PE2650 continuously generating voltage alerts

Question

Hi -

Over the past week I've installed the OpenManage Server Administrator software, ver 4.5.0, on 8 of my Dell servers, a mix of PE2650s, PE1850s and PE2800s. One of my four PE2650s is alerting me continuously for low voltage sensed conditions. Mostly from sensor ESM MB 5 Volt, but a few have been generated for other sensors as well. I saw a single instance when alerts were generated for ESM GB1 1.4 Volt, ESM 5 AUX Volt, ESM MB +12 Volt, ESM MB -12 Volt, ESM MB 2.5 Volt, ESM CPU Volt, ESM 3.3 FP Volt and ESM MB Bat Volt.

None of the 7 other servers that I've installed the OM Server Administrator software on are generating these alerts, including 3 other PE2650s.

Initially when I first saw this behavior, I suspected that perhaps there was a problem with the Server Administrator software. I subsequently uninstalled and reinstalled the software, installing from the latest version of 4.5.0 downloaded from the Dell ftp server. The low voltage alerts continue to be generated, however.

From OM Server Administrator, the BMC version is 1.21 (I don't find any updates available for the BMC under 'firmware' on the 2650 downloads page) and the BP firmware version is 1.01, which is the currently available download version.

The redundant power supplies both appear to be fine, according to both OM Server Administator and physical inspection.

So what am I looking at here? Is this really a hardware scenario that needs to be addressed? Bad supply cabling to the system from the power supplies? Defective sensors? Buggy ESM firmware? Buggy OM systems mgmt software? How can I tell? How can I troubleshoot and diagnose, short of system board replacement (the server is out of Dell warranty, and is presently covered by a 3rd party service provider)? Has this behavior been observed by anyone else?

Any assistance on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John Fishbeck
Michigan State University Physical Plant

Mark_A_Smith · Answer

You have run into a common issue on this server.  The ESM (Embedded Server Management) or BMC (BaseBoard Management Controller) is actuall part of the ERA (Embedded Remote Access) on this server.  1.21 is WAY old.  You should upgrade to 3.35  <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>and it should fix up the problem.  A20BIOS wouldn't be a bad idea either.

PPlantMan · Answer

Ah-ha! Y'know, I was puzzled when looking to update the firmware for this box, because there was no 'ESM' firmware download unavailable. The BP firmware, at version 1.01, was no newer than the BP firmware that was already on the box. I didn't think that the 'Dell Remote Access Controller' firmware applied in my case, becasue I don't have a DRAC card in the system. But your explanation that the 'ERA' firmware is really the BMC and ESM firmware flips the light switch for me. And yes indeed, version 3.35 is certainly much newer that the 1.21 on the box! Thanks for the tip; I'll bet your paycheck that this is it!  :smileyhappy:   Yeah, I did neglect to mention - I upgraded the BIOS to A20, as well as the RAID controller firmware and Windows RAID device driver to current versions. I tried to do the right thing!   Thanks for the response.   Regards, John Message Edited by PPlantMan on 02-23-2006 08:35 PM

PPlantMan · Answer

Hey Mark!   Thanks ever so much for the nudge in the right direction. I updated the BCM/ESM firmware at 7:30 this morning, and haven't seen a single voltage sensor alert since. Most excellent!   Regards, John

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PE2650 continuously generating voltage alerts

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