Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
3010
PowerEdge R410 iDRAC6 problem
Hi to all!
I am trying to troubleshoot what is wrong with one of my R410 racks. After an overheating incident, the iDRAC6 controller is no longer working. To be more precise, one of the server's fans is "locked" at max speed, the frond LCD display is dead (along with the blue LED at the back) and when the system starts, I cannot access the BIOS, since it reports an iDRAC6 communication failure message and automatically reboots.
I removed the controller, hoping that the on-board BMC module will kick in and replace some of the iDRAC's functions, but it didn't alter the situation.
My first impression is that the iDRAC module was fried due to the overheating and that I have to replace it with a new one... Is there any other way to bypass the problem or check if the motherboard was somehow affected?
I thank you in advance for any input,
Orestis
Anonymous
274.2K Posts
0
July 26th, 2016 16:00
Hello.
Extreme fan speed of RPM is regulated by the iDRAC/BMC and is dependent on ambient temperature. Ensure that the server is in a temperature controlled environment with free aeration. What you can do is unplug all AC power cables to the system for about 5 min and then press and hold the power button for about 15 seconds. This will drain the system flea power. Now, access the control panel and re-seat both end of the ribbon connector cable. See diagram below.
Power ON the server and let me know what results you get.
orestis
2 Posts
0
July 27th, 2016 04:00
Thank you very much for your response.
Unfortunately, the actions you proposed did not help resolve the issue.
As far as the ambient temperature is concerned, the unit is in a separate room with a temperature of 17-18 degrees Celsius and nothing obstructs the air flow.
When booting, the sequence stops reporting:
------------
Initializing Remote Access Controller ..........
iDRAC6 Configuration Utility 1.61
Copyright 2011 Dell Inc. All Rights Reserved
iDRAC6 Communication Failure
Fan 4 speed may change depending on system configuration and option card installation
Alert! iDRAC6 not responding. Rebooting.
------------
and then the computer restarts, as it did before.
Another fact that I forgot to mention is that when I plug the AC cables, the two fans responsible for the PSU cooling operate at max speed even before powering on the server via the ON/OFF switch.
I also noticed an unusual behaviour regarding the LED lights of the ethernet port at the back: all other R410 racks display a constant green indication for the left LED while the problematic R410 displays a constant orange indication.
Anonymous
274.2K Posts
0
July 27th, 2016 08:00
Consider applying updates to BIOS, iDRAC firmware and NIC drivers and firmware and see whether the same behavior continues. Choose the operating system from this link to apply appropriate updates accordingly: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/poweredge-r410/drivers?rvps=y