Finally, SUCCESS!
The suspicion that @bryan_it had was correct!
In my case, the problem was not with the P440ar but it does have to be phsyically removed so that the POST does eventually get past "Starting drivers. Please wait ..."
By "eventually" I mean it can take hours (I don't know exactly how many because I went to sleep).
My objective was to get the system to boot from virtual media that mounted the "Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) Version Gen9.1" (P52574_001_spp-Gen9.1-Gen9SPPGen91.2022_0822.4.iso).
The steps I followed in order to get past "Starting drivers. Please wait ..." are from another thread in this forum:
https://community.hpe.com/t5/proliant-servers-ml-dl-sl/proliant-dl380-gen-9-starting-drivers-please-wait/td-p/7196792
In particular, on page 2 of that thread I found two comments by "YKC" and "dom-b" that were of interest and that were ultimately the way to get past "Starting drivers. Please wait ..."
Before starting the quoted procedures below, I
1) Disconnected the HDDs from the backplane and disconnected the backplane's power connector from the motherboard.
2) Removed the PCIe riser, then removed the P440ar controller.
3) Flipped maintenance switch 7 to force a legacy BIOS boot.
Then followed the steps below that involved numerous "Resets" and "Cold Boots".
"YKC":
---- SNIP ----
Re: Proliant DL380 Gen 9 - Starting Drivers Please Wait
ok, no problem
I tried many method,
1). power off the server , enter iLo to downgrade FW to 2.4
2). power on the server , it will hold on starting driver....
3). press cold boot in iLo , then change One-Time Boot Status to intelligent provisioning
4). power on the server , when performing early system initialization , press reset in iLo
5). server reboot and POST , when hold on starting driver.... change the power settings to Static High Performance Mode
And then it suddenly pass the "starting driver...." and continue
hope these can help you!
---- SNIP ----
"domb-b":
---- SNIP ----
Re: Proliant DL380 Gen 9 - Starting Drivers Please Wait
Had the same issue on my DL380 G9, very frustrating to say the least and poor HP has not taken down the current LOM firmware from online firmware updates.
After MANY hours of messing around and taking inspiration from this forum, here was my approach, which I have now repeated twice:
1). power off the server , I left firmware on 3.08. Remove the P440AR. Flip maintenance switch 7 to force a legacy BIOS boot.
2). power on the server , using the ILO reset the server during "Early Processor Init"
3). server reboot and POST , when hold on starting driver.... change the power settings to Static High Performance Mode
And then it suddenly pass the "starting driver...." and continue
4) boot the SPP SPP2021050.2021_0504.129 via the ILO and downgrade the LOM firmware
Should now be all resolved and can you flip back to UEFI mode and install the P440AR.
---- SNIP ----
After many resets and cold starts I left it "Starting drivers. Please wait ..." and went to sleep
On a side note, I recall that I did not have the SPP .ISO mounted in Virtual Media before I went to sleep.
But I do recall setting the One-Time Boot Option to Intelligent Provisioning and left it at "
When I woke up hours later, I saw the console at Intelligent Provisioning.
Once booted from the SPP .ISO and into Smart Update Manager (SUM), the component that was selected by default was "HPE Broadcom NX1 Online Firmware Upgrade Utility for Linux x86_64 (firmware-nic-broadcom-2.29.0-1.1.x86_64):
It was from there where I did a Firmware Update so as to deploy the "HPE Broadcom NX1 Online Firmware Upgrade".
Then, just to be sure, I restarted the system and while it POST'ed, I mounted the "P52574_001_spp-Gen9.1-Gen9SPPGen91.2022_0822.4.iso".
It went past "Starting drivers. Please wait ..." as expected and not because I mounted the ISO.
Then used SUM to reinstall that firmware again and restarted.
Finally, I
1) Powered it down during POST.
2) Removed power from the power supplies.
3) Re-inlstalled the P440ar. Re-installed the PCIe riser.
4) Flipped maintenance switch 7 to OFF. Placed the cover. Plugged in power. Momentarily depressed the power button to power off.
5) Using the iLO, switched the "Boot Mode", that is under Virtual Media's Boot Order, back to Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).
6) Powered system back on and booted normally.
Hope this helps.