F1 to retry F2 to enter setup

Question

I'm hoping someone here can help me. I am at a loss right now.  Tuesday morning, my 2400 running NT4, SP6a crashed. I rebooted - BSOD. I rebooted again -successful. I powered down to run the Dell Diagnostics to check the hardware. No problems were found. Rebooted and got 'F1 to retry or F2 to enter setup'. This was the very last thing to appear. I upgraded the BIOS from A04 to A09 and the ESM and Backplane Firmware to the latest versions. Rebooted, same thing. Will I no longer be able to get NT installed on this machine? I noticed in the Release Notes that the A09 BIOS upgrade included Windows 2003 support. I did recreate the container, then attempt to install NT4, but each time the install says there is no disk. This system has a PERC 2/Si RAID controller and the disks have been configured as RAID5 via the container configuration utility. HELP!!!

BizTalk · Answer

sounds like it could be a problem with the backplane firmware. You should try re-setting everything back how you had and if you want upgrade them 1 at a time to see clearly what the problem is.

barhampa · Answer

You will have to download the PERC2 drivers from the Dell Support page, Click Here, then select F6 early in the boot

when installing NT4. This will allow you to select the RAID controller drivers from floppy.

chosha2002 · Answer

I have removed the front cover and there is an amber light flashing on 'gen flt'. I am running diags again.

chosha2002 · Answer

Thanks. The driver worked and I successfully ran the install. However, when the server rebooted, it went through the POST successfully, the container was recognized, etc... but the server would not boot to Windows for the configuration part of the install. It did what it has been doing for the last several days - it beeps twice, then displays, 'F1 to retry reboot or F2 to enter setup'. Pressing F1 does nothing but redisplay the same. Please help...

chosha2002 · Answer

Intrusion Detection messages appeared in the Diag results as follows:

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Critical error on entry 83 of 83. SMB event was reported for Intrusion Detection sensor with a value of 0001h.

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Information error on entry 83 of 83. Information event was reported for Power Up sensor with a value of 00E0838h.

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Critical error on entry 81 of 83. SMB event was reported for Intrusion Detection sensor with a value of 0001h.

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Informational error on entry 81 of 83. Informational event was reported for Power up sensor with a value of 00E0838h.

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Critical Error on entry 79 of 83. SMB event was reported for Intrusion Detection sensor with a value of 0001h.

Error Code: 1700:0324
Msg: Information error on entry 79 of 83. Information event was reported for Power Up sensor with a value of 00E0838h.
I checked other threads for these codes and they say these are indications that the chassis has been opened. I did have the chassis open at the time. However, there are some critical ones there. Also reported were entries 77 of 83 and 21 of 83.

Another question - How is it that I am able to install Windows, but the system will not boot? It does not return an error at all saying that the OS could not be found. It just sits at the 'F1 to retry reboot, F2 to enter setup' window.

Message Edited by chosha2002 on 01-05-2006 12:55 PM

chosha2002 · Answer

Here is additional information from the system's POST:

BIOS Revision A09
ESM Firmware Revision 5.39
System Backplane Firmware Revision 5.47

Adaptec AIC-7880 SCSI BIOS v25701 - for the CD-ROM drive

Adaptec AHA 2940U2W SCSI BIOS v.2.00.0 - for the Optical Jukebox

PERC 2/Si BIOS version 2.8-1 [Build 6098]

Controller Monitor v.2.8-1 [Build 6098]

Controller Kernel v2.8-1 [Build 6098]

Controller Memory = 064MB

Container #0 RAID5 33.89GB Optimal

BIOS Installed Successfully!

Srike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility

barhampa · Answer

Contrary to what Speedstep indicates it appears you do not have a drive issue as the container is reported as 'Optimal'. Have you checked to ensure that all PSUs are connected to the supply.? What happens when you press to boot?

speedstep · Answer

You need to make an Elite diagnostics boot floppy and test the drives. One or more drives is probably dying or dead.

PowerEdge Hardware General

F1 to retry F2 to enter setup

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