Optiplex Gx110 Freezing on Bios Post

I would say yes, as long as you can get it boot from the USB. Check BIOS. Are installing you Win 95, 98, or XP? I ask because the manual has reference to Y2K.

You just want to keep it as a Linux box. Have Fun!

Either your monitor is bad or the video card inside the computer is bad. To isolate the problem try a different monitor on the computer. Borrow a monitor from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. If the borrowed monitor works, then your original monitor is bad. If the Borrowed monitor does not work, then the video card inside your computer is bad.

If I remember correctly, that Dell has two memory module slots, so 2 512 mb modules of non-ecc pc133 memory is the max that the system board will allow.
This is controlled by the system board chipset, and not by the bios.

Generally an indication that the Hard Drive isn't detected
Things to check, go to BIOS F2, reset defaults and reboot, see if the HDD is seen. If it is, the battery on the motherboard is likely dead and needs replacement (Watch battery at Walmart, 3 dollars)
If the HDD doesn't detect after resetting the BIOS, then most likely a Hard Drive failure

Have you set BIOS to Boot from the CD/DVD? If not please do that.

A gx110 is pretty much uneconomically repairable. If the system is powering on, getting video but not booting, then the clicking is likely the hard drive. Of you are not getting any video, then post what the Power LED and the diag LEDs on the back of the tower indicate.

Check the settings of the internal setups. This is using the BIOS itself and hitting a particular key before anything happens. On some machines it is F1 or the DEL key. In the basic setup there are settings for the boot order and floppy drives and HD type. Make sure these are set correctely.

ALSO on one of mine I have to use a formatting/partitioning program supplied by the HD manufacturer (in this case Maxtor) to pre-prepare the drive beofre trying to install WIndows.

I would suggest defaulting the bios, either by way of the cmos jumper, or by entering the bios at boot, selecting "load defaults" from the menu at the bottom of the screen, save and exit. If setting the defaults does not fix the onboard IDE then you have a hardware failure. They make IDE adaptors that plug into a PCI slot, that could get you back into operation, but I'm afraid if the IDE has gone on the mobo, what's next? I would be afraid something else will fail.
Maybe you'll get lucky with the defaults.

The 1.4 GHz chips are Tualatin cores- they use a different voltage than your previous chips and as such you would need an adapter that fits between your socket and that CPU... It is very bad for that chip and your motherboard to continue trying to run is as-is so I would stop powering it up with it in there immediately if you already haven't done so. I'm in the same boat as you with an Optiplex gx110 that I really love, but I'm stuck with my 933 [Which by the way you COULD run up to a 1 GHz PIII Coppermine in that thing] and my 1.4 sitting on the desk until I find a suitable adapter on eBay or something.... Once I have the adapter, I still don't know if the bios will play nice.

Hope this helps at least a little!

There is a full step-by-step guide to diagnosing this problem on the dell website (actually very helpful). You can find it here (titled Dell? OptiPlex? No Post, No Video for GX100 and GX110): http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/tree?c=us&l=en&s=gen&journalid=DFB8C72540D611DCACF8FBE14C494B1F&treeid=9F6F166431914C6B9722AA3209A42250&Query=dHJvdWJsZXNob290&SystemID=PLX_PNT_P03_GX110&ServiceTag=&contenttype=-1&os=-1&component=-1&lang=-1&doclang=en&toggle=true&dl=