PowerEdge 800 PCI Parity error

Question

Good morning, please forgive me if this issue is discussed elsewhere, I've been unable to locate a thread which covers my issue.

We've got an older server which has been locking up randomly. I've tried to diagnose the issue, but haven't come to any conclusion about what exactly is causing the lockups. The best information I have is from a diagnostic run at boot-up. The utility reports a PCI Parity Error. I'd like to drill down to the exact piece of hardware that's generating the error, but haven't figured out how to do that. I can't find a reference to the event in the system log, and the diagnostic utility doesn't identify which hardware on the PCI bus is generating the error. I'd like to make an informed decision about how to proceed with restoring the stability of the system. There are signs of a disk problem, but I think those might also be controller issues. Chkdsk runs periodically upon rebooting the server.

DELL-Chris H · Accepted Answer

Would you please download and run this, it is the DsSet reporting tool?

www.dell.com/.../DriverDetails

A DSET System Configuration Report can either be created when running the DSET installer

program, or can be created after installing DSET.

For exercising the first option, when running the DSET installer program,

choose "Create DSET Report Only". A console window will appear showing the

progress of system information being gathered.

Alternatively, the "Install DSET Application/Browser" option could be chosen.

In this case, a report can be created anytime after installation by choosing

"Create DSET Report" from the Start menu under "Programs > DSET".

Once the report creation is complete, a single zip file called

"DSET Report of Tag- - " would be

copied to the Desktop by default.

Please reply to the email I am also sending, with the zip file, and I can check and see what might be causing the issue.

Thank you.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Jedwardsfla, What is the exact error? Is it giving a Bus #, Device #, Function #? Also, what is the OS on the server? Is the LCD displaying an E#### error? Let me know so we can go from there.

jedwardsfla · Answer

Hello, the exact text of the error message is "BIOS: CRITICAL INTERRUPT SENSOR (PCI PARITY ERR) PCI PERR"

No Bus#, Device #, or Function # is displayed; the error is displayed when I run the Diagnostics Utility before Windows loads.

OS is Windows SBS 2003

There is no LCD display on the server chassis

Thanks for your assistance!

jedwardsfla · Answer

It occurred to me that your question 'Is the LCD displaying an E#### error?' might be referring to the monitor screen. When the server locks up, the monitor signal is no longer displayed. There is no blue screen to relate an error number; the screen just goes blank, and the monitor says 'No signal'

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Sorry, what is displayed on the 4 LEDs on the back of the server?

jedwardsfla · Answer

The diagnostic lights vary. At times (like right now) A, B & C are amber, and D is green. On some occasions all four are green.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Thank you. Were you able to take the server to the Minimum to Post configuration? If so, what was the result?

jedwardsfla · Answer

I have not yet removed the board from the chassis. There are no add-on cards in the PCI slots. I have disconnected an IDE drive, and that leaves only the two SATA drives (RAID-1) and the CD-ROM drive connected to the board.

jedwardsfla · Answer

Good morning Chris, I neglected to include this Error Code in the header text of the error message: 2900:0221

I've disconnected the CD-ROM and still get the error when I run the boot-time diagnostics.

The entire text of the error message is:

ERROR CODE 2900:0221

BIOS: CRITICAL INTERRUPT SENSOR (PCI PARITY ERR) PCI PERR

jedwardsfla · Answer

Hello Chris, I hope I have provided the answer to your question. There is no problem getting the server to post, and to completely boot up. The problem is I can't identify which hardware is causing the random lockups.

PowerEdge Hardware General

PowerEdge 800 PCI Parity error

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