PE6850 - Server is not HAPI

Well, first message on the board and I've got a slew of issues.  First and foremost, I can't install the BIOS or ESM firmware on my PE6850 running Windows 2k3 SP1.  Secondly, I get errors when I install Online Diagnostics 2.10 and Open Manage Server Administrator 5.3.0.  Also when operating OMSA I get little to no functionality as the System Management and Storage tabs are empty.  These servers are all running Veritas Clustering, and all have MS Exchange 2k3 (Build 7638.2 SP2) Out of 6 boxes with identical architecture, I am having significant issues with three of them.  That also means that on the other three boxes I was successful in installing all drivers, Online diagnostics and OMSA 5.3.0

 

As it currently stands, the firmware versions on the afflicted servers are as follows:  BIOS A00; BMC 1.33; Backplane 1.00; PERC 4/DC 352D.  There is no DRAC installed.

 

Bear in mind that I am using the same files between the servers when I am trying to run the following updates/installs/drivers/etc

 

PE6850_BIOS_WIN_A05.EXE - Fails with error message "An error has occurred.  The Dell Instrumentation Driver (HAPI) could not be loaded." - No message sent to the event viewer

 

EXM_FRMW_WIN_R99805.EXE - Fails with error message "This Update Package is not compatible with any of the devices detected in your system." - No message sent to the event viewer

 

ESM_FRMW_WIN_R168410.EXE - Fails with error message "This Update Package is not compatible with any of the devices detected in your system." - No message sent to the event viewer

 

RAID_FRMW_WIN_R151923.EXE - Succeeds, updates the firmware of the PERC.

 

RAID_DRVR_WIN_R99970.EXE - Succeeds, updates the drivers of the PERC.

 

R126038.EXE - Succeeds, but the installation of this driver seems to be hit or miss, and it sometimes fails on the servers that I don't get the HAPI error on.

 

dell-onlinediags-win32-2.10.0.259-A02.exe - Fails with error message "Hardware Application Programming Interface (HAPI) didn't start properly.  Try re-installing again.  If the problem persists, contact Dell support." and fails at item "Execute: "C:\Program Files\Online Diagnostics\hapi\bin\nt32\hapint.exe" -s" - No message sent to the event viewer.

 

OM_5.3.0_ManNode_A00.exe - Fails with error message "SYSTEMSMANAGEMENT: Server Administrator installation program could not install the HAPI driver" - Application Event Log message with: Source: Msiinstaller; Category: None; Type: Error; Event ID: 1013; Description: Product: Dell OpenManage Server Administrator -- SYSTEMSMANAGEMENT: Server Administrator installation program could not install the HAPI driver; Data: {89C7A9F7-2C31-4739-842D-F037B6C9B674}

 

When I open OMSA I have no data under the MainChassis or Storage, I can't access the ESM Hardware log, and under the Alert Log I get an event of: ID: 1005; Category: Instrumentation Service; Description: SMBIOS data is absent.

 

When I click on that ID #, I get the following Event Message Reference data: Event ID: 1005; Description: SMBIOS data is absent; Severity: Warning; Cause:The system does not contain the required systems management BIOS version 2.2 or higher, or the BIOS is corrupted.

 

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Now I understand that the most common responce that is given when someone can't install the bios or firmware is to tell them to install it via a floppy, I haven't tried that yet and am about to.  But will that resolve the other issues I'm having with OMSA?  Also since the problem is broad spectrum, I'm cross posting to both BIOS/Firmware and Systems Management.

 

-Patrick Reed