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November 11th, 2013 20:00
Amber system status indicator blinking - PowerEdge 850
Hi!
We have got a Dell PowerEdge 850 running FreeBSD 9 OS. We found that the Amber system status indicator is blinking.
We checked the user manual which says press the System Indication Button on such event, with no further details, except the light will change to Blue. When I pressed the button, I did not see any useful information on the monitor or elsewhere so the problematic hardware could be located.
There is no useful information on the manual about how the "System Management Software" could be used in this case.
Is that software platform dependent?
Any useful clues to locate the faulty hardware??
No Events found!
theflash1932
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November 11th, 2013 20:00
There should be four LED's labeled ABCD ... what pattern are they lit in?
theflash1932
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November 11th, 2013 21:00
The ABCD lights are used to troubleshoot PRE-POST issues - if your OS is booting, then they aren't relevant.
What OS is installed? Do you have OpenManage Server Administrator installed? You can use this software to view the hardware logs to find out what the issue is.
bsduni
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November 11th, 2013 21:00
All those (ABCD) are green once the OS takes over the operation of the server, and stay green throughout (even when system identification button is pressed).
Only the System status indicator keeps on flashing amber.
Also noted that it keeps on flashing when the server is shutdown and connected to the power.
theflash1932
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November 11th, 2013 22:00
Then you'll need to boot to an OMSA Live! CD to look at the hardware logs in OMSA (OpenManage Server Administrator):
http://linux.dell.com/files/openmanage-contributions/om64-firmware-live/CentOS56-OM64-Firmware-LiveCD.i686-1.0.0-Build9.1.iso
bsduni
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November 11th, 2013 22:00
As I said in my first post, the system is running on FreeBSD 9.0
bsduni
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November 17th, 2013 17:00
I have issued 'startx' command and get a warning message saying Startx is already running.
All I can see is a light-blue desktop without any icons on the screen.
theflash1932
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November 17th, 2013 17:00
startx should start the gui ... it should have asked you for the password during the boot process,but if not, root/calvin is usually Dell's default user/password. If 6.1 doesn't work, try 5.4.
bsduni
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November 17th, 2013 17:00
Thank you for the info. Is there any place I can get a Guide/Manual on how to use this live CD?
A dell guide for OMSA 6.1 does not work for this version (e.g., root + dell as username and password does not work).
I do not get the GUI terminal also. So, I cannot use any tools (like Diagnostics, OMSA, etc)
theflash1932
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November 17th, 2013 18:00
Don't be surprised if the error returns. The firmware update simply clears the hardware log, so if it is a persistent/actual error, it will return. If it was a one-time error (CPU MachineCheck, for example), then it may not. I would make sure that ALL the system firmware (BIOS, PERC, etc.) is up to date, if you haven't already.
I have not used 6.1, but I know some versions are more reliable than others (for example, 5.5 didn't work for me at all, but 5.4 worked perfectly, although I have not used the 6.x/7.x versions).
bsduni
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November 17th, 2013 18:00
And, root + calvin combination also did not work :(.
Anyhow, with the BMC firmware update the problem on the server has been fixed.
Thank you a lot for all the prompt responses.