BMC communication failure on poweredge 2950

so just to be sure, you downloaded the file_name.bin files, did  you also download the file_name.sign files? The .bin and the .sign files must be in the same folder that Repository manager is grabbing them from.

I have the same problem. I've tried all of the suggestions with no luck. Tried reflashing, but it loses communication during process after about 10-30 seconds and fails. Reseated everything, tried different ram/CPUs etc. Any other options?  Or is the board ready for the trash?  Is there another way to force flash the bmc ?  Tried Linux/windows/dell recovery/flash.

Hughmcl,

You have tried all the appropriate methods to reflashing the BMC and it appears all have failed.  The board has most likely failed and as you have eloquently stated, its ready for the trash.   There are no user replaceable parts, so the whole board will need to be replaced.

Regards,

Hello. I'm currently having the same kind of problem, and I'm not quite sure wether it's because of me not RTFM (Most likely!), or the FUBAR HDD that I have (Which is faulty, but work for a while, then it corrupts data, but when I put it in this server, it seemed to work quite well, and I also repartitioned it which probably made it work) currupted the firmware.

Anyways, I have the PowerEdge 1950 mark II which I recently aquired.

I ran Windows 2012 server and had just downloaded an huge 5. GB ISO-file with updates (SUU_9G_14.12.200.61.ISO I think it was), and I mounted it through a network-connection, which may also have been what further corrupted it, I don't know, and ran it

I took my eye off the server for a few minutes and I almost jumped to the ceiling when it's fans went to 100% speed, and just saw a blank screen followed by BIOS yelling that it couldn't find the BMC, and also, if remembering correctly, saying something about RAC.

I've refrained from starting it, as I'm currently living in a hostel (Yes, I'm between homes at the moment), and I've been otherwise occupied with work, so I'm hoping to have the time and opportunity this weekend to run it again, hopefully without disturbing ppl. It's noisy as ***!

One thing I did notice, again, wether or not it's because of the disk, but it seemed to run at what seemed that it ran Windows slowly as ***, then after a few minutes it BSOD'd on me.

I figured it's the disk that had corrupted Windows (And I didn't at the time have the Windows on USB so I didn't run a chkdsk /F /R /B like I used to do.

Anyways, after much ado, I finally got DRM working, and after a few trials and errors, I managed to create an bootable ISO, yet to be tested.

I found it very difficult to find my old, and very obsolete model, but I did nonetheless, but I'm still a bit confused to what it is that Im supposed to do. [Edited:] I can access the DRAC via network as shown below:

Here's why:

DRAC says this:

"System Information

	Description	UNKNOWN
	BIOS Version	UNKNOWN
	Service Tag	UNKNOWN
	Host Name	UNKNOWN
	Operating System Name	UNKNOWN
	System Revision	UNKNOWN

	Recovery Action	UNKNOWN
	Initial Countdown	UNKNOWN
	Present Countdown	UNKNOWN

	NIC1 Ethernet	UNKNOWN
	NIC2 Ethernet	UNKNOWN

RAC Information

	Name	DRAC 5
	Product Information	Dell Remote Access Controller 5
	Hardware Version	A00
	Firmware Version	1.65 (12.08.16)
	Firmware Updated	Thu Jan 1 00:00:38 1970
	RAC Time	Fri Jan 2 02:38:18 1970

BMC Information

	Name	Baseboard Management Controller
	IPMI Version	0.0
	Number of Possible Active Sessions	5
	Number of Current Active Sessions	0
	Firmware Version	1.65
	LAN Enabled	No

"

I also have, prior to this update flashed the BIOS successfully to the latest version available

Note: Noticed that the circled DELL-logo had disappeared after this, but I don't really care, just as long as it works though.

Anyway, any thoughts and ideas are both welcome and appreciated.

I'm from Sweden, so forgive my choices of words and phrases.

Thanks ahead!

Finally, I got the problem sorted out!

I had, as I said earlier, an faulty hdd. I took my SSD from my laptop and put it in the server, made a new volume and installed Windows 2008 Server, and ran the BMC firmware-update, and presto - It worked!!!

I wonder why I didn't try this before!!? It's way easier than having a Linux-CD ISO that's not suitable for USB-drives.

Now, I can in good conscience install my (soon to arrive) new(ish) CPU:s, and order a new SSD, HDD and SATA-card and other goodies!

Anyways, if any of you guys are reading this and know what's wrong with the suppository, I mean, repository-ISO, and why it didn't detect I was using a USB-stick, and how to remedy this, please help others out.

Thanks you other guys for some interesting reading.

Hi all!

I have a PE2970 server, and at boot time, rihgt before starting the OS it shows the error

"Baseboard management Controller Communication Failure"

the server works, meaning that it boots to installed OS, more than that: at the first screen it detects that i have am DRAC5 installed in the system, which can not be initialized.

The problem is with the fans which runs at maximum speed and they are extremly noisy, and the lcd screen which does shows nothing except the amber backlight.

I tried to reflash the firmware from windows, and from dos (using the PE2970BmcA05.exe which is a selfextracting zip containing bmccfg.def, bmcfl16d.exe, bmcflsh.dat and a readme), but no luck: in windows i got the error saying that the system is not suitable for that DUP, in DOS it can ot find any device.

The systemboard does not show up any problem, like moisture damage, short cicruit, etc ...

Please advise me to solve this issue, i would like to believe that i should not trash the board... The service code of the server is .

Thank you in advance.

P.S. I know that i might not post my issue on the right board, but forgive me please.

Hans.Holgersson,

Have you tried reseating the Drac5 card itself, as well as the center riser, what occurs if you remove the Drac5 and then power up? Also, if you have another 2970, can you test this server with a known good Drac5, as well as center riser?

Let me know.

Hi Chris.

I tried to reseat everything in that server (literelly everithing - all the server was spread across my room, i cleaned connectors with alcohol, etc ...; after that i reassembled it).

The DRAC card is in working condition, because i checked it on an another server (a PE2950) and worked perfectly.

If i remove the DRAC it behaves the same, except that immediatly after counting processors and memory it does not show the message that it detected a remote access controller, it initialises the raid card and disks, it shows "Remote Access Configuration Utility 1.28, after that it shows "baseborad management communication faliure".

The BMC is not the same thing as the DRAC ... they work together, but they are not the same. The BMC is integrated into the motherboard, so you are looking at a bad board if you can't fix it. Have you tried clearing the CMOS with the jumpers on the motherboard? Not sure if that will affect the BMC or not, and I don't believe there are separate pins for the BMC, but I'm not sure what else you can try. The 2970 is so old (12-13 years old) that I'm not sure it was even worth spreading it across the room to take it apart. You can get a newer server for a couple $hundred, and depending on what you are doing with it, you might be better off with a newer desktop anyway ...

I know DRAC is not BMC.

I tried to clear nvram, i do not know if BMC has or not nvram or nvram reset, but i think not.

Yes ... it is an old machine, but i bougth it for less than a hundred bucks (equipped with 6 15k rpm sas disks, 2 cpus and 32g ram) so it worth a little effort to revitalize the BMC and use it as a mailserver.