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Re: Continuos Loop during Boot Sequence

 
pjpj314
Occasional Visitor

Continuos Loop during Boot Sequence

Need Help.

 

The array accelerator on my Proliant ML370 G4 had a low battery charge.

I replaced the unit. I am no longer getting the message regarding the low charge.

 

One of my Raid Drives failed. So i Replaced that as well. 

 

My backup failed. 

 

1. My main concern is my data. Can I recover it?

 

2. The boot sequence is still going on in a continuous loop. I am assuming that the new hard drive is being rebuilt. How can i check progress?

 

3. Will I be able to run this server and get access to my data?

 

I have attached a screen shot for more information. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you.

3 REPLIES 3
Matti_Kurkela
Honored Contributor

Re: Continuos Loop during Boot Sequence

The message in your attached picture says that the drive in Bay 2 of Box 1 needs rebuild. Is that the drive you replaced?

 

It also says that the rebuild was aborted before, and that it will try it again automatically in 30 secods.

If this is the loop the system is in, that probably means the rebuild is failing for some reason, and causing the server to reboot. Repeated retries don't seem to be helping, probably because the system is stuck at some point the automated recovery cannot fix on its own. So press F2 at the prompt to accept the RAID array in its current state and see if the system can start up the OS that way.

 

If the OS starts up, your first action should be to back up your data, preferably the most important data first. Since your array will be limping along in recovery mode, your disk performance may be lower than usual, especially if you're using RAID5 or RAID6 modes. Nevertheless, take the time to verify that your new backup is good, or make two backups, perhaps using two different methods.

 

The next step after that would be to run the Array Diagnostic Utility (ADU)  and to see what it has to say. If the results are not immediately obvious, it's time to open a support call with HP and send the full ADU report to them.

 

If the system is unable to start the OS, the important data files might still be there even if the OS itself is damaged: you'll need to boot the system from some other media, to some sort of system environment that allows you to access the system disks and copy files off them. (Personally I would use Linux Live CDs for this purpose, but I recognize that may not be the solution for everyone. Use Windows PE or whatever tool you're most familiar with.) Again the top priority should be to get as much of the important data to safe storage off the system as possible - everything else is secondary.

MK
pjpj314
Occasional Visitor

Re: Continuos Loop during Boot Sequence

Thank you for the response.

 

Update -

 

I tried to use F2 to bypass the Automatic Data Recovery. It went thru the prompts and reaches the windows 2003 server screen. It seems like it is trying to boot but then goes back to the initial boot sequence.

 

On the next attempt i hit F8 before the windows 2003 screen comes up so that I can try to get into the server using the safe mode. It goes thru about 2 screens of prompts and then hangs. It also then restarts the boot sequence.

 

My primary goal is to retrieve and then save my data.

 

Any other ideas or suggestions please?

 

Thank you

Johan Guldmyr
Honored Contributor

Re: Continuos Loop during Boot Sequence

Try Matti's suggestion of booting the machine on another media.