Proliant ML370 wont boot

[smithersmark]

I'm having a problem with a HP Proliant ML370 G4. It will turn on, displays the HP logo, the LEDs flash on the keyboard, it then displays the following:
32Mb Initialsed / 1024MB Detected
Proliant System BIOS - P50 (08/26/2004)
Copyright 1982,2004 Hewlett Packard Development Group , L.P
Processor 1 initialzed at 3.20GHz/300

This is as far as it goes - there is a flashing cursor on screen and nothing else happens. The keyboard doesnt work, CTRL+ALT+DEL doesnt reboot it. So you have to hard power off and turn back on - and it stops at the same point.
It is configured with 5 disks in RAID5 running Windows Server 2003 Standard. There is a DAT 72 tape drive (scsi).
It wont boot from CD either.
I have reseated memory, CPU, PSU all to no avail. Accoridng to the iLO logs - it rebooted itself - BSOD, and then this is where it stopped.
There are no hardware alerts and the LEDs at the front of the server are coming up green.
Anyone have any ideas or seen anything like this before? Any help would be great!

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi,

Did you see the value for the CPU L2 cache on the screen after the information for Processor 1? - If not it may be the CPU which is faulty.

Normally when the CPU goes through its tests you see the CPU type and bus speed followed by the amount of L2 cache. I think its stuck there doing the cache test. The 3.20Ghz CPU should have 1Mb of L2 cache. You may have to replace the CPU to correct this fault.

If the system is still on warranty the 3.20Ghz CPU spare part number (for HP service calls) is 374233-001. If it's the system board which is faulty, the spare part number is 347882-001.

I hope this helps.

Brian

[smithersmark]

I actually typed that line in wrong! It should read:
Processor 1 at 3.40GHz/800MHz (1MByte L2)

There is a flashing cursor on a new line after this. Any ideas?

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi,

Yes I thought the /300 was a typing error but it looks like the CPU may have passed its tests if the L2 cache is reported OK.

Remove all PCI devices (including the raid controller and additional NIC's) to see if it goes further. Don't worry you won't lose the raid configuration with the board removed - it's held on the disks. You should still get the IL, SCSI and other embedded devices reported on the screen with the PCI boards removed. If it gets further with something removed, try it in another PCI slot.

Regards,

Brian.

[smithersmark]

Brian,
I tried that and it made no difference. The only PCI card is the RAID card.
What I have noticed is that the line '32Mb Initialsed / 1024MB Detected', changes values on boot from time to time. When I boot the system from cold the initialised RAM value will vary from 16MB to 24MB and 32MB. Should it not initialise the full amont that it detects i.e. 1024?

Mark.

[Brian_Murdoch]

Hi,

Yes it should indeed. Have a look at the attached pdf file. This gives you the minimum memory configuration for the ML370 G4. You need a pair of dimms in slots 1 and 2. Unfortunately it sounds as if you have the factory default of 1Gb (2 X 512Mb in slots 1 and 2 already). If this is the case you won't have any spare memory to swap it with or to try from other slots.

I think you will have to log a call with HP to progress this one.

Regards,

Brian

[smithersmark]

Brian,
Thnaks for all the help. I'll try and get some dimms to swap out and work from there.

Regards,

Mark.