hey work2ski,
power off the system, try pulling all your PCI cards out of the system...jumper the ISA clr jumper on your mother board...and then power it up...then one it boots up as far as it possibly can, power it down and unjumper the ISA clr jumper....then attempt to boot with a system bios flash floppy...if the system bios does not flash, you've got some serious bios corruption...

Thanks for the info. Wouldn't it just be easier to load a newer bios? Or is it not that simple?

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

If simply loading the new System BIOS will resolve the problem, thats great.

However to load a new bios, the system has to boot to a floppy disk. Most often, when receiving a beep code, the system will not boot to a floppy.

PowerEdge 2200 System Files and Configuration Utilities:
***Specifications:
http://support.dell.com/docs/systems/sonyx/
***Diagnostic Utilities:
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R20104
File Name: DIAG388J.EXE
***FlashBIOS Updates
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R19616
Filename: PE22_A07.EXE (627 KB)
***EISA System Configuration Utility
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R19422
File Name: EISA_D08.EXE
***EISA configuration Library - B04
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R18776
File Name: EISA_LIB.EXE
***ISA configuration library files for EISA Config
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/download/index.asp?fileid=R18980
File Name: ISACFG.ZIP

Mark Ables __________ Dell|Talk Moderator
Dell PowerEdge Server E-support and Services
____Please include a Service Tag Number in _____
____all posts for the most accurate response.____

at this point, you really dont' have many options...hopefully it boots to the floppy....

I am having the same problem.  How is the ISA CLR jumper labeled?  I can't find it.  Is it the EISA jumper?

Please help.

Dave

Hi Dave,

The jumper is labeled EISA on the PowerEdge 2200. This information is buried on pages 120 and 121 of this document:

http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/sonyx/87238.pdf

Thanks for using the Dell Community Forums!

Mark,

Thanks for your response.  I talked with a support person at Dell before you replied and we confirmed that my motherboard is trashed.  And of course, my service agreement expired so I'm going to plan B, whatever that is.

It must have been from the power glitch we had in our building this weekend.  Not sure what happened but my server didn't like it.

Thanks again for your response.

Dave

Hi Mark....

I also have this beep-code and the machine won't get as far as reading the floppy. I'm pretty sure it's the BIOS and not the board - it failed to come back after a power outage and I've since discovered the on-board battery was running at only 2.6V or thereabouts.

Is there a way to recover the BIOS 'directly'? (eg. is this one of the jobs the 'sys_mgt' plug on the system board is for, in which case how do you connect to it?)

thanks....Phil

Thanks Mark

after I wrote that I found another thread on the subject. It would appear from that thread and what you say here that the only way to recover a (totally) corrupted BIOS is to replace the system board. I would say this is a bad bit of design but I suppose we're about five years too late for that comment! ;-)

I've already bought another 2200 second-hand for very little money and am in the process of cannibalising that to make one good box out of two not-so-good ones.

Hi Phil,

The 1-2-2-3 beep code is an Invalid BIOS ROM checksum. This could be the BIOS itself or the interaction with the motherboard. Unfortunately, there is not a way to recover the BIOS in the field.

Thanks for using the Dell Community Forums!