DL580 G1 does not boot SmartStart anymore after "Unix Large drive geometry" setting in BIOS

[RutgerM]

Hello,

I'm facing a problem with a DL580 G1 server where I have set the OS in the BIOS using SmartStart 5.50 to Unix Large Drive Geometry.

When I set this option and I save and reboot the server, the server boots fine like normally. But when I want to go to the bios again using the SmartStart 5.50 CD, I get the Compaq SmartStart bootscreen, and after some cdrom-read my screen goes blank and nothing happens anymore.

Erasing the BIOS using Jumper 26 S6 and all other options that are in the manual, don't work.

Reflashing the ROM with a RomPAQ CD also does not work. Strange is that I can boot this CD and other CD's just fine.

What I have done after this is placing a spare I/O card into the server and I could boot again with the SmartStart 5.50 CD and the OS was set to Windows 2000 again.

I thought the board or battery was damaged so I tried to set it again on "Unix Large drive geometry" and disabled the floppydrive because I need to.

After rebooting, same issue....

Strange is that I know for sure that I was able before on another Dl580 to set it on Small Drive Geometry and I could visit the SmartStart again.

I also tried a 7.80, just to check what it did... same problem, black screen.

Is the board really damaged or just something else ?

I have 4x 9,1GB 15K SCSI drives in Raid5 with one spare in it, this can't be the problem I guess ? Maybe the "Large Drive" ?

These drives are connected onto a Smart Array 431 controller, which is not supported as far as I know but hars worked for years !

Is this a fixable problem ?