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Dell R620 won't boot after PER620 replaced.
Server would not power on. Dell tech came and replaced the backplane and PER620 card and then left. The server will now power on but will not boot the existing volume or virtual drive. The server is remote to us and I’m guessing and hoping it’s a simple configuration issue with the new controller but how did the Dell tech know if they didn't see it boot up?
The folks on site said the POST does recognize the 1 virtual drive. But it does not boot up. They tried to boot using the BIOS and the UEFI options.
Is it something simple like setting the virtual drive as bootable? I thought that some controllers could read the config from the disks?
I was hoping there was maybe a tech note on getting the system to boot after replacing the back plane and or PER620 controller.
Tanquen1
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February 27th, 2020 13:00
I looked at the original specs and there was an SD card and Internal Dual SD Module.
342-3595 : 1GB SD Card for RIPS
331-4441 : Internal Dual SD Module
318-2036 : vFlash SD Slot Filler
The folks on site took a look and the SD card was popped out or not seated. With the SD card pushed back in the BIOS now sees the SD card and boots from it.
DELL-Josh Cr
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February 19th, 2020 14:00
Hi,
The best option is to contact the phone agent who you worked with, they will be better able to assist with this and the issue with the tech leaving without seeing if it will boot.
Tanquen1
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February 19th, 2020 14:00
Ok but again I was hoping there was maybe a tech note on getting the system to boot after replacing the back plane and or PER620 controller.
Should the new controller been able to just see the existing drives and boot the existing virtual disk?
I was hopping maybe there is a setting that the replacement PER620 controller need to correctly see the existing virtual disk.
I think I've read that some controllers can read their configuration from the disks.
DELL-Josh Cr
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February 19th, 2020 15:00
It is possible that the array is in a foreign state, you would have to go into the controller config to check, ctrl+r during post.
Tanquen1
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February 21st, 2020 08:00
I thought there should be errors and amber lights if one of the drives in a foreign state.
"The controller automatically imports every optimal and degraded foreign configuration without enabling the feature if there is no native configuration on the controller."
DELL-Josh Cr
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February 26th, 2020 09:00
BIOS vs UEFI depends on what it was set to when the OS was installed. You could try both modes and see if either one works.
Tanquen1
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February 26th, 2020 09:00
They tried booting with BIOS and UEFI. I’m assuming that is should use the BIOS to boot but unsure how to verify.
All drives are listed as online with controller BIOS enabled and the virtual disk as the selected boot device in the PERC BIOS configuration utility.
In the system setup RAID controller boot device the virtual disk is also selected and ready.
Is it possible that when the backplane failed it corrupted the ESXi partition on the virtual disk? Is there an easy way to see that the partition is bootable and not corrupted or try to repair it?