Hi @synixebrett,

After you mentioned if any of the drives are installed, the issue starts, I might have an impression that the drive is not compatible. But that would be my last thought. 

When POST is showing Initializing Firmware Interfaces, what was the previous hardware initiated? HBA330? What is the HBA330's DPN#? What you tried soft and hard reset of iDRAC? You mentioned about having Avago utility menu, what hardware was installed? I've not heard of any PowerEdge having that utility. 

Do you have any extra keyboard, could you try on another USB port. Alternative, try removing both mouse and keyboard, check if POST can finish the firmware initializing and reports a missing keyboard.

I have tried a soft reset of the iDRAC, I have tried without a keyboard. I have tried swapping the HBA330 for a PERC H330 Mini. The only way I can get past this screen is without any of the drives connected.

> When POST is showing Initializing Firmware Interfaces, what was the previous hardware initiated?

I am not very familiar with how to find this information

Hello @synixebrett,

Even after you swapped to PERC H330, the POST still gets stuck at Initializing Firmware?

Do you have any other drives to test? You mentioned that it has Avago Utility menu, do you have a picture of it. 

Unfortunately I do not have any other SAS drives to test, this is the utility I have with the PERC H330 Mini installed

Hello synixebrett,

It could be like Joey mentioned that they are not compatible drives.

Can you give me the Dell Part number for the drives or take a picture of the label and post for me?

A couple more things I can think of to check:

Check in the System BIOS > SATA Settings that the PERC S130 not set to RAID mode, set it to AHCI

Check System BIOS hard drive boot sequence

I have confirmed the Embedded SATA is set to AHCI, this is the label from the drives.

Hello synixebrett,

Thank you for confirming the setting.

The drive looks to be non-Dell hard drive that we have not validated.

Please see if you can source another drive. Sales can help you to if you would like to call them for quote/purchase.

This is one part number, they could quote you others:

Pn# FCHXF - HD,4T,SAS12,7.2,3.5,FIPS,S,E/C

HDD, 4TB, 512b, SAS12, 7.2K RPM, 3.5 inch, 128MB, SED, FIPS, Seagate, Makara BP

Give this a try. Try running the built in diagnostics and check results. Try running with the drives installed (preferred) or with the drives removed:

Diags:

Boot to  F11 on Dell Splash screen, selecting  Boot Manager -> System Utilities -> Launch Dell Diagnostics.  Note any messages and continue testing.

If you are only able to run it with the drives removed and everything passes that will give us a good idea the drive is incompatible.