I ran into a similar issue. I'm not sure if this is your problem, because you said you didn't get the memory problem beeps until AFTER you removed them. My problem was that the earlier Bios is lenient in how the memory was configured. I took a peek and found mismatched DIMMs in the 2 banks (A and B). Memory must be matched correctly with A08
Hey thanks for replying - I have checked the Ram and it is the same flavour and it is only in the correct banks for the processor. I have been looking into investigating updating the bios through other means as there is a socket that is the same pinnout configuration as a normal PLCC32 bios chip - right next to the flash bios - there is even a 'disable_flash' jumper on the board - so I am going to try and program up an external chip and then disable the bios and then *turn it on* and see if I can breathe life into my baby.
I have noticed the CD-Rom is still being accessed when the machine is turned on - and so I think it is looking for something - presumable a Dell Diagnostinc CD of somesort - does anyone out there have one of these? (I have tried all the normal dell ones as supplied with the servers) I think it is a 'tech' one and one that us normal plebs are not even allowed to see outside the hallowed halls of the technicians...
Anyway failing that I am going to try and get an image onto a prom and see if that works...
As I said thanks for replying - was wondering if anyone was actaully reading this thing...
I have had - almost word for word - exactly the same experience, and am just as dead in the water. I have gone as far as to use the UniFlash (http://www.uniflash.org/) utility to pull a bios file off of one of my other working 1550's, but the problem system is SO dead I can't even get it to read from the floppy's autoexec.bat file. I've got lots of interesting LED flash patterns on the motherboard near the empty prom socket WassaDude refers to, but there is nothing on the Dell website which tells you how to interpret the messages they are busily trying to send. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any beep codes either, just the constant CD-ROM seek. I'm going to try burning the UniFlash floppy image onto a bootable CD and see if that does anything, but otherwise anything I have tried has not worked. Dell wants $839.00 for the motherboard, so that is really not a cost-effective solution. It is more than a little frustrating to have this much money invested in Dell equipment, which has performed flawlessly to this point, only to have to scrap a perfectly good dual processor machine for the sake of a mysteriously blown BIOS update. I noted WassaDude's last post was 7-14-04 and was wondering if he ended up having any luck with a fix...
No I am sorry to say I *STILL* have a rather expensive paper wieght
I am trying to get another BIOS blown from JAck at BadFlash.com - but that is going slowly and I am unable to verify it yet - I have managed to extract another BIOS from another machine and it is the right size.
I have noted the problem with DELL and they have rung me once on the matter and said that they would get back to me with more information - that still has not happened.
Anyway - I will try and get this other BIOS blown and see if that will help - else it is just going to be an expensive mistake and not very happy about it.
Thanks for taking the time to update your experience.
I would really appreciate it if you would be so kind as to continue to post your results, especially with Jack at BadFlash.com - I had come across his name during my Google search for some type of a repair, but ruled it out because the BIOS chip is soldered in. My efforts to get the BIOS image read from the bootable CD I made were fruitless, and I, too, have a very expensive paperweight which is making me feel very unhappy....
And so you might want to have a look at what I plan to do - which is put in the ROM and disable the flash ROM (hopefully) via the jumper (there is pictures on there for you as well)
You know what really gets me? Dell said that if I had called them and had been on the phone with them while doing the flash upgrade - they would have been obliged to replace the motherboard - something that I really did not want to hear at that stage of the day...
Anyway - will keep you informed - and hopefully we can lead the way for others out there as there seems to be a few people that are stranded and have no place to turn to.
OK well possibly the final post here for this thread and it is not good news - I got the flash from Jack at badflash.com (top guy if you need help) and put it in my baby - and still no go - I was told by the tech department that the 'disable_flash' jumper was to stop people from flashing the BIOS externally - not as I originally thought a way to bypass the soldered on flash... I now believe him - oh well
In essence there is nothing I can do - except desolder - and even at the price of a new motherboard it would not be cost effective to bother with that.
So for the others reading this post - I cannot offer any help - Dell still have not got back to me with the required information on the possibility of a tech-CD being made available - since the CDRom is still trying to find something on the drive - but no information on what I need to do to make up some sort of disc.
If anyone ever manages to get something resurrected from the dead - then do tell - for the meantime I am going to have to strip it and use it for parts.
midibach
2 Posts
0
July 14th, 2004 20:00
WassaDude
5 Posts
0
July 15th, 2004 01:00
Hey thanks for replying - I have checked the Ram and it is the same flavour and it is only in the correct banks for the processor. I have been looking into investigating updating the bios through other means as there is a socket that is the same pinnout configuration as a normal PLCC32 bios chip - right next to the flash bios - there is even a 'disable_flash' jumper on the board - so I am going to try and program up an external chip and then disable the bios and then *turn it on* and see if I can breathe life into my baby.
I have noticed the CD-Rom is still being accessed when the machine is turned on - and so I think it is looking for something - presumable a Dell Diagnostinc CD of somesort - does anyone out there have one of these? (I have tried all the normal dell ones as supplied with the servers) I think it is a 'tech' one and one that us normal plebs are not even allowed to see outside the hallowed halls of the technicians...
Anyway failing that I am going to try and get an image onto a prom and see if that works...
As I said thanks for replying - was wondering if anyone was actaully reading this thing...
ed_econium
2 Posts
0
September 21st, 2004 13:00
I have had - almost word for word - exactly the same experience, and am just as dead in the water. I have gone as far as to use the UniFlash (http://www.uniflash.org/) utility to pull a bios file off of one of my other working 1550's, but the problem system is SO dead I can't even get it to read from the floppy's autoexec.bat file. I've got lots of interesting LED flash patterns on the motherboard near the empty prom socket WassaDude refers to, but there is nothing on the Dell website which tells you how to interpret the messages they are busily trying to send. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any beep codes either, just the constant CD-ROM seek. I'm going to try burning the UniFlash floppy image onto a bootable CD and see if that does anything, but otherwise anything I have tried has not worked. Dell wants $839.00 for the motherboard, so that is really not a cost-effective solution. It is more than a little frustrating to have this much money invested in Dell equipment, which has performed flawlessly to this point, only to have to scrap a perfectly good dual processor machine for the sake of a mysteriously blown BIOS update. I noted WassaDude's last post was 7-14-04 and was wondering if he ended up having any luck with a fix...
WassaDude
5 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 00:00
ed_econium
2 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 18:00
WassaDude
5 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 19:00
WassaDude
5 Posts
0
November 10th, 2004 21:00
OK well possibly the final post here for this thread and it is not good news - I got the flash from Jack at badflash.com (top guy if you need help) and put it in my baby - and still no go - I was told by the tech department that the 'disable_flash' jumper was to stop people from flashing the BIOS externally - not as I originally thought a way to bypass the soldered on flash... I now believe him - oh well
In essence there is nothing I can do - except desolder - and even at the price of a new motherboard it would not be cost effective to bother with that.
So for the others reading this post - I cannot offer any help - Dell still have not got back to me with the required information on the possibility of a tech-CD being made available - since the CDRom is still trying to find something on the drive - but no information on what I need to do to make up some sort of disc.
If anyone ever manages to get something resurrected from the dead - then do tell - for the meantime I am going to have to strip it and use it for parts.
Warren