By meaning, it hangs at a blank screen, it's after you press F2 to enter BIOS or there is no display after turning the server on? Are you able to see any POST from the server in the monitor display, eg: the Dell logo loading? Does the server have a front panel LCD screen? Page: 14 Labelled 4 https://dell.to/30rWkgr; does it show any error messages?
Hello Joey! Thanks for the response. I don’t recall seeing anything strange outside of a case cover breach warning since I had it off and was troubleshooting. It will load all the way to boot attempt if I let it but it won’t boot to a flash drive. If I wait until “no boot media strike f1 to retry or f2 to enter setup” it transitions from the post to a blank screen and hangs. If I attempt f2 or f11 prior to that it effectively does the same thing. A definite first for me.
I forgot to mention that there are two warnings during post. It states that channel 0 is being disabled for ram. The other is related to a battery I believe is intended for the raid card not having a charge or missing but none of those prompts a panic or halts the boot attempt.
Well it seem you have display output, just not able to enter F2 BIOS. I'm unsure if it's got to do with the memory issue that you have.
How about trying remove all components, except these below. Power the server on with the remaining components and check if it does able to access BIOS. Then install the components 1 by 1 to check if there is any effects or component causing it.
•System board •Processor (with heatsink) in socket 1 •One stick of memory in slot 1 •1 power supply •Power distribution board •Control panel (to turn on system)
If it doesn't work, then try doing NVRAM clear. https://dell.to/3l7cvYB. You can refer to the link above for reference on where is the location of the NVRAM jumper.
No errors on the front LCD screen but I have an amber that blinks on the back plane of the machine that I'm not quite sure of. Other than that everything seems to be business as usual. Just can't seem to access the bios no matter how I go about it.
You might see if reflashing the BIOS helps. If it doesn't, there might be a problem with the board. Between the NVRAM clear the Joey suggested and reflashing the BIOS, I'd expect to be able to see some form of output. It looks like the latest version of OpenManage supported by this model is 7.4. If you install that, can you view any BIOS information within OpenManage?
I've been banging my head on this for awhile now. I have now cleared the nvram via the jumper and even removed and replaced the battery on the board. I still cannot get into the bios setup. I found a thread somewhere about downloading the firmware file, renaming it and booting the system with CTRL+ESCAPE held and that seems to skip the full load in of the POST boot screen and halts just after displaying memory/cpu info. I'm stumped. I can't seem to find a path forward on this one..
Unfortunately, I don't think there is any other way to revive the server's BIOS at this point of time. If you have Ctrl-E during POST prompt, you can check the SEL logs if there is any hints, but I would doubt there is any traces. Previously you mentioned about backplane having an amber light, have you tried disconnecting it from the motherboard and try booting into BIOS?
DELL-Joey C
Moderator
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4.1K Posts
0
October 1st, 2020 23:00
Hello,
By meaning, it hangs at a blank screen, it's after you press F2 to enter BIOS or there is no display after turning the server on? Are you able to see any POST from the server in the monitor display, eg: the Dell logo loading? Does the server have a front panel LCD screen? Page: 14 Labelled 4 https://dell.to/30rWkgr; does it show any error messages?
Let me know more about the issue.
brando2i7
6 Posts
0
October 1st, 2020 23:00
Hello Joey! Thanks for the response. I don’t recall seeing anything strange outside of a case cover breach warning since I had it off and was troubleshooting. It will load all the way to boot attempt if I let it but it won’t boot to a flash drive. If I wait until “no boot media strike f1 to retry or f2 to enter setup” it transitions from the post to a blank screen and hangs. If I attempt f2 or f11 prior to that it effectively does the same thing. A definite first for me.
brando2i7
6 Posts
0
October 1st, 2020 23:00
I forgot to mention that there are two warnings during post. It states that channel 0 is being disabled for ram. The other is related to a battery I believe is intended for the raid card not having a charge or missing but none of those prompts a panic or halts the boot attempt.
DELL-Joey C
Moderator
•
4.1K Posts
0
October 2nd, 2020 02:00
Hi,
Well it seem you have display output, just not able to enter F2 BIOS. I'm unsure if it's got to do with the memory issue that you have.
How about trying remove all components, except these below. Power the server on with the remaining components and check if it does able to access BIOS. Then install the components 1 by 1 to check if there is any effects or component causing it.
•System board
•Processor (with heatsink) in socket 1
•One stick of memory in slot 1
•1 power supply
•Power distribution board
•Control panel (to turn on system)
If it doesn't work, then try doing NVRAM clear. https://dell.to/3l7cvYB. You can refer to the link above for reference on where is the location of the NVRAM jumper.
brando2i7
6 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2020 08:00
Great advice, thanks. I'll perform those tasks later today and report back.
brando2i7
6 Posts
0
October 5th, 2020 08:00
No errors on the front LCD screen but I have an amber that blinks on the back plane of the machine that I'm not quite sure of. Other than that everything seems to be business as usual. Just can't seem to access the bios no matter how I go about it.
Dell-DylanJ
4 Operator
•
2.9K Posts
0
October 5th, 2020 08:00
You might see if reflashing the BIOS helps. If it doesn't, there might be a problem with the board. Between the NVRAM clear the Joey suggested and reflashing the BIOS, I'd expect to be able to see some form of output. It looks like the latest version of OpenManage supported by this model is 7.4. If you install that, can you view any BIOS information within OpenManage?
brando2i7
6 Posts
0
October 16th, 2020 18:00
I've been banging my head on this for awhile now. I have now cleared the nvram via the jumper and even removed and replaced the battery on the board. I still cannot get into the bios setup. I found a thread somewhere about downloading the firmware file, renaming it and booting the system with CTRL+ESCAPE held and that seems to skip the full load in of the POST boot screen and halts just after displaying memory/cpu info. I'm stumped. I can't seem to find a path forward on this one..
DELL-Joey C
Moderator
•
4.1K Posts
0
October 18th, 2020 18:00
Hi,
Unfortunately, I don't think there is any other way to revive the server's BIOS at this point of time. If you have Ctrl-E during POST prompt, you can check the SEL logs if there is any hints, but I would doubt there is any traces. Previously you mentioned about backplane having an amber light, have you tried disconnecting it from the motherboard and try booting into BIOS?