ML110 G5 has no video and won't boot

[Fred LaPlante]

This is a continuation of my previous entry "ML110 won't boot". I seem to have marked it as finished, it definately is not.

A quick summary is that the BIOS seems to have gotten corrupted during an attempted update. The update was/is necessary because my machine's fan was running in the high speed mode continuously.

The current symptoms are no video and the boot stops with one long beep and 2 shorts continued forever. I am desperate to find a way to get the server back up as all development, etc is stopped. I need to find a way to reset the BIOS so that a ROMPAQ usb drive can run.

I took another stab at the problem. This time in a more systematic approach. But I still cannot get any video at boot, and still get the same beep sequence.

1. I moved the CMOS jumper (J8) from 1-2 to 2-3 and left it that way for 10 min before replacing it.
2. I removed the BIOS recovery jumper (J15) and powered up the machine for 10 min. No video.
3. Shut down and moved J15 to 2-3 (configure BIOS)
4. Inserted ROMPAQ USB drive and powered up. USB LED showed perhaps 14 secs of activity, then a short pause, more activity, a long pause, the a short burst of activity, then nothing. Left machine to 'cook' for 10 min then powered down. No video.
5. Moved J15 to 'normal'. Powered up. The usual beeps, no video. Let sit for 5 min while beeps continued. No change.

I tried to contact HP online, but apparently the system is down because clicking the 'submit' after entering id & pw, I got 'that URL is unavailable'. Perhaps HP is also using a ML110 !!!

Any more ideas out there, I'm getting frustrated with not being able to get to my files.

Fred LaPlante

[raulpitti]

Probably you already solved your problem, but i was byte by the same problem on one of my ml110, after updating the BIOS online from windows. The solution is:

1. download the BIOS softpaq update from HP website. USE THE USB FLASH VERSION
2. RUN it and unpack the file, in my case it creates C:\SWSetup\SP45854
3. get a floppy usb, and use the Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing located in www.bootdisk.com
4. create a bootable flash usb using the HP tool created in 2
5. copy the flash content on the floppy. DO NOT OVERWRITE THE FILES LOCATED ON THE FLOPPY.
6. modify the floppy AUTOEXEC.BAT, so it contains the following line:

rompaq.exe /! /U CPQSRVR2.CPU CPQO1502.349

file names can change, but use them in that order .CPU first, CPQO####.### at the end

7. Clear the bios-- put JP7 on position 2-3 for 20 secs

8. Remove JP15 jumper

9. boot the server, watch the floppy lights blinking and wait like 15 or 20 mins...

10. Unplug the powercord.

11. Set JP15 to 1-2 again

12. POWERON, and wait like 3 minutes
13. Unplug and restart

The process MAY WORK using the flash drive and only modifying the autoexec.bat file located in the flash drive, but i ran my recovery using a floppy ;-)
i hope this helps a lot of people, because nowhere in HP forums or support site i was able to find this info.
Raul Pittí

[Michael A. McKenney]

If the BIOS was corrupted, it would not post or do anything. You need to replace the board. It is normal for fans to run at 100% for 30 seconds at the POST. HP is testing the fans for failure. Measuring RPMs at 100%. Make sure its spinning at correct revs.

Put a cheap PCI video card in the server. See if it posts. If you get nothing, dead board. Replace it. Grab it from a old computer. Nothing special. Just your PCI cheapest video card.

[Michael A. McKenney]

Go barebones with just the PCI video card, 2 sticks of RAM, CPUs, fans. Unplug everything else.

[Diego_Camargo]

Raul,

I tried to make your solution more than 10 times, but w/o success. Can U to be more specific in details? Sorry my poor English.

Best Regards,

Diego

[itisconsulting]

Thank you raulpitti.

I know this is an old thread, but I want to confirm for anyone else who may need to recover a ML110G5 from BIOS update failure that this procedure worked perfectly.

It took about 15 minutes to perform the emergency BIOS flash and the server played a tune when it was done.

[MikeLowe]

---

@raulpitti wrote:
Probably you already solved your problem, but i was byte by the same problem on one of my ml110, after updating the BIOS online from windows. The solution is:

1. download the BIOS softpaq update from HP website. USE THE USB FLASH VERSION
2. RUN it and unpack the file, in my case it creates C:\SWSetup\SP45854
3. get a floppy usb, and use the Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing located in www.bootdisk.com
4. create a bootable flash usb using the HP tool created in 2
5. copy the flash content on the floppy. DO NOT OVERWRITE THE FILES LOCATED ON THE FLOPPY.
6. modify the floppy AUTOEXEC.BAT, so it contains the following line:

rompaq.exe /! /U CPQSRVR2.CPU CPQO1502.349
file names can change, but use them in that order .CPU first, CPQO####.### at the end

7. Clear the bios-- put JP7 on position 2-3 for 20 secs
8. Remove JP15 jumper
9. boot the server, watch the floppy lights blinking and wait like 15 or 20 mins...
10. Unplug the powercord.
11. Set JP15 to 1-2 again
12. POWERON, and wait like 3 minutes
13. Unplug and restart

---

Thank you, sir.  This worked operfectly using a USB thumb drive.

I skipped steps 3, 4 and 5 and went straight to USB thumb drive.

It has to be less than 2gb or the HP program wont write to it.

I checked the file names on mine and had to modify my autoexec accordingly, as below.

rompaq.exe /l:us /! /U CPQSRVR2.CPU CPQO1502.0EF

rompaq.exe /l:us /! /U file1.xxx file2.xxx

the /l:us I believe justs sets the localization.  the /U runs an unattended install.  On a black screen this command line option is a MUST.  the two file names are the files to upgrade.  Yours may differ.  I believe the /! tells it to halt once complete.

I waited a half hour, unplugged, reset JP15 and powered it up and I can say, "It's ALIVE!"

There is poor documentation on the locations and meaning of the jumbers, so I had difficulty finding them.

I'm still not sure I got  JP7, but it appears to have worked anyway.

[CyrilB]

I had the same issue and did not succeed at first, but eventually got it:

I was using a large USB stick (16GB), because it was what I had at hand - no good. At some point I stumbled over an old 1GB USB stick and after two more tweaks, it worked. I am not sure if they were both required, but anyway:

 - removed the BIOS WRITE PROTECT jumper J8

 - edited the AUTOEXEC.BAT as described in earlier posts (it looked incomplete to me)

What I also learned was this: as long as the beeps continue nothing is happening. Once I had the 1GB in place, there was only one beep and the the USBstick started flashing (about 20 times at first, then repeatedly 4 times, for quite long).

Eventually the blinking stops. That is when you can power off and and on again. Then there will be update messages displayed after the RAM test.

[mariusmotea]

Hi!

Anybody know the procedure for ML110 G6 server? I believe one of the it juniors try to update the bios from windows without success and now the server emit one long beep followed by 2 short beeps. I manage to find an old bios (from 2009, because now HP don't let me to download the latest bios) and create a usb stik with the autoexec described here, but without success. USB led activity stop after only ~10 seconds. I try to edit autoexec to write the output to a log file so i can see the error that stop the bios update, but this seems impossible with MS-DOS. Also on G6 motherboard instead of jumpers there is a micro switch with 8 buttons and i try different positions but without success. If somebody have or can download the latest bios for G6 please provide me a download link, because mine is downloaded from an unofficial source and i'm not sure is good.

Thanks,

Marius.

[mariusmotea]

I found myself the procedure for G6:

After i try with 4 different USB sticks i move to cdrom iso version. I use winiso to extract the boot image and winimage to edit autoexec.bat from boot image.

Motherboard configuration switch buton 2 must be placed to ON. During the update process you must see cd-rom led activity on every 10 - 15 seconds. I dont monitor this, but after about 30 minutes i do a check and saw there is no cd-rom activity. I manualy power off, place buton 2 again to OFF and power on the server. After 5 second i saw HP logo on display. I enable email alert for replys on this thread so you can ask to send the iso file  to an email address because hp don't let you to download the latest bios. My next servers will not be HP anymore for this "support".

[ANTHONY MAW]

Wow great solution.  

I'm absolutely disgusted that HP makes it so difficult to recover the server after their Windows-based BIOS update utility FUBAR'd my server - you can imagine the stress and panic!

There is NO MENTION in HP's usage documentation about clearing the CMOS with JP7 and anything to do with JP15 BIOS recovery setting or anything about the floppy disk alternative solution.

I will add that the USB flash drive creation tool does not work under Windows 10 - you have to run it in application compatibility mode as Windows 7 environment for it to format the USB stick and then it doesn't run when plugged into the server probably because of the JP15 issue not mentioned.

You mention Step 9 to wait 15 to 20 minutes - i noticed the motherboard played  a short 4 note chime when the floppy disk activity stopped, after about 20 minutes - but you have to be in front of the machine with the cover removed to hear it!

Thanks to guys like you for a detailed useful answer to an otherwise stressful situation where money and jobs are at risk.  

Best regards and a toast of a virtual-beer!  Anthony Maw, Vancouver, Canada

[EricG1793]

Hi everyone,

I was able to make the ML110 G5 bootable again with the instructions above. Thanks for the information!

However, the fan is racing on high speed constantly. Just as an overview, I had first upgraded the BIOS with the Windows utility, which caused the fan to race constantly. I did more research and found out that performing the USB BIOS update procedure fixed that issue, and it did on another ML110 G5 I had. However, when I did the USB update on this one, I got the black screenand beeps, so I used the USB to recover the BIOS.

Now I've done the Windows installer BIOS update, even though that didn't do anything because it's already up to date. And I did the USB again the normal way, and the fan still races.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

[Griff_1]

I've got this problem, but as this is an old server we're not likely to purchase a care pack just to download the bios.

It's been replaced by a new server, but all I'm after is booting it up to get a few files off the raided SATA disks.

Does anyone know if SP45854.exe is available anywhere else so I can try the above steps.

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@Griff_1 wrote:

I've got this problem, but as this is an old server we're not likely to purchase a care pack just to download the bios.

It's been replaced by a new server, but all I'm after is booting it up to get a few files off the raided SATA disks.

Does anyone know if SP45854.exe is available anywhere else so I can try the above steps.

---

You have what problem?  Just no video or were you were attempting a BIOS update and it failed? The latter is why this post was originally created in 2009.   If your system was working and the video just stopped displaying a ROM update will probably not resolve the issue.  SP45854 was mentioned in the thread, and was probably the latest available when someone used it in their explanation.   There is a newer critical BIOS release that is available without care pack

** CRITICAL ** Systems ROMPaq Firmware Upgrade for HP ProLiant ML110 G5 Servers (For USB Key-Media)
http://h20565.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=3577726&swItemId=MTX_33b7e9fe64024d07834adb81c1&swEnvOid=4064#tab-history

[Griff_1]

I believe a failed BIOS.  Staff at the remote site that had the server say it was saying bios update, then after that it's not booting up, or showing any POST screen.

I've got the BIOS files now so will give it a shot and see if it sorts it.