DL360 G4 refuses to power on. Fans work & no health light.

[Cian Masterson]

I recently got a second-hand ProLiant DL360 G4 that had been sitting in storage for a while but was running fine when it was disconnected, however it fails to power on. The PSU fans spin up ok but nothing else happens. The strip of 8 LEDs near the power connector seems to be indicating an error as LEDs CR25-CR28 come on when power is first applied but go off after a few seconds, and CR21 and CR22 flash alternately forever.

I can ssh into the iLO interface and get the following:
iLO> power
power: server power is currently: Off
iLO> power on
iLO> power
power: server power is currently: Off
iLO>

So basically the same behaviour with the iLO interface as with the power button on the front. I have tried swapping the front panel where the power button is, and have also swapped the power supply but neither made any difference.

I also tried removing the battery for a while after reading another post on this forum suggesting it might be the NVRAM, but no joy. I have a nasty suspicion the mainboard is dead and has gone to the great big electromagnet in the sky, but if anyone has any other ideas for things I can check I'd really appreciate it.

I've attached a (bad) photo of the mainboard highlighting CR21, in case anyone feels obliged to take the lid off their own server. =)

[KarloChacon]

hi


let me ask you

server stays working as normal I mean fans spinning all the time, HDDs activity ?

or it just stays up for a few seconds and power off again?

I supposed there is no video right?


so you swapped some parts, do you have another same server? so you can continue swapping parts like power backplane - memory - processor.

- I see in the picture that you have basically basic configuration, 1 Proc, 1 DIMM.

- in case remove PCI cards, and data cables.


regards

[Cian Masterson]

There is no video and the server does not power on at all. The power button does absolutely nothing. The fans for the power supply start and stay on when I plug it in but the CPU fans never spin, and there is no activity on the HDDs.

I have access to another server but it is many miles away so it is inconvenient to transfer anything other than small things like the power supply or the front switch panel between them.

I really think the problem is the motherboard because if I disconnect the power cable between the power board and the motherboard the green LED on the back of the PSU turns on but if I connect the power board to the motherboard it goes off.

[Mi6t0]

Yes, you're right, it's possibly the system board. The other possible hardware failure is the power supply backplane, but as you told - the fans of the PSUs are working, so we can exclude it.

[Cian Masterson]

Not what I wanted to hear but thanks for confirming it.

Since this machine was donated to the charity I do work for it is guaranteed to be out of warranty and they couldn't justify the cost of replacing the motherboard. I'll just have a look around the motherboard in the highly unlikely there's something obvious I can replace with a soldering iron before it goes for recycling. A pity really.

[FormerZeroCool]

I ran into a similar problem with another DL360 G4 and found that the processor fan/bracket assembly was the cause. P/N 361390-001. I tried replacing numerous parts from a working DL360 G4 until this part fixed it. The LED was not lit stating that the board was bad and all four of the fans were operating properly. You may want to give it a try. It's just a simple thumb screw and the entire unit comes straight out of the front.

[Sławo89]

I have the same problem, anyone found a solution?