Prolaint 1500 no video / no post / no boot

[Jason Baker_2]

I just inherited a proliant 1500 with the dual processor board, and 5 drives. When you power up the server the drives go through spin up and I guess what is a test, but the monitor never wakes up. There is no post beeps, no video and the num lock and caps lock keys on the keyboard don't light up. The lights on the keyboard flash just after the machine powers up but that's it. I have cleared the config. with switch 6 but no luck. It also has a scsi card which the hot plug bays hook into. I have removed the scsi card and the add on HP fiber card but no change.

[Jason Baker_2]

I forgot to add the processors get warm so it seems the processor board is ok.

[Alex Muck]

I have a Proliant 1600 that has a similar problem. Once in a while is just won't boot with the same symptoms you described. Other times it will boot, but will lock up later. I believe it's related to the built-in array controller. I've been trying to acquire parts to try swapping out, but it's taking some time.

[e4services]

These kind of problems usually stem from the processor or sometimes the memory being disconnected. You can try and re-seat all the components first, removing the memory and cpu and re-installing. Next strip the system to these bare essentials removing all cards, controllers and drives.

[Jason Baker_2]

I was also wondering if there is supposed to be a blower underneath the drive housing. I saw a diagram which showed a blower under there but mine does not have one. If there is supposed to be a blower would it not boot if it saw that there was not a blower?

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi Jason,

Yes there should be a blower below the drive cage in a Proliant 1500 tower model (See attached diagram). There is also a thermistor on the front chassis to sense the air flow from this blower. Normally however you would get 2 short beeps indicating an over-temperature condition when the blower fails. You could try a standard three pin fan on the connector where the blower goes on the motherboard (one pin is for the rotary sense signal so a two wire DC fan won't do). You could also disconnect the thermistor temporarily on the system board. This might work in place of the blower and would be a simple way to find out if this is your only problem before spending money on a blower assembly which probably won't be cheap.

I hope this helps.

Brian