T320 without iDRAC has no Video Signal on Boot

Question

I recently bought a T320 (single PSU chassis, no drive bays, no iDRAC Card) on Ebay together with a E5-2450v2 and 2x16GB ECC DDR3 (Micron MT36JDZS2G72PZ-1G6E1HF REG ECC - PC3-12800R-11-11-N1).

When I first assembled everything, the server would start up (fan ramped to max, got slow after a few seconds) and no Errors are shown (indicator LED in the front panel solid blue), but there is no video signal.

Since then, I have removed every component I could while keeping minimum requirements:

Removed RAID card, only populated A1 Slot with 16GB ECC Reg Stick, no drives installed.

The behaviour has not changed at all. No amber status LED at all, fan ramps up, ramps down, LED is solid blue, but no video signal.

How would you go about this situation? As far as I understand, since there is no iDRAC Port, I cannot read any logs or status messages and I currently have no way to test the system with different RAM or a different CPU.

Daniel My · Answer

Hello

If the video is out then you will likely need to replace the system board to resolve the issue.

I would reset the BIOS configuration via jumper. If the previous owner had a GPU installed or disabled video ports then resetting the BIOS to defaults should re-enable the embedded video and outputs. You can find information about jumpers in the manual on the system support page.

http://www.dell.com/support/

Thanks

3ke · Answer

Thank you for the answer.

I already reset the BIOS configuration according to the Owners Manual, nothing changed.

If I install a GPU, will it be enabled by default or would that require BIOS access?

Can I confirm in any way, that just the video signal is missing?

For example, is there a key combination that consistently lets me shutdown the server again (without video signal), just to confirm that it works besides the video output?

Is it possible that memory or CPU are involved, even though the indicator LED suggests otherwise?

Daniel My · Answer

I'm not sure if it will automatically disable the embedded video. I don't think GPU cards are supported on this system.

The iDRAC is embedded into the system board, so you should have an iDRAC in the system. Some of our systems do not come standard with the iDRAC network port, it is an optional purchase. You can review the iDRAC manual to see what configuration options are available through the front LCD. We added the ability to direct connect to the iDRAC via USB, but I think that feature was added in later generations. The " i " or information button on the front should allow access to configure the iDRAC with an IP address. Some useful information may also be in the system manual.

http://www.dell.com/idracmanuals/

If you manage to access the iDRAC embedded web server it will provide much more information. The iDRAC console requires an enterprise license. It also uses the embedded video controller for video processing, so if there is an issue with the embedded video the console should not work either.

Thanks

3ke · Answer

Since I have the single PSU chassis, I do not have an LCD on the front panel, just the indicator LEDs and the i-Button.

Does DRAC connect via NIC1 when there is no iDrac card installed? In that case, shouldn't I see a network connection on my router once the server starts with Ethernet connected? Because that does not happen.

Daniel My · Answer

I think the iDRAC defaults to shared mode with LOM1. The default settings should be listed in either the system or iDRAC manual.

PowerEdge Hardware General

T320 without iDRAC has no Video Signal on Boot

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