You're right, SS clearly did not understand ... this may have been originally posted in the Desktop forum (where most would have no idea what the BMC is) and moved later to the Server forum. F1/F2 has many possible causes, the most common of which is a BIOS misconfiguration (like a device/port being enabled but physically absent). F1/F2 is not part of the BMC "test" ... it is part of the POST process that displays after the BMC prompt and before the OS boots. It is also not limited to old PowerEdge servers. F1/F2 is a standard user-attention-required message for all Dell systems, server and non-server.
The important thing to note is that although this "Press F1 to continue, press F2 to enter Setup" message occurs right after the BMC message, it doesn't actually have anything to do with the BMC software.
My problem was also with improperly configured SATA slots. Turning unused SATA slots from "AUTO" to "OFF" caused my R200 to stop hanging on boot waiting for an F1 keypress, also.
d3vlabs
1 Rookie
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16 Posts
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May 30th, 2011 19:00
TO add I have tried changing SATA mode from RAID to OFF and had a few scary moments where PC would ask me to either Retry Boot or run setup utility
CognitiveInfo
2 Posts
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April 5th, 2013 07:00
Not only is SpeedStep not understanding, he obviously does not know Dell server technology.
BMC = Baseboard Management Controller, part of the Dell OpenManage Utilities
I found this post because I was having the same problem on an old PowerEdge server.
It was not a keyboard problem.
It turned out to be a DVD drive had been physically removed but that slot in the BIOs was still set to AUTO.
I set the BIOS slot to OFF and it now passes the BMC test and boots fine.
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
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1.1K Posts
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April 5th, 2013 09:00
Cog, you may want to keep on eye on the post dates, that was a few years ago......
CognitiveInfo
2 Posts
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April 5th, 2013 09:00
I know it was a necropost, but it is still an issue for old PowerEdge servers.
theflash1932
9 Legend
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16.3K Posts
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April 5th, 2013 10:00
You're right, SS clearly did not understand ... this may have been originally posted in the Desktop forum (where most would have no idea what the BMC is) and moved later to the Server forum. F1/F2 has many possible causes, the most common of which is a BIOS misconfiguration (like a device/port being enabled but physically absent). F1/F2 is not part of the BMC "test" ... it is part of the POST process that displays after the BMC prompt and before the OS boots. It is also not limited to old PowerEdge servers. F1/F2 is a standard user-attention-required message for all Dell systems, server and non-server.
orettinger
1 Message
0
December 14th, 2015 07:00
The important thing to note is that although this "Press F1 to continue, press F2 to enter Setup" message occurs right after the BMC message, it doesn't actually have anything to do with the BMC software.
My problem was also with improperly configured SATA slots. Turning unused SATA slots from "AUTO" to "OFF" caused my R200 to stop hanging on boot waiting for an F1 keypress, also.