ML150 G2 Expansion ROM not initialized

[CA1240803]

Hi,

We're putting in a new HP ML150 G2 SATA server to replace an existing old server. As the SCSI AIT-1 tape drive in the old server is still quite new, we decided to transfer the tape drive across to the new ML150. The controller is an Initio PCI Ultra SCSI controller which we installed into the single PCI slot of the ML150.

Now, everytime we boot up the server, the server throws up an error towards the end of the POST screen :-

Expansion ROM not initialized - PCI Mass Storage Controller in Slot ....

And will not proceed until we select to resume or go into Setup.

Additionally, the normal POST screen showing the controller detecting the tape drive does not appear.

When Windows SBS 2003 starts up, the controller and tape drive is detected and works once we installed the drivers, but the boot time error still persists.

I have not been able to find any other references to how to fix the problem.

Help anyone ???

Kelvin

[amhakassa]

Hi kelvin,

Her eis the main problem

"The ProLiant ML150 server with System BIOS Version 16 supports a total of eight IPL devices. Four IPL devices, such as the IDE controller and the floppy controller, are integrated, leaving support for four additional PCI IPL devices (i.e., PCI card plugged into PCI expansion slots); however, the ProLiant ML150 has five PCI expansion slots. Therefore, it is possible to configure the ProLiant ML150 with five PCI IPL devices (such as SCSI controllers or NICs) and exceed the limitation of System BIOS Version 16"

Therefore updating the Bios to ver 16 should able to resolve the issue
You can download the BIO from this link
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/22128.html

I hope this will help

Regards
Amha Kassa

[CA1240803]

Hi Amha,

Thanks for the reply. A few things to help me understand :-

1) The link you posted was to install BIOS v5.05.16 onto the HP Single Channel U320 SCSI HBA G2. However, as I mentioned, I am actually using an Initio Scsi controller, not a HP controller ?

2) How many IPLs are actually used up ? The server is the SATA version and comes shipped with only 1 x SATA controller in a PCI-X slot, no SCSI controller as standard. No other cards were present until we added the Initio SCSI controller.

Hope to hear back again soon.

TIA for your help.

Kelvin

[amhakassa]

Hi Kelvin,

The BIOS update link I sent you is actually for the systemboard so that it can support 8 IPL devices. Therefore, by updating the BIOS on the server the systemboard should be able to recognize the controller with no problem. With the old BIOS the system supports only 4 IPL. (The new BIOS will expand it to support up 8 IPLs)

Update the BIOS and U should not be able to see that error. If you do not want to press F1 everytime u boot you can go to the BIOS setup and change the option so that it can boot with out prompting you to press F1

Regards
Amha Kassa

[CA1240803]

Hi Again Amha,

We finally got a time window to shutdown the server and apply the update you suggested. However, this still did not fix the problem. A similar post to HP support got a reply to apply System BIOS update 1.10-1 which we did and that also did not fix the problem.

We still have the same problem and the server will not boot past the error message without someone hitting F1 to continue.

Any other suggestion ?

Thanks.

Kelvin

[Cordula Maier]

Hi
Have exactly the same problem with Bios V. 1.20 and an Adaptec SCSI card 39320 on a HP ML150 G2 SATA server. Removed even the ATA card but still the same problem.
Have you heard anything from their support or does anyone know a solution??

Cordu

[CA1240803]

Hi Cordu,

HP Support's final correspondence to me states that because the SCSI controller and tape drive are NOT HP branded items, no further support will be available.

The problem still persists and we are stuck with it. It is still an issue and as the recent weekend extended power failure at the site proves, it is a big problem as the server did not fully restart and therefore no mails were received over the weekend (it's their mail server as well).They have used HP servers in both administrative as well as production offices.

Kelvin

[Inocent P]

I got the same problem. I wanted to maximise SATA capacity using spanned 4 SATA drives for online file backup. I was going to put windows boot and system files on mirrored SCSi drives using HP Smart array controllers.
Comes back with POST erros as you mentioned. Checked HP site and said check for bios update which is suppose to fix IPL issue. I can't upgrade bios because I have latest one. Spent many hours on a pair of these brand new servers. Makes me feel angry because HP has crippled this machine. I work with proliant G3 350's and 370's and have no problems with them apart from the WEIGHT!!! The SATA card will only allow mirror or span as well which limits what you can do wth 4 SATA drives. The BIOS is quite useless. The boot category will allow you to disable the boot devices and or change the priority but it doesn't allow you to choose another controller even if it registers in the PCI slots. Weird BIOS, I haven;t seen any HP one quite like this. (actually, isn't it a rebadged Intel board?)

[CA1240803]

The BIOS is customised to the HP Servers. Don't really know if it is a rebadged Intel though one of the e-mails I got from HP seems to imply it might be.

A little additional info on my original post. I actually purchased and installed a HP U320 SCSI card into the server and this will allow me to boot the server without needing to hit F1. While the card and Windows recognises the card and tape drive, ABSOLUTELY NO BACKUPS will work, NTBackup reports hardware failure. Eventually, I switched back to the original SCSI card which means I have to hit F1 again on bootup but at least backups will work.

Kelvin

[CA1304626]

Hi,
Have the same problem with Adaptec AHA2940 Ultra PCI. My Bios version is 1.20. Hopefully someone at HP could solve this problem.

Sonny

[Marcus Tavares]

I've exact the same problem. My hardware is a ML150G2 and I have a HP SCSI RAID Controller that came built-in the server and I've installed an additional Compaq 29160 (Adaptec) that was working on a DL580.
Upgrading the bios to the latest ones available on the HP's site does not solve the issue. I've tried both system bios v1.10 and SCSI Single and Dual Channel BIOS v5.05.18.02.
Any help???
Thanks!

[CA1326100]

Hi guys,

I have some ML150G2 SCSI modell, which are working fine, until I want to put in my adaptec raid controllers to them. I had got exacty the same error message You had.

I have also tried to upgrade systemboard and scsi controller bios, but nothing happened. It's still an open question, or does anybody find out the answer?

regards
Peter

[CA1240803]

Hi All,

I'm afraid there can be no answer unless HP decides to come to the party.

As mentioned in my earlier postings, HP is not supporting us for not using HP controllers in the server. But as I have also discovered, when using a HP controller, I got over the problem of booting the server without an error, only to find that I have not been able to perform a successful backup when the existing tape drive is connected to the HP controller.

In my efforts to continue supporting HP and their products, I purchased an iPaq h6365 combined PDA and phone. Not a single client have not complained about calls to or from me made with the h6365. Posts of the problems on the relevant HP Forum met with no answers (as others have the same issues).

Kelvin

[CA1326100]

cos' i have experimented this issue only now, my point of view is not as dark as Yours (even if I understand your point as well)

Hp doesn't support 3rd party devices, that's correct, as any company does the same. But. HP uses adaptec controllers as well, so, what's the deal with non-hp-branded adaptec stuffs?

The things I had found out until now.

- I had put in my adaptec raid controller, which operates when the OS boots up (w2k3). The bad news is, i'm unable to run even the windows version of storage manager, therfore I'm not able to reconfigure the array, or even get informations about it's status...

- Some SUN servers has the same issue with additional PCI cards. SUN suppose, to disable each and every non used controllers in the server (NIC, floppy), which will let You to use the card. I'll try this afternoon if it helps us or not

- From adaptec there's also some info:

"Some motherboards limit the available upper memory area; some do not have upper memory area at all and only support the use of extended memory.

Some manufacturers will reserve this upper memory area for their use only, such as for USB or other proprietary I/O devices on the system.

A limited amount of available upper memory can prevent additional cards (add-in optional ROM) from loading, as in the BIOS of some Adaptec SCSI Cards.

These conditions can usually be identified by "BIOS POST" hanging or "BIOS POST" error messages like: "Expansion ROM error" / "Expansion ROM not Initialized" or in the general failure of being able to run the 'SCSI Select Utility.'

Regrettably this is a motherboard system BIOS feature and you might want to check with the motherboard or computer manufacturer to see if there is a firmware upgrade or option to modify the upper memory area on the system BIOS. If the upper memory area feature is limited or has been disabled and there is no motherboard BIOS upgrade, then there may be no solution because there is nothing you or we can do to redirect the Adaptec controller from the conflict."

Finaly, we have to wait I think for a new bios. The newest I was able to download is 1.10, with date of 08/02/2004 or something. My server was shipped with bios date of 02/10/2004. And this issue still exist in it.

So I'll take two steps:
- Today I'll try to play around with bios (which is not the best if you check out the posibilities)
- On monday I'll get contacted to my HP sales/support responsible, and I'll make some pressure on him.

If there's any news, I'll let You know.

regards
Peter

[CA1240803]

Hi Peter,

Yes this is a BIOS issue, and therefore a HP issue and not only an issue with the brand of card we are putting in. Like you, I had also tested with an Adaptec card with similar results. However, from my point of view, we are not asking HP to support the 3rd party card as such, but only to make their product, the HP server, more interoperable with other manufacturers equipment. After all, Adaptec is not an unkown name in SCSI controllers and as you suggested, HP uses customised versions of them too. If Microsoft customised their OSes so that they will only ever run Microsoft productivity software, you will have lots of people up in arms.

Although not posted here, I actually went through a a couple of weeks with HP tech support on this issue before they decided not to continue as it was not a HP branded card. They did suggest looking for a way to disable any onboard device not in use and even provided examples of doing so based on an Intel server board. I think the HP board is a custom version of an Intel server board (which is why the reference document was for an Intel board). However, as we found out, the HP version of the BIOS did not provide any facility to turn off the unused devices as suggested which was when HP support decided to call it quits.

Kelvin

[Marcus Tavares]

Both SCSI controllers that I'm using are HP controllers. Actually they are Adaptec, but they are official HP controllers.
In my server, both controllers are working perfectly on the Windows 2000, although I'm having that error message on the boot and also I'm not able to enter the CTRL+A on the second controller.
The main problem on my server is that I'll not be able to reboot this server remotely because it will stop at the boot. Also, if there is a lack of power, we will need to go there phisically and press ENTER so the server continues the boot.
I'll open a support case within HP to try to solve this issue.
Thanks.

[Devin Henderson_1]

According to HP this isn't an HP problem...

I have a HP Proliant DL145 which I just purchased. I also have a HP StorageWorks Ultrium 460 LTO tape drive...

I also have a LSI logic SCSI card which I purchased from CDW that I was informed by their HP rep that this card would work with the server I also purchased from CDW...

So... Does HP offer any advice?

[CA1339312]

Hello,

we are using an ML110 and got the same problem after installing an additional Adaptec-SCSI-Card for our *HP*-Streamer. A support-call to HP was answered with the customary "You are using NON-HP hardware..."-So - no help from HP !

But after updating our BIOS to 4.6.20 we detected,that you can set in the "PCI-options" the "ROM-Scan Option" to "Disabled" for the PCI-Slot with the problematic PCI-card.

I don't kown, if this option will disable the ROM of our SCSI-ard completely, but for our DAT-Streamer we do not need the SCSI-ROM.

After this option was set, the system now boots cleanly without pressing F2 after BIOS-Self-Tests.

Regards,
Joerg

[Marcus Tavares]

I'd like to enphasize the both of my SCSI controllers are HP! It is an HP problem indeed! No solution yet... I'll look for the above procedure.

[Amos YUNG]

Hi,

HP has released new rom v.1.54 to resolve this issue:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/24129.html

and it works with my server.

thanks.
Amos

[MarKenin]

So I have a pair of ML150G2 SATA "servers" (I'll reserve my new judgment for the sake of decency).

According to the HP tech rep I spoke to, the problem is that the ML150G2 is not ACTUALLY "Expandable" and "Industry Standard" as the slick sheets claim. If you attempt to use anything outside of the controllers available at time of purchase (4/6 port SATA RAID, SCSI controller, et. al) then you are tough out of luck.

You tape options are the old DAT 40/72 options, and "external storage" options are limited to the 160GB USB drive by Seagate. Anything outside of that (including my HP-5302-256 w/ MSA30) is not supported and (to quote my rep) "will never be recognized".

If you have this stellar piece of HP engineering, look for the tax right-off in donating it to some other schmuck, because HP will not do anything to help you.

[john bleskone]

hello, i have the same message on ML110 with adaptec 2940uw, aha2940uw, and also i cannot boot from scsi disk.

The problem has gone when the bios on aha2940 card was upgraded to 2.20 version ..

[AlXhongRinpoche]

It happens only for the Proliant HP G3 ML series.

The proliant G3 ML150 that I have as a 64 bit Bios.

It makes an error while reading an external 64 bit Bios that is downgraded to 32 bit function.

It is the only Computer series that makes this error. It cannot downgrade the 64 bit Bios because it is a 64 bit Bios. It can read 32 bit Bios's but not downgrade a 64 bit Bios to 32 bit Bios.

Im other words: You cannot use a 64 bits card that as a 64bits bios and a 64 bit connector on a 32 bits PCI slot. You abolutly have to connect it on 64 bit expansion slot, because the PCs bios cannot handle the hardware downgrade of a 64bit card in a 32 bit slot, because the card as a 64 bits bios.. Of caurse we speak of SCSI cards or other cards that posses their own BIOSs.