DL180 G5 BIOS Recovery Help

[Kane Partridge]

I have recently attempted to update the BIOS on the DL180. I downloaded the latest bios and formatted a 256MB USB key which made a rompaq bootable key. I booted the server off the USB key after confirming I want to update and after the progress bar and little sounds coming from the buzzer the bios update said that it had completed successfully and that I should power cycle the server to take effect. However after power cycling I no longer get Video or any audible sound from the buzzer. I have attempted to play with the Bios recovery jumper on the motherboard without any luck. the BMC is still running and i see the heartbeat led flashing, I can login to the BMC console on the serial port, however the functions in that seem useless.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Kane.

[Pieter 't Hart]

did you power cycle with the button,
or did you remove the power cord?

[Kane Partridge]

I think I power cycled with the button.

Which one is the proper procedure?

[Pieter 't Hart]

As they are allready powerd before the system itself is powered on (you can remotely power on the system using the BMC/LO100i)
So you can only reset the BMC (and/or LO100i) by removing the power cord wait a minute and reconnect.

you mention the "Bios recovery jumper" you're sure about that?
the HP ProLiant DL180 Generation 5 Server
Maintenance and Service Guide http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01365016/c01365016.pdf
doesn't mention this, only the "Jumpers â boot block, board ID and chassis ID"
and the CMOS is cleared by using a switch, not a jumper:
"The system board has a system configuration (CMOS) button (SW5). To clear system configuration,
remove AC power and press the CMOS button for seconds."

So what jumper do you refer to?

[Kane Partridge]

You are correct there is no direct mention of the bios recovery jumper in the manual. However it is clearly marked on the PCB overlay as "JP4 BIOS RECOVERY". This is mentioned in the manual as part of the boot block only as "JP4" with the 4 dip switches (Open by default). Although there is no documentation on how to use this I was hoping that it would work. Does the DL180G5 have dual bios?. I was assuming that the bios recovery jumper would 'switch' between the two bios chips.

In regards to cycling the power, I did attempt to disconnect AC power from the unit, leaving it unplugged for a while with no effect. The system still does nothing on power-up, no beeps, no video, BMC is still functioning however.

Is there a procedure for recovering from a corrupt bios on the DL180G5?

[Kane Partridge]

I have also tried pressing the CMOS reset button for a number of seconds while there is no power to the system - this also had no effect.

[Kane Partridge]

Thank you very much for all the responses so far, however I have still been unsuccessful in solving this issue.

I noticed that the BIOS chip (designator U58 'SYS BIOS') is held in a chip carrier, rather than soldered onto the motherboard. I have another DL180G5 which I have not updated the firmware on and decided to swap the BIOS chips, I can boot the system up fine with the good (un-touched) BIOS chip. This indicates to me that something did in fact go wrong during the update, which raises a few questions as the update utility said it was successful.

Does the HP rompaq update utility verify what it has written to flash?

If indeed it does verify, could this mean that the latest DL180G5 update from HP is in fact broken?

If writing to flash does verify, and the update is not broken, how could this possibly happen? - could it be miss-configuration of the boot block switches?

Is designator U7 'SPI BACKUP ROM' a backup BIOS?

Does JP4 'BIOS RECOVERY' do anything on the DL180G5?

Am I able to download older versions of the BIOS firmware?

Version information on the firmware update package:

SOFTPAQ NUMBER: SP43674

PART NUMBER: N/A

FILE NAME: SP43674.EXE

TITLE: System ROMPaq Firmware Upgrade for HP ProLiant DL180 G5 Servers (For USB Key-Media).


VERSION: 2009.04.22A

LANGUAGE: English

ROM FAMILY: O19

REVISION: A


Thanks,

Kane.

[Pieter 't Hart]

You got the problem isolated.
Now it's really time to open a case with HP support.
I don't think you'll get the answer on this forum.

Regards,
Pieter

[Pieter 't Hart]

I found this on bios recovery :
>>>
To recover the system after it enters Boot Block recovery mode, complete the following steps:
1.If there is a diskette in the diskette drive or a CD in the CD drive, remove the diskette and CD and turn off the power.
2.Insert a ROMPaq diskette into the diskette drive or, if permitted on this computer, a ROMPaq CD into the CD drive.
3.Turn on the computer.
If no ROMPaq diskette or ROMPaq CD is found, you will be prompted to insert one and restart the computer.
If a setup password has been established, the Caps Lock light will turn on and you will be prompted to enter the password.
4.Enter the setup password.
If the system successfully starts from the diskette and successfully reprograms the ROM, then the three keyboard lights will turn on. A rising tone series of beeps also signals successful completion.
5.Remove the diskette or CD and turn the power off.
6.Turn the power on again to restart the computer.
<<<
so only "play with the Bios recovery jumper on the motherboard" may not be enough.
try with a valid bios rompaq "diskette" (or stick offcourse) inserted, while powering on the server.

hth
Pieter

[Kane Partridge]

Thanks for the info, unfortunately it didn't work either.

However, I managed to copy the contents of my 'good' BIOS chip to my 'corrupt' chip using the flashrom utility from a bootable linux CD. Used flashrom to copy an image of the working BIOS chip to a file, then using it to write the file to the corrupt chip after swapping them. Now I can boot the server fine, although attempting to update the BIOS again results in the same unusable state.

I would like to hear if anyone has been successful in updating a DL180 G5 to the latest BIOS (Version 2009.04.22 Rev. A).

Until then I will be sticking with what works.

Thanks again for all the responses - I really appreciate it :)

Cheers,

Kane.