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How to Run Hardware Diagnostics on your PowerEdge Server

Summary: Hardware Diagnostic are embedded tools installed in the pre-OS of your server to check hardware is working fine.

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Article Content


Symptoms

This article shows how to start the Hardware Diagnostic on PowerEdge servers, which is a tool provided by Dell for basic troubleshooting and maintenance.

 

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. PowerEdge Servers 12G and later
  3. PowerEdge Servers 11G
  4. PowerEdge Servers 9G / 10G

1. Introduction

Hardware Diagnostic are embedded tools installed in the pre-OS of your server. They are provided by Dell.

It is recommended that you run diagnostics using the Hardware Diagnostics utility, as part of a regular maintenance plan to validate that the attached hardware is functioning properly.

Diagnostics utility have a physical (as opposed to logical) view of the attached hardware, it can identify hardware problems that the operating system and other online tools cannot identify.

You can use the hardware diagnostics utility to validate the memory, I/O devices, CPU, physical disk drives, and other peripherals. 

The procedure depends on your Server Generation, shortcuts and screenshots are available below.

Find detailed information in the User Manual of your PowerEdge Server:

  1. Go to the PowerEdge section on Dell.com/Support
  2. Choose the matching system type and click on it
  3. Now all available manuals are displayed

 

SLN283546_en_US__1icon Note: Need help to define the generation of your Dell server? Please refer to the article: How to identify the generation of my server.

2. PowerEdge Servers 12G and later

  1. Press F10 at startup.
  2. In the left pane of Lifecycle Controller, click Hardware Diagnostics.
  3. In the right pane, click Run Hardware Diagnostics. The diagnostics utility is launched.
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen. When the tests are complete, results of the diagnostics tests display on the screen. (Figure 1 - in English only)

SLN283546_en_US__2image(18242)
Figure 1: ePSA Diagnostics

 
SLN283546_en_US__1icon Note: To close the Hardware Diagnostics page, restart the system.

3. PowerEdge Servers 11G

  1. At startup, press F10 to enter into LifeCycle Controller.
  2. Click on Hardware Diagnostics.
  3. On the screen, select

     
    • Run Diags to test components (Figure 2 (English-only))
    • MPMemory to run diagnostics on the memory modules (Figure 2 (English-only)).

       

SLN283546_en_US__411g_Diag_or_MPM
Figure 2: Running the Diags
 

 

 



3.1 Starting the embedded Hardware Diagnostic tool

 

SLN283546_en_US__1icon Note: The steps below describe the latest version of the Hardware Diagnostics embedded in the Unified Server Controller (USC) of 11G PowerEdge servers. Older versions may look different, but the options are similar.


If you chose to Run Diags, you will then need to :

  • Select Express Test to quick test all components

  • Select Extended Test to test all components intensively

  • Select the Custom Test to test single components

SLN283546_en_US__611G_Run_HW_Diag
Figure 3: Test Options



Testing one device

  1. Choose Custom Test

  2. On the next page, you have to select the component you want to test.

    E.g., for testing a hard disk: (Figure 4 (English-only)).
    1. Choose the drive you want to test

    2. Choose the type of test you want to perform (e.g. Drive Self Test)

    3. Choose your prefered Diagnostic Options

      Recommended:
      • Non-Interactive Tests Only
      • Log output file pathname (to save the results)
      • Continue on Failure (to prevent interrupts when failures are found)
  3. Click Run Test to start the process

SLN283546_en_US__711G_DST_Quick_Test
Figure 4: Testing a hard drive


 
3.2 Memory Diagnostics

MpMemory allows you to check the state of your memory.
If you chose the MPMemory option, you will need to select the type of test you want to run :

Express or Custom. For a basic test, you can pick Express.

SLN283546_en_US__8112
Figure 5: MpMemory. (English)

For a custom test, check the relevant test you want to pass.

SLN283546_en_US__9111
Figure 6: Custom Test. (English)


The time it takes to run the test varies depending on the amount of memory installed in your server.


4. PowerEdge Servers 9G / 10G

  1. Download the latest Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics for your PowerEdge server from Dell.com/Support
  2. Execute application on your workstation.
  3. Click Continue.
  4. Choose a folder where to extract files.
  5. Click Create a Bootable CD.
  6. Choose a folder where to save the diags.iso file.
  7. Burn diags.iso as an image to a CD or mount as virtual media in DRAC or Bootable USB.
  8. Boot server to CD/virtual media.
  9. Choose option #2 - DDGUI Graphics based diagnostics.

Don't forget to take a note of the test results.
 


Cause

-

Resolution

-

Article Properties


Affected Product

Servers, PowerEdge, Legacy Server Models, Precision 7920 Rack

Last Published Date

12 Mar 2024

Version

6

Article Type

Solution