Triggering AMI BIOS boot block

[Kevin Heatwole]

I have a DL165 G5 with 452339-001 motherboard that has been flashed with a bad bios. The documentation states that you can force the AMI BIOS to use its boot block to access a floppy with AMIBOOT.ROM on it. The documentation says there is a jumper at P9 on the mobo to force the BIOS to execute from the boot block to autoflash itself back to life.

But, P9 on my mobo is just some soldered spots. No jumper installed.

Other places on the web say AMI BIOS recognizes CTRL-HOME to force boot block. This doesn't work for me either. Nothing I have done results in any floppy drive access.

Should I try "shorting" the two soldered spots at P9? This seems really dangerous? But, the replacement mobo is $750 and I hate to give up on reviving it without exhausting all possibilities.

Why is HP documentation not correct on how to recover a bad BIOS flash? Did the technical writers just clone the new docs from old without verifying?

[zhanggr]

Show your "documentation" please.

[Kevin Heatwole]

In the HP ProLiant DL165 Generation 5 Server Software Configuration Guide:

"If the BIOS becomes corrupted, use the crisis recovery jumper to reprogram the BIOS. You will also need a USB floppy drive and the HP crisis recovery floppy disk. The crisis recovery jumper is on jumper block P9 on the system board. Refer to the HP ProLiant DL165 Generation 5 Server Maintenance and Service Guide for the location of this jumper block and the crisis recovery setting."

It then goes on to describe how to reprogram the BIOS.

Problem is I can't find the HP crisis recovery floppy disk or the crisis recovery jumper on jumper block P9. The Maintenance and Service Guide don't show it but do indicate 3 of the 4 jumpers I see on the mobo.

Here is the direct URL to the Software Configuration Guide:

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01384379/c01384379.pdf

[zhanggr]

HP ProLiant DL165 G7 Server Maintenance and Service Guide

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02074307/c02074307.pdf

Jumper
The system board contains a system maintenance jumper (J1). Table 12 describes the jumper settings.

Table 12 System Maintenance Jumper Setting (J1)

Jumper Status (default=off)
A Clear BMC password
B Recovery BMC
C Recovery BIOS
D Clear CMOS

[Kevin Heatwole]

The server is a G5, not a G7. The motherboard in my G5 is 452339-001. The picture of the motherboard in a G7 is very different so this doesn't help at all.

The same motherboard is used in DL185 G5, but the documentation refers to the Jumper at P56 instead of P9. I can't find a P56 anywhere on my motherboard (I looked for 15 minutes with a magnifying glass). There is a jumper at P26 which is the Chasis ID, but when I switched it to pins 2 and 3, it had no effect.

Seems to me that either the documentation is messed up or my motherboard is an early version and they later put a jumper in for recovering the bios.

I ordered a replacement server (another identical DL165 G5) which should come next week. I would really like to revive my busted one, but I'm just about out of options unless someone from HP takes pity on me and goes internally to find out what the real story is with the documentation and bios recovery.

[Kevin Heatwole]

Maybe my problem is that I've been thinking I have a DL165 G5 when I really have a StorageWorks D2D2503i Backup System (EH945A).

I was trying to use this server as a webserver and not a backup server. The documentation for the D2D states that the firmware for DL165 G5 is not compatible with the D2D although I think that is referring to the firmware in the flash drive that is backup appliance specific and not necessarily the bios.

Anyway, I'm still stuck with a server that won't boot.

[zhanggr]

ROMPaq recovery

The Disaster Recovery feature supports systems that do not support the Redundant ROM feature. Disaster Recovery only applies to platforms with nonredundant system ROM. If both the up-to-date and backup versions of the ROM are corrupt, then perform ROMPaq Disaster Recovery procedures:

1. On another server, download and save the ROMPaq image to the hard drive from the HP website
2. Execute the ROMPaq image to create the ROMPaq disk.
3. Switch to the server with the corrupted ROM.
4. Power down the server.
5. Insert the ROMPaq disk.
6. Power up the server.
The server generates one long beep and two short beeps to indicate that it is in disaster recovery mode. If the disk is not in the correct drive, then the system continues to beep until a valid ROMPaq disk is inserted.
The ROMPaq disk flashes both system ROM images. If successful, a sequence of ascending audible beeps is generated. If unsuccessful, a sequence of descending audible beeps is generated, and you must repeat the disaster recovery process.
7. Power down the server.
8. Remove the ROMPaq disk.
9. Power up the server.

To manually set the server for ROMPaq disaster recovery:

1. Power down the server.
2. Remove the access panel.
3. Set the system maintenance switch positions for disaster recovery. Switch positions are serverspecific;
see the server documentation for information about the correct settings for your server.
4. Insert a ROMPaq diskette with the latest system ROM from the Firmware Maintenance CD or the HP website.
5. Install the access panel.
6. Power up the server.
7. Allow the system to boot completely.
8. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
9. Reset the system maintenance switch positions to their original settings.
10. Repeat steps 5 and 6.

[Kevin Heatwole]

This doesn't work at all. The second part again mentions some switches that need be set to get it to boot the USB key drive (or diskette).

Unfortunately, there seems to be no such switches or jumpers for motherboard 452339-001.

I just think that HP hasn't bothered to document this procedure properly for this motherboard. It is tantalizing that there appears to be something that can be done to revive the motherboard, but very frustrating that HP did not document this process fully.

Anyway, thanks for the reply but it doesn't help in my case.

[shuxclams]

There is no "system maintenance switch" on this mobo. SW4 does nothing, all the normal types of recovery options arent available. The BIOS chip is soldered on so replacing that requires some tools and a big hairy set. A simple firmware update shouldnt brick your server(s)!