ML370 hangs in boot process when USB drive plugged in

[Dan Mahoney]

I've got an ML370 with 2 2.8 GHz Xeons and 2500 MB RAM.When I plug a USB hard drive into the machine before boot, the boot process halts just after loading the Broadcom Gigabit ethernet firmware. If I then unplug the USB drive, the boot process continues.

Any clues what could be causing this?

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Dan,
Is the system bios uptodate?? If not then update it please. Have you tried connecting the USB hdd after the system is booted?? Could you also shed some light on to as to what type of USB hdd do you have.

Regards,

[Dan Mahoney]

The BIOS was out of date; I just downloaded and ran CP004040.scexe. The BIOS is now P28 dated 09/08/2003.

Now when I boot I get different behavior. If the USB drive is unplugged, the system boots normally. If the USB drive is plugged in at boot time, though, the process now stops at "HP Ethernet Boot Agent v6.2.11". If I unplug the USB drive then for just a moment the process continues as far as trying to boot from floppy and then from network.

If I then leave the USB drive unplugged, the boot completes normally.

The USB drive is a Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE, 120 GB, 7200 RPM.

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Dan,
During POST please hit F9 and verify the boot sequence. Also I remember on Intel system boards you can disable Legacy USB support. See if you have a similar setting in your system. While you do this make sure the USB HDD is disconnected. Have you checked the compatibility Software wise on the Maxtor site?? Please let me know.

Regards,

[Dan Mahoney]

My Standard Boot Order shows as:
IPL:1 Hard Drive C:
IPL:2 CD-ROM
IPL:3 Floppy Drive
IPL:4 PCI Embedded Compaq NC7781 Gigabit Server Adaptor

and my Boot Controller Order shows as:
Ctlr:1 Compaq Smart Array 532 Controller
Ctlr:2 Compaq Integrated PCI IDE Ctrlr
Ctlr:3 Compaq 64-Bit Ultra3 SCSI Port 2
Ctlr:4 Compaq 64-Bit Ultra3 SCSI Port 1

In other words, just the way I want it (my boot, root, and swap partitions are all on SCSI drives connected to the Smart Array).

So the fact that the machine hangs at the ethernet boot agent section when the USB drive is plugged in sounds like a Very Bad Thing :)

I wasn't able to find any info on compatability at Maxtor's site.

In the F9 screen I can disable the built-in USB system. It sounds like I might need to do that, and plug in a PCI USB card. I'd like to be able to use the USB facilities built in to the system, but it's starting to look like that isn't going to be feasable.

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Dan,
Please try changing the boot order to CDROM first, HDD, Floppy, NIC respectively. See if this makes any difference. I just checked at Maxtor site and evidently they dont mention Server SW at all :(. The only other thing I can think of causing conflict is the IRQs. I suspect NIC and USB port are sharing the IRQs. See if by manuplating the IRQs you can get it going. Please let me know.

Regards,

[Dan Mahoney]

I changed the boot order as you suggested. I also look at IRQs - what I had initially was:
Lights-Out Controller -- IRQ 5
Lights-Out Processor -- IRQ 11
PCI USB Controller -- IRQ 10
Ultra3 SCSI Port 1 -- IRQ 15
Ultra3 SCSI Port 2 -- IRQ 15
Gigabit NIC -- IRQ 10
Smart Array 532 -- IRQ 15

I don't know what the Lights-Out system does, or if the controller and the processor will mind sharing an IRQ, but what I've got now is:
Lights-Out Controller -- IRQ 5
Lights-Out Processor -- IRQ 10
PCI USB Controller -- IRQ 11
Ultra3 SCSI Port 1 -- IRQ 15
Ultra3 SCSI Port 2 -- IRQ 15
Gigabit NIC -- IRQ 10
Smart Array 532 -- IRQ 15

I figure this way the USB controller and the NIC will be using different IRQs. I'm in the process of booting now to see if this all is going to help.

[Dan Mahoney]

Ok, no significant change. Still pauses at the ethernet boot agent line and doesn't proceed until I unplug the USB drive. I'm going to turn in for the night and tackle it again in the morning. I kind of think one of the first things I'm going to try is disabling the integrated USB controller and plugging in a USB PCI card.

[Sunil Jerath · Accepted solution]

Hello Dan,
I was pretty optimistic about it that this will work but did not. Well the only you're left with to try is with an addon USB card. Please do let me know as to how you make out. In the meantime, if I do come across something I shall post it for you and all others who may be encountering the same issue.

Regards,

[Seth Parker]

Dan,

Can you take the NIC out of the boot order in IPL? The part about the "HP Ethernet Boot Agent" seems like something is conflicting there.

Good luck!
Seth