PowerEdge 2950 BIOS boot utility partition problem

The Utility Partition is written to the hard drive when you install an OS using SBUU ... it is not a BIOS option/function - or a DRAC feature.  It only contains built-in diagnostics that can easily be run from USB/CD anyway, so there is no big reason to have it other than convenience.  Possible your keyboard is having a problem (F10 key)?

Well, I can tell you it is not a specification of the BIOS version ... I've got dozens of 2950's - all of which have been updated - none of which care about the Utility Partition unless I choose F10 during POST.  "There is no keyboard on this server" ... you are accessing it through the DRAC then?  Does it also do it when physical at the console?  I trust you that it is not, but it "sounds like" the F10 key is stuck.  I wonder if something happened when flashing to the newer BIOS ... did you already roll it back?  Have you tried reflashing to 2.7.0?

Weird.

Thanks for the reply. There is no keyboard on this server. Just for giggles, I put a new drive in and loaded the OS from the SBUU. I had it create a new UP on the drive. When the server boots, it does so straight to the UP. It will not load the OS unless I F10 and select  PERC Raid C:. This only happens with BIOS 2.5.0 and later. I have reset the nvram, reset the DRAC. All firmware up to date, except rolling back the BIOS to 2.4.3 so it boots "normally". Has me baffled!

Thanks,

Bob

I am accessing thru the DRAC. It also happens when I have a USB keyboard hooked up locally. I have tried flashing to 2.7.0. It wants the UP. I have downloaded and flashed with every version starting with 2.2.6. Starting with 2.2.6 it works fine until flashing with 2.5.0. 2.5.0 and later it looks for the UP. Brought it back down to 2.4.3 and it is happy again. I wouldn't to concerned about it, but OS updates and power outages after the UPS runs out of juice are a pain.

Thanks for your ideas. Strange one indeed.

Bob

when you press F11 for the boot menu, what choices are you given?

ok, hopefully the poster wishful1 sees this, I busted my hump trying to replicate this and find the answer. Well, partial answer anyways. Here goes:
The drac in that system supports a "boot once" option, meaning that you can set the system to boot to a particular device one time, then boot normally after that. For some reason, your system is repeating the cycle. Anyhow, there is a racadm command that will set this, and yours appears to have been set to #6 so that it tries to boot to the utility partition, but it should only do it once. You should be able to run this command to disable that function:

racadm config -g cfgRacVirtual -o cfgVirtualBootOnce 0

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/drac5/160/en/ug/pdf/drac5_16ug.pdf  Page 389

example on page 3 http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps2q06-20050241-Webb-OE.pdf

The only thing that comes to mind is someone may have configured a script that is setting this everytime the system boots up, but when you reinstalled the OS, that should have cleared it I would think, and if it was a command stuck in the drac, resetting the drac to defaults should have cleared that too.

Anyways, I am dying to know if setting it to zero fixes it.

Sorry for the late reply, I have been away on emergency. Anyway... When running the command on the drac, it does work, but for only one boot. If you cycle the power twice, it then whats to start from the utility partition. I have totally removed the drac card and it continues to look for the UP. I have reflashed the bios to 2.7.0, reset the nvram and pulled the bios battery. Formated and installed a fresh copy of Windows Hyper-V server. Still wants to boot to the darn UP.

Baffling!:emotion-43:

How about this, what version of 2900 do you have, does it have no roman numeral in the upper left corner of the bezel, II or III?

It is a PowerEdge 2950. Not 2900. Not sure the version, it was manufactured 9/23/06.

"I couldn't find anything useful on the Dell site about original configuration."

I would take the absence of a chassis identification to mean you have the original version (I).

System Revision showing [N/A] just confirms this.

If you don't have the version number on the chassis, you can confirm it in one of two other places:

1. Go to the address below and put in your Service Tag, go to the Original Configuration tab and see what is says for the model/chassis.  The abbreviations do not always make it evident which model it is, so you can post the information here to be deciphered or go this route:

2. OpenManage Server Administrator will show you which model it is if you are running BIOS version 2.5.0 (?) or higher under System, Main System Chassis, Information sub-tab.

These are pics of the boot options, it this case I was using BIOS 2.6.1

You ROCK!! That was the answer. I have been pulling what was left of my hair playing with this thing. Thanks for taking the time to help me get this resolve!!:emotion-22:

Thanks again!

Bob

Please go to this link, scroll down to NON-Packaged, that is the file you need.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-2950?driverId=16RCK&osCode=WNET&fileId=3000127368&languageCode=en&categoryId=BI#OtherFormats