This post is more than 5 years old
27 Posts
0
108172
Poweredge R900 Stuck in PXE
Hello, Recently purchased two identical R900s currently running bios 1.2.0.
Problem is one of them, when it boots up and you see the Dell logo and does the memtest, right after that the screen goes black for a quick second and you know how on the top right you have:
F2 for setup
F10 For boot options
F11 For something I cant remember
F12 for PXE
When its done with the Dell logo and flashes to where you'd see the Perc6 starting up and DRAC and all those goodies, it shows:
F2 for setup
F10 for boot
F11 for something
Entering PXE Boot
I have in the bios disabled via integrated devices PXE for all 4 network ports. They are set to "enabled" - Not "Enabled with PXE"
Under boot sequence, it shows:
Virtual Floppy
VIrtual CD
Virtual USB
CD Rom
Hard Drive
Doesn't show the network card.
Problem is it magically hits F12 every time it reboots, even when there is no keyboard attached. I cannot figure this out at all, does anyone have any ideas?
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
898 Posts
1
April 3rd, 2012 16:00
The message you saw was normal, but still didnt resolve the issue. you can also try booting the system normally, but during the bootup process, you should be prompted to press Cntrl E, once are in the menu, go down to the option that says Reset to Default. (note: this will cause the idrac to be returned back to factory settings)
Oh and speaking of factory settings, you can go into the bios screen, then press Alt F to reset the bios to factory settings as well to see if that clears your message.
DELL-Chris H
Moderator
Moderator
•
8.5K Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 10:00
Geekmaster64,
Can you change the Boot order to have the Hard Drive on the top? Then boot to the controller (probably a CTRL-R prompt) Once in there what does the array status show as? If it is failed then it is not finding any other boot device other than PXE to boot to.
Let me know what you find.
geekmaster64
27 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 10:00
Thanks Chris, I'll give that a shot. The array's are both fine and the one with Server 2008 boots up.
For example after it has failed to boot to PXE it says:
F1 to retry boot or F2 to enter setup.
If you hit F1 to retry, it starts booting into Windows. Weird huh?! I'll check out the Raid Controller and make sure that the array with windows is set to be bootable.
geekmaster64
27 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 10:00
OK, so I have presently, the Hard drive as the first boot option, then CD then the virtual. No network.
PXE is disabled on all 4 ports.
Retry reboot sequence turned ON.
When it boots, gets passed the Dell logo, then shows the Perc and remote access card, it still shows
"Attempting PXE boot" at the top right.
I went into the perc 6 and the arrays are in good health and the one with Windows Server 2008 is set as the bootable VD.
After it tries to boot to PXE I get:
"No PXE-Capable devices available" F1 to retry F2 to enter setup.
Since I have retry reboot sequence to on, after a couple seconds it boots into Windows.
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
898 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 14:00
Please try these steps for me:
1. gracefully power down system.
2. remove power cords from system for 1 minute.
3. Reinsert power cords and do not power on system for 1 minute
4. Bootup system and see if that resolves it.
If that still doesnt resolve it, try these steps:
1. download the latest bios update, even if your system is already at that version.
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails?DriverId=8G9JG&FileId=2731099003&DriverName=Dell%20Server%20BIOS%2010G%2C%201.2.0&productCode=poweredge-r900&urlProductCode=False
2. from a DOS prompt in windows, execute the flash like this: filename.exe /wipeclean (wipeclean is one word)
geekmaster64
27 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 15:00
Hello, I created a USB dos key and ran the exe with /wipeclean.
When it ran it asked if I wanted to do a bios update.
Y to continue.
Then it said that 1.2.0 was already on the system and that it would not change the bios.
C to continue.
After hitting C it ran through and did its 3 progress bars. My bios options remained as they were (none of the changes I made to the bios were wiped out) and it did a memory check.
After doing the memory check it still showed "attempting to boot to PXE".
/sigh.
Any other ideas to wipe out the bios?
geekmaster64
27 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 15:00
Hello there,
I had it powered down for a few hours without hte cords in. Then I put them back in and it still did it.
I downloaded the file you linked however when I ran the exe in the command prompt with admin priveleges, with /wipeclean I got a large dialogue box
stating the command line options for the update package. IE:
/s
/h
/f
/c
etc. with their respective descriptions of what they accomplish. Unfortunately none of them did a clean install or a wipe.
If I click on the only button for this dialogue box, which is the "Ok" button. Then the window disappears and no update has been run. It doesn't appear that the /wipeclean option is allowed with this bios exe.
DELL-Rey G
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
898 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2012 15:00
I apologize for that, I gave you the wrong file. This is the correct file, BUT, you will need to boot to a dos based USB key instead of the OS on the hard disk.
www.dell.com/.../DriverDetails
geekmaster64
27 Posts
0
April 4th, 2012 08:00
Hey there! That worked! I hit alt-f in the bios and reset it, then voila! No more forced PXE boot.
Thank you very much!