R210 II Won't turn on

Question

Hello,

I have a R210 II that doesn't turn on, no LED on the power button, no fan no power to hard drives. All I have is an amber light on the front pannel flashing at a period of 2 seconds.

I tried unplugging all SATA and other cables without success, I even tried to remove the ram to see. I unplugged the power supply and jumped the green and black, it turned on and I was able to test it withmy meter, all voltages are OK. However the motherboard never tries to turn it ON. I have read the diagnostics in the manual and they mostly refer to a working system (that at least turns on).

IMG_20210818_111534 - Copy.jpg

I was hoping for some kind of diagnostics, but this server doesn't react to any input.

Is there something corrupted in the BIOS or does it look like a major (unrecoverable) hardware issue?

Thank you.

Dell-DylanJ · Answer

Based on the troubleshooting you've provided, you may have already tested this, but if you haven't I would take the system to the minimum to POST. If the system still fails to power up at the minimum to POST, then you can at least take steps to try to fault isolate.

For example, you could try both PSUs in PSU slot 1, multiple DIMMs in DIMM slot A1, or even an alternate processor. During this process, I'd also move the NVRAM jumper on the motherboard to cover the common and far pins. This should reset the BIOS to factory defaults on power up. If you don't see any changes, I'd be inclined to fault the motherboard.

Andreaux · Answer

I have a very similar issue with an R210 II I received today. When freshly plugged in, the power button turns the machine on completely fine and it runs perfectly for whatever length of time. Then if I shut it down, I am able to turn it on right away. If I wait a bit (a few minutes), I am not able to turn the server on anymore (nothing happens if I press the button, only the amber light flashes slowly). This stays like this until I unplug the machine for several minutes. Then it's the same thing again.

Andreaux · Answer

As per the recommendations, they are not really applicable, because the server has a single PSU, so there is no other PSU to try (and I don't have another PSU handy to test).

Any suggestions very very welcome!

DELL-Young E · Answer

Hello No Power means first thing you have to do is to check your PSU, more so specially if you have a single PSU.Respectfully,

Andreaux · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm afraid we're not talking about the same thing. There IS power, just not exactly when I'd like it to be (I'm afraid my issue is slightly different from the OP's issue). Please re-read my comment.

I am unable to turn the server BACK ON if I turn it off for several minutes. If I then unplug it for a few minutes and plug it back in, it starts up right away and is ok. If I turn it off then within 1-2 minutes, press the power button, it turns on OK again. It's only after sitting powered off for minutes WHILE being plugged in that it refuses to power on again.

Funny thing is that iDRAC6 is working all along and offers to power on the server, however does nothing if you ask it to.

Does that make sense? Does it still look like a PSU issue?

If I had another PSU laying around that would have been the first thing I would try.

Thanks,

Gabriel

Andreaux · Answer

@SGCBC Try to unplug the server for several minutes (in like over 5 min.) and then plug it in, are you able to power it on then?

DELL-Young E · Answer

Hello, could you try the minimum post from the link here? Because we are thinking it might be the MB or the CPU.   https://dell.to/3vtl9vg   Respectfully,

PowerEdge Hardware General

R210 II Won't turn on

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