PowerEdge T130 does not boot up after BIOS update

Hello,

recently our company bought six Poweredge T130 models (FYH48). Five of them are running fine, but one does not work any more since I updated the BIOS firmware to version 2.6.1. The machine is either stuck at "Configuring Memory ...", or it does not power up at all -- only the health indicator (and the system identification button) flashes amber.

I have already tried:

1) Resetting iDRAC by pressing the system identification for more than 15 seconds

2) Resetting configuration by setting the NVRAM_CLR jumper

3) Exchanged RAM stick with a stick from another working T130

4) Removed the PERC controller card

 

Trying option 1) and 2) can lead to change in behavior (from not reacting to pressing the power switch to powering up and getting stucked at "Configuring Memory"), but not reliably.

The BIOS update process (started from Windows) finished normally: I saw the progress bars getting up to 100 % within the BIOS environment to which the machine booted for executing the update. If the booting screen appears, BIOS version 2.6.1 is reported (but the machine is stuck at "Configuring Memory".)

The only strange thing I noticed (without further thinking about it): When I booted the machine to execute the BIOS update from Windows there was a short remark at the POST screen (where the different function keys are explained) that iDRAC or something similar was deactivated, although I had not deactivated it when I went through the settings for BIOS, iDRAC (and so on) before.

One of the other five machines also showed this remark at booting up, and due to the experience described above, I rebooted again before executing the BIOS update ... and the remark was gone, the update went fine.

So: Is there another option I could try to get this T130 running again?

 

I wanted to contact Dell support about this, but there is a problem: The distributor we bought this T130 from (along with three further T130) is located in Denmark, but delivers to Germany (where we are located). It was the last seller where we could find this Poweredge model; we wanted it specifically because of the Windows 2008 R2 driver support.

This T130 has been registered with Dell from Sweden, so I tried to register it for Dell support in Germany two months ago. But I haven't got a reply since then, the support site still shows Sweden as the assigned country.

The machine is not needed urgently, but I will have to prepare it for use at the customer site in a few weeks.

Thanks for reading!