Proliant 800 won't boot

[David Burch_3]

Greetings. My Proliant 800 refuses to boot. I've already tried the approaches suggested by Sunil Jerath for the 'Proliant 1600 Boot' question, without success.

SYMPTOMS: The server will not boot from the hard drive, any bootable CD, nor any bootable diskette. The CD and diskette drives are alive, as I see lights blinking during POST. However, the bootup halts after the messages about SCSI devices are displayed:

"Checking DRAM >>> 10 seconds wait maximum...
AIC-789x/Sequencer diagnostics passed

Ch A, SCSI ID #0 - QUANTAM ATLAS 10K 9WLS ULTRA2-LVD
Ch A, SCSI ID #0 - QUANTAM ATLAS 10K 9WLS ULTRA2-LVD"

HISTORY: This server had Red Hat Linux 8 installed for several months, with no problem. I installed Mandrake 9.2 this week, using DiskDrake to delete and recreate individual partitions. The system would boot, but had some issues with X and a shutdown error regarding unmounting /proc (as I recall). So, I installed Mandrake a second time, and this time I reformatted both SCSI drives (RAID 0, SDA and SDB). The install went cleanly, X tested fine, and everything looked good until I rebooted...and it wouldn't.

As I mentioned at the top, I followed Sunil's suggestions and tried the Compaq System Configuration Utility and System Erase Utility diskettes. I get exactly the same result: The diskette drive light comes for a second at POST, but the bootup hangs after the "Ch A SCSI" and "Ch B SCSI" messages are displayed.

I've tried booting from the Compaq SmartStart CD, Mandrake installation CD, Red Hat installation CD, NT 4.0 CD, a Proliant BIOS update diskette, and even a Windows 98 boot diskette. The behavior is the same every time.

Is this the result of formatting the hard drives (as in "Oops, I didn't know there was a Compaq utilities partition!"), or do I have a hardware problem that just happened to pop up now?

Thanks,
Dave Burch
Schilling School for Gifted Children
Cincinnati

[Sunil Jerath · Accepted solution]

Hello David,
I am not sure if you cleared NVRAM of your server or not. But that would be another avenue to go to. It's done via a switch on the system board itself. Please let me know if you are interested then I can email or post the instructions to you.

Regards,

[David Burch_3]

Sunil,

If you're reading this on Monday, then I am snowbound at home near Cincinnati. Did the blizzard hit where you are?

Thanks for pointing me in a promising direction. I found some directions for restting Proliant NVRAM at http://www.cpqlinux.com/nvram.html . Since I wiped out my system partition, and cannot boot past POST, I guess I will need to use the system maintenance switch to boot, then run SMU from the diskettes to clear NVRAM. Am I on the right track?

Oned thing I neglected to mention before: I had just updated the system BIOS before installing Mandrake.

If you have another link to instructions, please do post it. Thanks very much for your help!

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello David,
Yes you need to clear NVRAM via the switch on the system board.
ProLiant 800
Clearing CMOS

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The recommended procedure for clearing NVRAM is from the System Configuration Utility's Advanced Mode of operation by following the directions below.
Invoke the System Configuation Utility (SCU)
At the SCU's main menu, press CTRL A, and a pop-up window should appear indicating that "Advanced Mode is Enabled".
Next, select "Configure Hardware" and a message should appear, "Loading Configuration Files"
Select View or edit details
Choose Erase Nonvolatile Memory under Advanced Options

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WARNING: This selection will erase all Health logs. Before starting this procedure, the user should run Inspect and print the Health logs before clearing NVRAM if there is any possibility that there is information in the Health log that they may need.

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If it is not possible to clear NVRAM from Advanced System Configuration (i.e. the server will not boot) there is a switch that will invalidate nonvolatile memory by erasing the checksum in nonvolatile memory.
Switch 7 located in switchbank 1 and identified as the Maintenance switch on the side panel label.
If the switch method is used to invalidate nonvolatile memory it is recommended that you then run the System Configuration in the Advanced Mode, View or edit details, and then choose Erase Nonvolatile Memory under Advanced Options. This will turn the contents of nonvolatile memory to all zeroes and thus leave the nonvolatile memory in a known state.

Please let me know as to how you make out.

Regards,

[David Burch_3]

Sunil,

No success yet. Our 800 is of the type described in document TPM_320984-001_rev1_us.pdf. Maintenance switches are described on page 4-4. This model does not have 8 switches in the SW1 panel, but only 6. Switch #6 invalidates NVRAM.

I set switch #6 on, but the POST still stops at the same spot, after "Ch A, SCSI..." and "Ch. B, SCSI...". I also learned that switch #4 needed to be flipped ON to enable booting from the diskette drive. With this enabled, I tried booting with or without SCU diskette #1 in the drive. All the same.

I'm back studying the troubleshooting guide. Do you have any more ideas?

Thanks,
Dave

[Tiago de Aviz]

Hey David,

double-check everything SCSI-related like terminators and stuff. I know it sounds silly but sometimes we just get past these "details" and never see into the problem.

Looks like it's halting rock solid after detecting the disks. My bets are that something in your SCSI chain is wrong. Try taking off one disk and see if it solves the problem. I once had problems with a Prosignia 300 doing the same thing, and it was a disk without proper termination.

Good luck!

[David Burch_3]

Sunil,

I've gotten past the no-boot problem (though this led into another problem!). The solution was unexpected: I simply reformatted, erasing Mandrake. I now have been able to boot from the Compaq System Config diskettes and the Adaptec AAA-130 PCI RAID controller diskette, and have configured the system.

Now I cannot get the Mandrake installation to recognize my RAID 0 array. It sees the two physical SCSI drives as sda and sdb. I will post a new question to describe this problem.

Thanks for your efforts!

[Huynh Xuan Giao]

When I press the power button, there is notthing apear on the screen.
Please help me.