6500 startup problems help please

[Brandon Coleman]

hi,

ok i got my smart start cd and config cd (essential pack) ver. 5.50 as advised.

i hooked in my monitor, keyboard/mouse, and 5x 4.3gb scsi wide ultra drives the 7200rpm ones.

i power the system up. it goes through its checks: memory, video, options roms? (dont know what that is)....scsi check, all are good except i get one system event error. which is the raid array not configured...now obvsiouly that error is normal on a fresh first time boot up correct?

anyways those check fine, but i get no video. my keyboard works cause i can see it flash when the server checks it. but the monitor has the orange standby light on like its not active.

i started it up with the smart start cd in and i can hear the system read the disk, i also saw the floppy disk turn its green light on like it is acessing it for some reason. but, again i have no video dispaly on montior to tell what is going on.

is there anything im missing? i also do have a remote insight board installed, the system is pretty much new. the raid controller is the 3200 i believe. i look inside the server and dont see any amber lights all green. no interlock errors. im confused...the monitor is a 22" nec fe1250 if that matters, but i dont think it does. please help!

thanks,
brandon

[Brandon Coleman]

also one more thing i forgot to mention. the scsi drives, check out. but none of the leds are lit on the hotswap cages, none of the 3 lights...am i missing something here too? should i just try starting up with one drive?

[Brandon Coleman]

one more thing to add. after all the system checks on the lcd it asks me to press f1 to boot. then it says press enter to continue booting session...and when i press enter on the lcd...the system beeps twice and it just stays there and still says press enter to continue.

i must be missing something :)

[Sunil Jerath · Accepted solution]

Hello Brandon,
For starters just bring the system to minimum configuration. Please make sure all the components are sitting in properly. I hope you have updated the system bios as well as the firmware of SA3200 which is 4.50. If not please let me know I shall post the links for you.

Regards,

[Brandon Coleman]

hey thanks,

how can i update the bios if i cant see? =)

what is the recommended minimum configuration?

thanks.

[Brandon Coleman]

also im reading in the troubleshooting guide.

says something like "if an additonal card that has video such as the remote insight board is installed, it bypasses the onboard video"

is this my problem? in which case, remove the insight board?

thanks sunil

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
That's exactly what I meant. Just remove the extra components from your server. In your case take out the Remote Insight Board and do the basic installation. Once the basic configuration is done then you can start adding the rest of the components gradually. I am sure this will work.

Regards,

[Brandon Coleman]

thanks...just removed it, was fun. i also put my original 2 processors in. and reinstalled the terminators for the other 2. will give it another go.

should repost in the next 5 =)

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
Just drop me a line with your contact information at sunil.jerath@hp.com and I shall try to troubleshoot the server if need be rather then posting 100s of messages.

Regards,

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
Here is the link to update the system bios:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/9955.html

The following link is to update the firmware of your SA3200:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/14979.html

Regards,

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
Here is the link to update the firmware of SA3200 offline. Even though you will be asked to make 4 disks but just make the very first one since you don't need the rest. Please let me know if there is a problem:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/14694.html

Regards,

[Brandon Coleman]

sunil,

you fixed and have helped me with everything so far and have been johnny on the spot on what has been wrong. so far everything is looking good and stuff is getting fixed one by one.

that new floppy sucessfully updated the 3200 controllers firmware. remember that iminent failure alert i was getting? well, now drive id2 is blinking an amber. figured it was that one, as it said scsi id2 before the firmware switch. but, after the firmware upgrade it now blinks the amber led..good call on that one.

i still need to work on the service pack4, for windows. about to put it on a cd soon here.

thanks, will keep posted.

brandon

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
I am happy to know everything is working so far. Try to update the firmware of HDDs with SP19682 from our website.
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17149.html
Normally when the HDD is flashing RED or AMBER then it should be replaced as soon as possible. Please let me know if I could be of further assistance.

Regards,

[Brandon Coleman]

got the sp4 on cd. it verifies the files, extracts em to a temp C: then at random times it will just close the whole window at random midway and i have to start over, it always seems to close the setup window before i can click start, or after its starting to install.

do you think by anychance the bad drive could be the culprit? how do i go about swapping the bad drive out? i have one hotspare installed to replace, but not sure on proper procedure.

thanks
brandon

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Brandon,
Hot spare is suppose to function on it's own once any other HDD fails. The best way to do is to get the replacement for the one with the Amber and let it rebuild. As for as SP4 is concerned, I have not had any problems before. I shall check on MS Technet site and let you know.
Regards,