PowerEdge 2950 Quad Core; strike F1 to Reboot error

At any point during POST do you see a CTRL-R option for the PERC controller configuration utility?

Boot to BIOS Setup (F2), Intregrated Devices, and make sure that Integrated SAS Controller is Enabled.

F1/F2 can be for many different things, but usually means there is a misconfiguration in the BIOS settings - most commonly, a device that is turned on with nothing connected to it (like the onboard SATA ports).  This could also signal a hardware malfunction, but 1) you would usually see another message during POST indicating the problem, and/or 2) the LCD panel would be amber and scrolling an error message(s).

What is the status of your system's LCD?

Is this happening on all 5 servers?

What preceded it?  Power event?  Updates?

What RAID controller is it using?

Should it be booting to an OS, or is there nothing installed on it yet?

If it is enabled and you do have a CTRL-R option ... boot to CTRL-R and let us know what you see on the VD MGMT page and the PD MGMT page ... screenshots would be best.  Is this a PERC 5 or 6?  On the CTRL MGMT page, what is the package version of the firmware?

Hi Streetwise77M,

From the screenshot that you provided it looks like it is not finding the OS, a missing master boot record, and is attempting to boot to PXE, which is a network boot, and is usually the next boot option in the boot sequence. Are there any other errors on the system? What OS is it supposed to be running? What RAID controller is in this system?

Typically this error occurs when the RAID array is in a failed state due to one or more drives being offline. You should also check to make sure the boot order is correct and that it is trying to boot from the hard drive first.

ftp.dell.com/.../poweredge-2950_owner%27s%20manual_en-us.pdf

page 39

Hi Josh Craig,

The server is configured with RAID 5 and running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. It was working fine from last 2 years but suddenly last night it automatically restarted and we lost our remote connection.

I have tried ALT TAB E, F, B option to reboot but not working.

Tried disabling the Network Card boot option and it says something 1 logical drive fail.

Thanks

The server is in server farm. Let me get it from there and then I will continue my questions.

Thanks for responses guys. Really appreciated.

hi guys,

i hve the server with me now. The VD Mgmt says No Configuration Present.

while PD Mgmt shows all six drives where the last says size = 0, SAS, status  = Failed.

Does this mean I lost all my data?

How can i find boot drive out of these six?

Thnks

That is the best option at this point, create a new array and do not initialize it and see if it will boot.

It was a raid 5, so the data is striped across all of the drives, if you press F2 on the drives in the PD mgmt tab does it give you the option to force online?

The force online option is disabled. wht if i create second virtual drive?

It sounds like drive 6 is in a predictive failure state and is bad, it possibly caused the array to be corrupted. You should be able to install the OS on the other 5 drives and be fine. You may want to download our 32 bit diagnostics utility and boot to it to test all of the drives.

ftp.us.dell.com/.../DELL_32-BIT-DIAGNOSTICS_5118-3_R212797.exe

Run this and create bootable media. Boot to the disk and choose the 2nd option for hardware diagnostics and run an express test.

5 drives say online. 6th say ready. I tried create second virtual disk. which made the 6th one live.

It is not booting. Saying no boot device.

Now removed the 2nd virtual drive.

Trying install Windows Server 2008 ent 64bit with DELL update utility. The 6th drive is having green to Orange blinking light.

Is the data lost?

Is it ok to re-istall OS?

Thanks

Streetwise

Hi josh

It gave an error code 2900:0221

Msg: IPMI May 22 09:57;53 2013: O/S critical stop / shutdown sensor (0x00) Critical stop during O/S run.

It asked and I continued testing.

Thanks

Second Error 2900;0325

PS 1 Status power supply input lost

storage drive 5 predictive failure