PowerEdge C6105 does not boot after delete in Crowbar UI

Question

Dear all, first of all, since this is my first post in the community I salute everyone and hope to gain the maximum from our conversations. I currently work in a lab environment to become familiar with the crowbar (for HADOOP).All servers are PowerEdge C6105. The problem (?). I've recently installed a crowbar admin node and I've added several nodes to it (reboot from PXE etc.). Due to various misconfigurations (on nodes), I've decided to 'Delete' the nodes, thourgh Crowbar UI, in order to reboot the servers and start again the node procedure as according to the Crowbar Users' Guide 'Completely removes all records of the node from the Crowbar/Chef database. If a node is deleted, it is rediscovered if it reboots.'. But after that step, server seems not to boot at all. I don't even get POST messages. When I press power-on button I see nothing on the screen. Is there any 'weird' mode that the server gets into and I have to recover it via an IPMI command or something? I've attached a VGA directly on the server, so there is no issue on web console. Regards, gkasap

gkasap · Accepted Answer

Dear Chris et al,

we have found the solution to this problem. It was actually "Crowbar" who was trying to downgrade

the server's BIOS to an older version not compatible with this board. So, after we have reinstalled

the correct BIOS version, using an external programmer, the server came back to life.

In order to avoid such issues in the future, we have set to "false" the "Enable BIOS Update",

in "BIOS" barclamp.

Regards,

Georgios

gkasap · Answer

Hi Chris,

thanks for the reply.

I've tried your proposal but nothing changed. I don't believe there is a HW problem

as I have the exact same situation on 9 servers. After the "delete" action on Crowbar UI,

none is able to boot. I don't even get the BIOS screen. Although I am able to connect

through ipmitool but I do not see anything strange.

I've also tried to disconnect the power cables for some time and connect it back.

Any ideas?

Regards,

gkasap

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Gkasap,

Take the Cloud to a minimum to post configuration. That is removing everything but the following:

System Board

CPU

Heat sink

1 DIMM Memory

Power Distribution Board (PDB)

Back-plane

Middle Planes

Power Supply

If the Cloud post under those conditions then start placing hardware back in the system until the issue returns and that will identify if there is a piece of hardware in the server causing this.

Let me know what you find out.

Also, make sure you don't have any media, USB keys, external disk drives, or DVD's connected to/in the system.

gkasap · Answer

Hello again,

I've noticed that the failed servers, have some red led on, on chassis. More specific the leds D6,D7 and D9 are on, while on the rest of the servers these leds are off. I've searched the manuals but there is no definition about these leds. Can someone help me on this?

Regards,

gkasap

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Gkasap, Would you reply to the email I just sent you with your Svc Tag, so I can look at some options? Thank you.

gkasap · Answer

Dear Chris,

do we have any update on this?

The on-board LEDs D6 to D13 probably are showing the current boot procedure that

the server is on. I've noticed, on other servers, that these LEDs are turning on/off in

red and green colour and the final status when the server is on, all these LEDs are

off.

On the failed servers, as I wrote before, D6,D7 and D9 LEDs are turning immediatelly

on in red colour. Is there any manual where we can find the meaning of these LEDs.

Best regards,

Georgios

PowerEdge Hardware General

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