We have a network of R210s running in Africa, and are having a bizarre problem with one of them.  All these servers are running Fedora Linux (I know it is not supported, but it works fine on all (13) other servers but this one).

The server suddenly ceased stopped after several months operation, and from the reports we got from the Africans we thought it was a disk crash, and replaced the two hard disks. We tried to load Fedora on the server from the installation DVD and all the data loaded on the disks but when it came time to reboot, the system simply did not come up.

We then tried using the live DVD, which worked fine, and also installed to hard disk without error, but again the system did not come up on boot.

We tried running the DELL built-in  extended diagnostic routine, and surprisingly there was no error generated.

We even tried removing and replacing the battery, to try to reset the BIOS, but that did not change the result.

We tried booting the disk specifically from the Dell boot loader and there was no response.

Note that there were new disks installed, and the problem was the same as with the old ones. Also we had tested the same system loading techniques on the other servers and it worked every time.

Linux running from the DVDs can see the disks and their files all right.

Question 1:  What do we need to do to better identify what is wrong?  My guess is that it is the BIOS, but could you confirm?

Question 2: Can we get a part to replace this on site in Africa?

Thanks in advance for your help.