ML370 G6 ILO temporarily unavailable

[DaveMorris]

Hi,

We are having a very strange issue with one of our ML370 G6 servers. During the first POST screen, after the line about Redundant ROM available we get an iLO is disabled warning.

Then if you continue and view the Option ROM messages where the press F8 option would be there is:

"Integrated Lights-Out configuration is temporarily unavailable (4)"
or sometimes with (2) instead of (4).

Now, we have had the mainboard (replaced 4 times now), P410 array controller, power backplane replaced to try and resolve this.

You can get into the F8 ILO config only once if you take out the CMOS battery and wait 5 minutes, pop it back in you get the F8 to config ILO. You can go through this config routine OK, get into Windows and see the ILO fine. Reboot and its all gone again, back to the error message above.

You can't flash the firmware when it is in the error state as the firmware dvd does not see ilo at all, nor does the online flash within windows. We did manage to flash the ilo once, we did the trick above remove the CMOS battery then wait 5 minutes, put it back in and boot straight to windows, flashed to v2.00 firmware. Reboot and back to squire one with the error message.

One other strange thing, during the POST the server will display the INTAKE ambient temperature as -2c/29F which seems odd!

We have reset the NVRAM and also moved the ILO security dipswitch to no avail either.

I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. Helpfully HP has recommended we upgrade from Support Pack 8.40 to 8.50, *sigh*

Willing to try anything, including exorcism!

Ta
Dave

[Oscar A. Perez]

What iLO2 firmware version do you have? There was a issue fixed in 2.00 related to the push button that affected ML/DL G6 servers.

[DaveMorris]

Hi,

Yes we spotted that firmware update as well and as I stated in the post we are running 2.00 ILO firmware (It was on 1.82).

Cheers

[Oscar A. Perez · Accepted solution]

Sorry, I didn't see you already flashed 2.00

The -2C ambient temperature is a sign that there is a problem with the i2c bus on your system.
iLO2 1.82 and earlier will fail to boot if the i2c bus is locked down. iLO2 2.00 is going to boot fine and it will show a problem with the EEPROM in the Diagnostic page.

I think you either have a bad harddrive backplane or system board. Try disconnecting all the cables going to the hard drive cage and see if the -2C is resolved. Either way, you need to call HP support.

[DaveMorris]

Hi,

Yes we have a call in with HP about this already, engineer is excellent and has been onsite a few times.

We have arranged to get this new information looked at on Monday, will update thread for other users if they have this problem.

Cheers

[DaveMorris]

Hi,

Just thought I'd put the resolution to this on the forums.

We tested all the SAS backplanes. (Server has 3 of the, 2 6-bay and 1 2-bay)

They were all faulty, we tested them individually and each time it came up with the -02c temp error.

All replaced and now back to normal. Incidentally it seems that removing the SID cable and readding fixed the iLO issue on its own, though this is purely speculation.

The iLO started to function as per normal after the SID cable was remove, booted, and then shutdown and readded. Even with the faulty SAS backplanes still installed.

Weird?!

Dave

[DaveMorris]

fix was as per advisory. test and replaced sas backplanes.

[sjburk]

just an FYI to anyone. I was having the exact same issue with both the ILO and the temp reading. Removing the SID cable (booting) and replacing (and rebooting) fixed both issues for me.