R210 POST reboots after BMC BIOS message

Question

Our PE R210 is being reconfigured to be used primarily as an anti-virus server. I took it off-line, uninstalled the software no longer needed on it and restarted. Since then it is not able to get past the point where it provides the option to press Ctrl-E to enter the BMC BIOS configuration. Once the time limit for that is complete the server reboots and starts to POST from the beginning.

I can press Ctrl-E and get into the BMC BIOS. I have tried changing a variety of settings including resetting it to factory defaults with no change in behavior.

I have also tried clearing the NVRAM with the motherboard jumper with no change other than the BIOS settings were reset to defaults. The same for the motherboard battery.

I can press F2 and the display will change to "Entering System Settings" but the server will reboot before I can access the system BIOS.

Not that it matters since it never gets to the point where it can boot the OS, but it is/was running Windows Server 2008 R2.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. I have included a few photos of the screen as the system POSTs.

Jim

ServerDude69 · Accepted Answer

I see where the Flash is going with this. On the R210 , the very last POST process is to initialize the Remote Access Controller and the very last message you will see on POST is to "Press Control-E ...". If a Server has no OS, or the OS is having a issue it will hang at the very point where you Server is hanging and go no further. Typically in this scenario it simply means that POST has completed and is waiting to hand-off to the OS. You can prove is disprove this theory of POST by simply attempting a boot from another device such as a bootable OS CD/DVD.

However, there is another clue here, your Server is not hanging here, it is rebooting and will not process the F2 command before rebooting. This leads me believe that the issue at hand is hardware, the Server is not completing POST and the first step in troubleshooting is to take it down to minimum to POST. Remove all PCI cards including the storage card if there is one. Remove all external devices including USB keys or other peripherals. Remove all Dimms except a Dimm in the first slot. Disconnect power to the backplane and leave all drives disconnected. Attempt to POST, including striking the F2 key in an attempt to enter the Bios.

If the issue continues, it is likely a issue with the motherboard. If the issue clears, start connecting devices that were removed one at a time and test POST after each device is reconnected in an attempt to narrow down the issue.

jimcummins · Accepted Answer

I disconnected everything I could. I didn't see a specific power connection for the BMC. Removed one of the DIMMs and left one in slot 1. No change in behavior. Tried the other DIMM with the same results.

So I tried disconnecting the internal USB connector to the front panel. This time it didn't even get past the first screen with the progress thermometer. Plugged that back in and tried it with only the keyboard plugged into one of the USB ports.

And when I pressed F2 to go into the System Settings, it did! I was able to reconfigure the BIOS to put the SATA controller in RAID mode, tweak a few other settings (turn off PXE boot, set the boot order). On restart it got past the BMC Ctrl-E prompt and complained of no operating system. Powered down, reconnected HDs and DVD drives, inserted the other DIMM, restarted again and it booted into Windows.

I had not connected the mouse, so I did that and it seemed everything was fully functional. Made some other changes that required a restart and when it restarted it went into the same POST reboot loop but now I had a clue as to how to get out of it. Power down, disconnect the USB connector, power up, POST failed, power down, reconnect the USB connector, DISCONNECT THE MOUSE, restart, Windows comes up as before. And as long as I don't have the mouse connected when it POSTs, it restarts with no problems.

Since it will be racked with no KVM, it seems like whatever the USB problem is will not be an issue. Certainly seems strange that having the mouse plugged at POST causes it to fail but it functions without and issues if I plug the mouse in after Windows loads.

theflash1932 · Answer

Windows is probably blue-screening. Once you see the CTRL-E prompt, start tapping F8 as fast as you can. Which OS is running on it?

jimcummins · Answer

Thanks for the reply.

At this point, Windows cannot blue screen because the disc controller is not properly configured. Since I cleared NVRAM, BIOS is back to defaults so the disc controller is in AHCI mode instead of RAID mode, so the RAID1 array is not available for boot.

But even if it was configured properly, POST doesn't get to the point that it can process the F2 key press to enter the BIOS System Settings, which it would do before attempting to boot from disc.

However, in the interests of eliminating that scenario, I disconnected the HDs and restarted. The results were the same except that now the HDs don't show up as present in the POST messages.

ServerDude69 · Answer

Seems strange, but not that strange, as I have seen it before, Have you tried a different mouse ? Is the mouse plug into a KVM, as I have seen many KVM;s cause this.

jimcummins · Answer

The mouse is just a generic USB laser mouse. No KVM switch is involved. And it might not be having a mouse connected; maybe anything in that port will cause it to fail. Or maybe that mouse in any port. Or maybe any mouse. Unless I have to pull it out of service again, we may never know. At this point I'm quite happy to have it reliably boot and do the small (but important) chore assigned to it.

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R210 POST reboots after BMC BIOS message

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