BL20p G3 servers will not power on

[Chris Oligher]

Hello,

I realize the BL20p G3 servers are pretty old, but I was wondering if anyone could help me. I recently purchased another BladeSystem p-class enclosure and 5 BL20p G3 blades to expand my current blade environment. After racking and plugging in the enclosure, I cannot get 4 of the 5 servers to power on. They remain with the amber power LED no matter what I do.

I took a blade from my other enclosure and moved it to the new enclosure to test it, and the enclosure itself is working fine. I also used that blade to upgrade the enclosure and power subsystem firmware to version 2.40.

One of the new BL20p G3 servers boots up fine and now has an OS running on it. However, the other 4 will not start, regardless of what slot they are in or what I do.

All 5 blades iLO interfaces work and have been upgraded to firmware version 1.94. When I use the iLO to press the virtual power button, nothing happens, but a "Host server powered ON by:" message appears in the iLO event log. When I press the physical power button, the message "Power on request by power button" is written to the iLO event log, but again nothing happens.

The power subsystem seems OK. When I log in via the serial console it shows 2400 watts available/216 watts used, so there shouldn't be a power problem.

Is there anything else I can try?

[Torqsis]

Usually when I have had this issue its either due to a Firmware missmatch or a hardware missmatch (Mez to the IC Bay). Are the blades the same config?

[Chris Oligher]

I was able to get two of them powered up, and that was by removing the Emulex mezzanine FC card. I suppose that could have been the hardware mismatch you are talking about. I'll monkey with the hardware in the other two that I still can't get to power on.

Also, is there other firmware that needs to be looked at? I know about the iLO firmware on the blade, the enclosure, and power subsystem, but are there other firmwares that should be upgraded as well?

Thanks,

[Torqsis]

Usually the firmware on the mez cards.

ILO,
BIOS,
MEZ,
OA,
IC Bays,

BIOS and MEZ can be taken care of by HPSIM or the update CD.

ILO, OA and IC Bays are via BIN files from INET.

[Chris Oligher]

Thanks for the help. I can't get them to even POST, so I won't be able to even access the BIOS to see/flash, but I will check the mezz cards on the two bad blades. I could possibly move them into a working blade, upgrade the FW, then move them back.

Also, sorry for my confusion, but what are OA and IC?

[Torqsis · Accepted solution]

Yea I would yank out the Mez cards and see if it will boot.

OA = Onboard Admin... I am linking c-class sorry.

IC = Interconnect Bay (behind the chassis)

[Chris Oligher]

Ah, thank you!

When I get to the DC I'll start working with those two remaining bad blades. I didn't realize mezz card or other FW could also be a cause.

Thanks!

[Torqsis]

NP... School of hard knocks...