I have a great ask: could the author of the article post a BIOS to 7020 to be downloadable? I do not have Windows on my Dell, only linux, so unfortunately I cannot perform the described procedure. Thanks
Paulie says
Jan – you must get the BIOS from your machine (you can do it using Freedos and the same tools that are in this blog post). If I posted a BIOS image it would contain the unique information from the machine that I pulled it from. So it is important for you to get a backup of your own BIOS. All you need is a USB stick with Freedos.
Ron says
Paulie,
First of all, thanks to you for your hard work on this project, your way is much better than booting with a hackintosh bootloader on a USB stick. I used your method successfully on a Optiplex 9020 SFF, a Optiplex XE2 SFF, and a Precision T1700 SFF. For a while I had trouble with the 9020 and XE2 with “hard drive not found” errors, but was able to clear them up by removing and then re-installing the CMOS battery, and then resetting the bios. Now all three work great!
Thanks again,
Ron
alex says
how to modify the bios on dell optiplex 790/990 please help
Alvin says
Hi Paulie,
Thanks for your detail instruction. BIOS update successfully.
Sharing a failure experience.
My 7020MT couldn’t boot from NVME nor install windows to this SSD.
it can be read/write as a data disk.
BIOS(A18) can detect this “mass storage” (PATA SS) on slot 4 (x4) or slot 1 (x16).
Windows installation also found this drive but unable to instal due to it detect this drive not support booting to this disk.
I also read back bios, ensure the NvmExpressDxe_Small modification.
My SSD is Intel 660P,
Very appreciate if you or anyone can solve this problem.
Alvin
Paulie says
Hi Alvin – If you have followed the guide correctly it should work. Do you have the boot mode set to UEFI? That is the only thing I can think of which would stop you booting from the drive if you have made the modification correctly. I have a 7020 MT in my office and have done the same modification.
Tony says
Hi Paulie,
I successfully upgraded the Dell 3020 with WD Black SN750 NVME SSD by following your instructions in the post. Now I can boot my Dell 3020 directly from my WD Black SN750 NVME SSD with amazing speed. Thanks again for your wonderful invention. My next project is to upgrade my Dell 3010, Dell 9010, Dell Power Edge T30. I hope you can help me.
Michael says
Hi Paulie,
My 7020MT was unable to boot from NVME or install Windows on this SSD.
BIOS (A18) can detect this “mass storage” (PATA SS) but
Windows Setup also found this drive but was unable to install it because it detected that this drive does not support booting to this disk.
My SSD is a Samsung 970 evo plus 1TB.
boot security off
AHCI active
Is it possible to send you a backup of my bios (backup.bin) or if you can share any other NvmExpressDxe_Small.ffs driver that allows compatibility with my PC?
Paulie says
Hi Michael – Windows only shows that message if you are using legacy boot – you must boot in UEFI mode. I strongly suspect you are booting in Legacy/BIOS mode.
Michael Gonzalez says
Paulie, Thank you very much, it worked perfectly on my optiplex 7020 MT, it is not necessary to keep any additional disk connected, it is only necessary to disable the sata ports.
Paulie says
Great news! Love hearing about all these people performing this upgrade. I did write up the part about disabling the SATA ports in the post, but no-one seems to see that part!
Alvin says
Hi Paulie,
Finally, upgrade works.
At the beginning, I installed windows 10 21H2, I always got a not support booting warning after I deleted/created partition.
then, I tried 20H2 version, delete/create new partition. SURPRISE !! it works.
It might be the SSD was previous configure as MBR. After I could boot from SSD it became GPT.
Thank you very much. I’m so happy with the upgrade.
Alvin
Sayed Zuber says
Ohhhh Paulie,
You are a great man of the decade.My eagerness and search endes at your research.Thank You very much.
My 3020 Optiplex working like 2022 PC with this mod.
John says
Paulie –
Thanks for the great web pages and videos on booting legacy computers with NVMe SSD’s. I don’t know if Amazon messed with the product at your link, but this Rivo PCI-E Riser looks closer to what you used.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0773ZR6L8/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza
I’m looking forward to trying out your recommendations on my Optiplex 9020!
John
Romy says
you were right, i got a new nvme drive and it worked no issues at all.
Sayed Zuber says
Hi Paulie
Can you please guide for the same process on this topic for Dell Optiplex 3040 SFF.
Paulie says
Yes, it’s coming soon! Just finishing up writing the guide for the 790 which someone requested.
Oscar Sierra says
WoW , Thank you very much!
Peter says
Paulie,
you are a hero! O9020 works perfect with my Samsung 970 Evo NVMe to PCI-E card.
Looking forward to get the guideline for 790/990 Optiplex.
Will only UEFI machines work with this BIOS mod? Im running a bunch of Dell Precision T3500 with XEON CPU and 32/48 GB RAM. BIOS is for MBR boot only, so will your patch wotk for those machines too?
Best regards
Peter
Peter says
Optiplex 9020 boot to Windows 11 pro from NVMe in less than 5 sec from Dell splash screen to desktop. Thats amazing for this old machine! thx again and best regards
Peter
Terence Arones says
Hi I’m new to computer stuff but do I have to have windows already as I just got a 7020 bare without any hdd and ram.
Paulie says
No, you can use Windows Live from a USB stick. But you’d need a working computer to build that.
Peter says
I´m using Macrium Reflect free rel. 8.x to clone the existing WIndows installation to the NVMe.
Download free copy from here:
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
select “home use” and follow the install instructions.You dont need to register, just uncheck the box and finish the install wiz.
When NVMe is installed, start reflect and select “clone” to bring your existing windows with a single step to the NVMe.
Reboot the machine, enter BIOS mode hitting F2 at boot and uncheck all SATA drives. Save changes and reboot.
Have fun with NVMe speed!
Best regards
Pete
Jan Skowron says
Paulie – thanks! FreeDOS worked! I did managed to boot the computer from the USB stick and run BIOS update O7020A18.exe. Also the backup of both flashes was possible using the \Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7\Flash Programming Tool\DOS\fpt.ext (instead of fptw64.exe) under DOS. Then, I had to move to another machine, where I had access to Windows proper, to patch the “backup.bin” file with UEFITool. After this procedure, I could get back to my system and flash the new file using fpt.exe again under FreeDOS. Thank you very much for all help!
Bart Voskulen says
Thanks Paulie, looks really good, I’ll be doing my Optiplex 9020 in the near future. I’m currently using rEFInd off a USB to do this.
Can I suggest that you make a point of running the machine from a UPS while upgrading the BIOS. I imagine anything could happen if a power loss occurs during the FLASH writing.
Jay Simpson says
This is great! I have a Dell 9020 MT. I have successfully updated using these instructions. I am having an odd issue. On bootup, I am getting an error that the hard drive is not found, to press F1 to try again. When I do, it boots just fine. I have removed the cmos battery and reset all of the BIOS options, but it’s still giving me the error. Any ideas?
Quinn Wong says
Paulie, thank you very much for this awesome tutorial. I followed those steps on my Dell Precision T1700 MT (latest BIOS version A28) with a Seagate Barracuda 1TB NVMe SSD. It works like a charm! I suggest that Precision T1700 SFF/MT could be added to the compatibility list.
Lambertus Voskulen says
Hi Paulie, Thanks again for this excellent article.
I have now successfully updated my Optiplex 9020 MT, and it is booting a Linux installation from the NVMe drive with the BIOS in UEFI mode.
However, I have several other OSs still set up in Legacy mode on MBR disks using Grub2 (migrated from an older platform) and they boot ok with the BIOS in legacy mode, but there is quite a long delay between the Dell logo screen and the grub menu showing. Any suggestions?
Roy Burton says
Hi Paul,
Fun with a 9020
Well I did it, I was prepared to loose the machine, (i5-4590 3.3G 16GB) all went reasonable well!
I use a spare link to put into service mode.
I had some trouble running two commands as I was in Power-shell.
Run the following two commands:
cd “\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7\Flash Programming Tool\WIN64”
fptw64.exe -d backup.bin
fptw64.exe -d backup.bin ‘this works on regular command prompt’
.\fptw64.exe -d backup.bin ‘this works on power-shell’
The file was created in following location
C:\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7\Flash Programming Tool\WIN64\backup.bin
When it came to write the bios back with UEFi tool
fptw64.exe -bios -f nvme.bin ‘this works on regular command prompt
.\fptw64.exe -bios -f nvme.bin ‘this works on Power-shell’
The rest went OK
I needed to setup the bios to boot to the nvme drive. (note. all drives are GPT)
(Please note I have little experience with modern UEFI bioses)
I disabled all sata hard drives (not the dvd’s)
I then installed fresh windows 10 via DVD drive but on reboot kept seeing DOS lines press F1 etc
The way by bios was set up it wanted to see a sata hdd, for some reason, so I enable a non-bootable sata drive and left my original sata boot drive disabled.
Then added the nvme to the boot list, (which did not appear in the list to start with my take a couple of boots) and put it to the top of the list, and it worked!
I wiped my old boot drive and used it for extra storage
Thank you for an excellent article I am very pleased with the results.
Kind regards
Roy Burton
Roy Burton says
Hi Paul
My second successful bios mod this time to a OptiPlex 7020 SFF i7 4790 3.6Ghz 32GB RAM
Bios =A18
NVME Crystal-Disk-Mark =(Q8T1)
Read 1977.91 MB/s
&
Write 1259.11 MB/s
Regards Roy
Tom says
Hi Paulie,
I have successfully updated my 2013 Optiplex 9020. With an 2.5 SSD, I get about 500MB/s and with a cheap Crucial P2 NMVe I can get 2400MB/s as advertised. Thank you very much, you’re amazing.
Best regards
Tom
Blaise De Grille says
Hey Paulie,
Owing to this post, I have successfully modified my 9020’s bios to handle boot from nvme ssd drive in a pcie adapter. First of all thank You very much, I just can’t write it down, how glad I am. Now I have a Latitude e7450 (i5-5300u), and i placed a toshiba nvme ssd to my wwan card slot, in hope of dual booting operation systems on my laptop. After the boot process the operating system (I tried with Win10 and Manjaro) detects the toshiba drive, can write it and read from too, but can’t boot from it. So my question is, that might Your bios mod could be work on my latitude?
Gratefully hanks, Balázs
Travis says
Any update on a guide for the 3040? I just picked up a couple and found that the version that was sold to me did not have the nvme slot soldered on the board.
Paulie says
I don’t have a 3040 but I will see if I can get hold of one. But another knowledgeable guy on here said that NVMe support was built in – have you tried it?
jskowron says
> “the version that was sold to me did not have the nvme slot soldered on the board.”
Travis, by looking at the motherboard diagrams, the Optiplex 3040 have only PCIe x 1 slots (short) and one PCIe x 16 slot, (long) and never had NVMe slots on the board.
You just need to buy an adaptor, like it is said in the blog post above: “NVMe to PCIe Adapter: https://amzn.to/32ho7og“. Unfortunately all PCIe-NVMe adaptors I have seen are PCIe x 4, so you will need to use up the sole long PCIe port for the SSD.
jskowron says
BTW. I have just done some benchmarks on my Optiplex 7020 MT and indeed the blue PCIe slot is much faster.
I got 790 MB/s read from the blue PCIe x 16 slot (closer to the CPU), and I got 405 MB/s from the black PCIe x 16 slot – so indeed twice the performence differece. (When using the Intel SSD Pro disk and an aliexpress pcie x 4 adapter). The 800 MB/s read speed, instead of 150 MB/s for a SATA drive is quite something – while the access time is 0.02 miliseconds for NVMe SSD vs 19 miliseconds for SATA Seagate HDD. Wow.
Paulius says
Great tutorial and very easy to follow!. Unfortunately I seem to have run into a problem. I have updated the BIOS to include the driver, but unfortunately when viewing boot devices the PCI slot shows “empty”. I have tried both slots on 9020. Tried 2 different adapters, but the same ssd. Might it be a new ssd would work? Or if someone could check if BIOS shows empty with adapter but no SSD with the same result, that would narrow my search a lot and would be greatly appreciated!
trs96 says
@Paulius
If you are not going to have any SATA drives connected you need to disable them in the BIOS.
Disabling the un-used ports prevents an error on startup.
Bob Young says
Paul,
When I downloaded the Intel Management Engine, I got a file called “Chipset_Driver_4J8MX_WN32_11.7.0.1035_A00_07.EXE” which is a zipped file containing 2017 files. Is this still the correct reference in your article? If yes then great and just confirm. If not, can you point me to the correct file(s)? Thanks
Paulie says
Hi Bob – Choose the install option, not extract.
Bob Young says
Paul,
Thanks for such a quick reply! But I was confused by your answer until I realized that you thought I meant two thousand seventeen files instead of files from the year 2017. There are only 3 files in the archive. All that I was trying to verify is if the reference in the article was pointing correctly to chipset drivers that are from the year 2017. Forgive me for leading you astray but please verify that I should be installing these chipset drivers.
Thank you very much again
Bruce says
Hi, I can’t get past the first cp commands. It says file not found. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong, I’ve extracted to C:\Intel ME System Tools v9.1 r7.
Erin says
Dell optiplex 7020. Thanks for the terrific write up.
Question. I am using a pretty nice graphics card and boot from a 2.5 ssd which is decent. When my adapter finally gets here should I move my graphics card out of the blue slot for the nvme ssd or better to leave graphics card in blue slot and use nvme as data only ssd in another pci e slot? Thanks again
Paulie says
Both configurations will work. You’ll get less speed from either device when not in the blue slot – but they will both work in either slot. You will still get great performance from the SSD without it being in the blue slot.
Harold B Underwood says
Pauli,
Everything shows up in the BIOS, but still won’t boot from the NVMe. In fact, Mini-tools PM did NOT erase the contents of the C: drive once the OS/Files were cloned to the NVMe. Had to create a Boot record for the NVMe for it to even show up in the sequence list. Not really sure what is going on:(. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. BTW using UEFI.
Paulie says
And what happens if you run the windows 10 installer from USB? Will it boot a freshly installed Windows 10 from the nvme?
Moritz says
Dell “Optiplex XE2” = 9020 SFF updated with the guide above and boots fine again on sata ssd + UEFI…
Moes says
Now we only need the UNLOCK for Intel PPT / Intel Platform Trust Technology Menue unlock for this stupid DELL A25 Bios.. The 9020 still has TPM 1.2 Module and won’t support Windows 11 fully…
Maybe the Bios hides the box for intel build in CPU TPM Software as the Module itself is soldered to the board??
John Wester says
The there a for/ or may work for the OptiPlex 980?
trs96 says
@johnwester The Optiplex 980 has legacy BIOS only. There is no option to choose UEFI vs legacy in boot mode, therefore it is legacy only. If you can upgrade the board to a newer 790 and follow that guide it will work.
Timothy Hudgins says
Drive Speed result for OptiPlex 7020 seems to best, any one do a drive speed on the 9020?
Paulie says
I did one when I tested on 9020. There is no discernible difference between 7020 and 9020. They are basically the same machine.
Buddy says
In my 3020sff I currently have a GPU in the PCI x16 slot, will this work in the PCI x1 slot as well before I take the plunge in buying one?
Paulie says
It will work fine, but it will be limited to around 1500mb/sec.
Anxo says
What are the speeds of the non-blue port? the x4
Paulie says
Around 1500-1600 mb/sec
Anxo says
If I use a graphics card on the blue I can get better performance that I can get with a sata
Paulie says
That’s right.
Anxo says
Okay, thanks
Anxo says
Only one more thing, you know any way to flash the bios if are corrupt?
John says
Thank you for these posts, Paulie.
I just followed your guide with a 7020 sff.
When I power up boot up, I get “Alert! Hard Drive not found.” error
“To continue press F1 key
To change setup option press F2 key
To run onboard diagnostics press F5 key”
Pressing F1 continues the boot into Win10 (2004), and everything works fine.
Restart from OS works fine.
I’m guessing that I have something wrong in BIOS settings, but I can’t figure it out.
I’ve tried multiple variations, but the best that I could get is the above. I think that when I turn off “Enable Legacy Option ROMs” it hangs at the Dell logo, and I can’t even F2 to get into Setup. At that point, I have to remove the PCIe NVMe adaptor card to F2 into Setup.
UEFI boot path Security = Never
I would appreciate any help, please.
Thanks again.
Paulie says
Check the section of the post “Optimise BIOS settings”. Basically disable the SATA ports if you’re not using them anymore.
John says
Yes, the only SATA port enabled is 1, corresponding to the optical drive.
With further fiddling, I was able to simplify a little more, but still the same problem at the start of every power-up: “Alert! Hard Drive Not Found.”
I checked off Legacy boot support, resulting in boot hanging at Dell logo. Removed PCIe/NVMe card. Boot again. Installed back PCIe/NVMe card. Boot again.
I also tried toggling USB drive boot option. Problem persists either way.
It just occurred to me: could it be that during the BIOS backup – modification – rewrite process, SATA port 0 was enabled (corresponding to the SATA HD at that time), and this was written to the protected section which is independent of the subsequently F2 modifiable BIOS setting?
I would appreciate your further comments, please.
Paulie says
Nope, there will be no protected BIOS section. Quite a few people in the comments have had this issue. Did you make sure your bios was at the latest level before upgrading?
John says
Yes. BIOS to A18 before upgrading.
It looks like the problem is the optical drive. I’ve moved it from SATA1 to SATA0 and SATA2, with no change in problem. When I uncheck all SATA drives, the boot problem goes away, but Windows does not see the optical drive (of course).
From the Boot Sequence, only UEFI: Hard Drive is shown. When I try to Add option, I’m not able to select the optical drive.
I think that the problem is this CD/DVD drive in the SFF not being recognizable to UEFI boot.
John says
Thanks again to Paulie for the guide and all of the responses to your readers!
I have this updated information to share:
The SFF optical drive can be recognized in the UEFI Boot Sequence if Legacy boot is enabled in Advanced Boot Options.
However, even with UEFI Boot Sequence recognizing the optical drive, on power-up there is still the “Alert! Hard Drive Not Found” error. F1 will continue to boot to optical or hard drive in the correct order specified in Boot Sequence.
De-selecting all SATA drives from System Configuration => Drives resolves the problem. System boots quickly from power up to OS without interruption.
This is how I’m leaving my system; if I have occasion to boot from optical drive, I’ll need to first enable it from BIOS.
Paulie says
Nice one, how is your performance now you have finished the upgrade?
John says
From power button to OS sign-in screen is under 10 seconds – probably closer to 5.
Thank you again Paulie!
Alex Du says
Hi Paul,
I’ve been waiting for this feature for years! Fantastic job, thank you!
Paulie says
Enjoy – let us know how you get on if you do the upgrade.
Will says
Hi Paulie, I finished the guide and got everything installed. I have a dell optiplex 9020 SFF but every time I boot it says “no bootable devices found”. I turned off all the sata ports and have it on UEFI is there a fix.
Also some things: I’m not trying to install windows I installed Openmediavault so that might have something to do with it and I also got a cheap ssd because I really just needed another drive. Thank you
galas says
Hello Paul
With Dell Optiplex 7020mt do you know if i can i use two Samsung 970 EVOPlus ?
one for the operating system and one for storage
now for the operating system i use one Samsung 970 EVOPlus in the Blue slot PCIe 3.0 x16 with one adapter like your
and in the black slot PCIe 3.0 x16 i use one graphics card
I found to buy adapter to make from the M.B. the one PCIe 3.0 x 16 to two PCIe 3.0 x 4
Do you know if will work ?
so i can see 2 ssd or it neads any changes on bios and maybe is not posible in optiplex 7020mt
ok. all the best
Galas
Jafet says
Hi Paulie
Great blog, I finished the guide and got everything installed but when i want to load windows on the nvme ssd I get an error “This computer hardware may not support booting on this disk” i have a Dell OptiPlex 7020 MT
Please assist
Jafet
Paulie says
That is the message you receive when you boot the machine in BIOS mode. You MUST boot in UEFI mode as per the guide.