PowerFlex: How to disable watchdog timer through iDRAC UI

Summary: An article which helps you to modify Watchdog Timer service through iDRAC UI. By making this change, we prevent iDRAC from forcing a restart the server if it loses communication with the iDRAC service module on O/S. It is a temporary fix to avoid a frequent reboot on servers due to watchdog timer expired alert or event code ASR0000. Though, we may see any other behavior change like hung/ crash/ PSOD/ etc. if there is any underlying issue exists. But it will not reboot further due to this watchdog timer expired event post applying this modification in the environment. ...

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Instructions

  1. Log in to iDRAC
  2. Go to iDRAC settings > Settings > iDRAC Service Module setup.
  3. Disable the Automatic System Recovery option.
  4. Click on apply.




(screenshots from the IDRAC UI are given above for your reference)

Note: Automatic System Recovery is the name for Watchdog Timer in iDRAC service module software.
There is no impact on the host while/ post doing this modification. (Exception may exist)

 

Additional Information

Dell PowerEdge server reports the "watchdog timer" (WDT) expired or if the server experiences event code ASR0000 for several times in a series. This event causes a reboot alongside the timer expired alert whenever it got triggered. To avoid the reboot of the server again and again, disabling the Automatic System Recovery service can help. This works as a temporary workaround to prevent the server from reboot if a watchdog timer expired alert gets triggered.

Affected Products

PowerFlex rack
Article Properties
Article Number: 000227506
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 08 Jul 2025
Version:  2
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