dl380 g4

[willawake]

ok so i shut down the fileserver which is a hp dl380 g4 rackmount server. I wanted to move it back to this ups which make battery fault light but the batteries tested ok so i dunno about that. anyway i tested that ups connected some pcs to it, drained the batteries and then charged them up again no problem no fault lights.

anyway so i start the server on the other ups and the damn thing doesnt post. blank video, it get power find the hard disks (there are 3 in the array) and one spare. it find the 3 correctly, spin them up show their lights green but no video and no response on ping even though the switch ports are lit. didnt look like it booted the os either.

i try everything basically but no go. even has dual psu so i try each, both, check the kvm etc etc new cables for everything

the thing is this previously state of the art POS have warning lights available for all kinds of shit. i even open it to check the numerous lights inside. and not one of those lights anything but green.

makes you wonder what is the point of all that, might as well have used an asus or something. now i guess it needs new system board. bet that costs like $1000 or something.

anyway i put the files from backup on another server i have prepared for such occasion. and everyone complain about losing one day of work.....uuuh thanks

[Gianni]

Re: dl380 g4

Sorry willawake I have no suggestion but only one request: can you come back with the old avatar?
I was breaking my monitor thinking there was a mosquito on it

Thanks and good luck
Gianni

[zandrax]

Re: dl380 g4

What's happening? First the UPS think the battery is dead while it isn't, the the server refuses to restart: call an exorcist, I think is cheaper than a new board and sometimes he's lucky enough to fix the problem
Bypass the kvm, attach real monitor and keyboard, then reset the cmos and check all cables and cards; lastly connect the power cable to a power outlet, not the UPS and try to power it up.
I agree with the avatar suggestion: old radioactive green Willa can't be replaced by a damn bug (and I was destroying my screen too ...).

Zandrax

[willawake]

Re: dl380 g4

i bet you guys have the same tiny bugs that walk on the monitor as we do here......

[Maxxarcade]

Re: dl380 g4

Hey Willa, does it have the lights out remote management card installed? If so, you might need to connect to the VGA on that card, not on the motherboard.

[willawake]

Re: dl380 g4

no it have ilo via an ethernet port. i dont use that but i will see what its doing tomorrow

if i reset cmos i maybe lose the array?

[pentium]

Re: dl380 g4

if i reset cmos i maybe lose the array?

If it's all backed up, what is to worry about?

[Gianni]

Re: dl380 g4

i bet you guys have the same tiny bugs that walk on the monitor as we do here......

Thanks for changing your avatar... I owe you a beer

Gianni

[gonzo0815]

Re: dl380 g4

usually the raid info is stored on the disk, not only in the controller. It should be recognized again. Usually, a SCSI BIOS is a separate thing.

[zandrax]

Re: dl380 g4

if i reset cmos i maybe lose the array?

I don't think so: your Raid is not a cheap fake raid relying on bios and chipset, it's an independent thing. You're facing the same risk in replacing the motherboard anyway

Zandrax

P.S.: thanks for bringing your old avatar back. IMHO it's way better than the mosquito, yeah!

[willawake]

Re: dl380 g4

thanks

i am trying various stuff today. if no luck then order new system board. i dont think i will bother sending it to hp because i know that is what they will say. i think integrated vga is failed and it is not completing post because of that.

expansion slots are uuuh pci-x not pci-e

[bgavin]

Re: dl380 g4

I have replaced entire RAID controller cards on DL380 machines without losing the disk array. As long as the replacement is the same card, it reads the disk array for the configuration.

I have not done this with a motherboard replacement, but I cannot see where this would affect the disk array at all.

[willawake]

Re: dl380 g4

thanks

yes i made some experiments today and looks like the array info is written on the disk. the controller is smart array 6i i think. it can have battery backup card where the data not yet written to disk is saved.

i wanted to know because it is good in general to know the limits of messing around you can do if there is problem which needs to be diagnosed. today i did quite a bit of messing around and hot swapping etc. its quite incredible what this pos can do.

today i cleared nvram with switch, took bios battery out, reseated ram, cpu and other stuff, take the array out and put only the hot spare.

it does all "bios" things correct except vga. like i move the ram and then start, it correctly alarm that the ram is wrong, i do hot swap with the psus fine, i take some fans out and it boost the fan power, i set the clear nvram switch AND the protect settings switch and then start it and it correctly alarm. dunno if all that is controlled by a separate chip though.

the only last thing i would like to get working is the iLO. it has switch to set it to be without security. it needs a dhcp server to get an ip. i have the router available for that but dunno if that is acceptable. i scan for ip but didnt find any unknown ones. pity they make it so complicated and it doesnt work like the cisco switch with mini webserver and telnet easily available. i guess i should have checked that out in the beginning.

i am waiting for a price for the system board. if that doesnt fix it i will be very pissed.

[bgavin]

Re: dl380 g4

When I contracted at Intel, I had the DL380 racks setup with three interfaces on every server: Data, Backup, and ILO. All were static IP assigned by the server group.

If you do a DCHP thing for ILO, you must also register it in the local DNS so you can find the damn thing. Seems real dumb. Servers should by static. RConsole, ILO, etc, is a whole lot easier with a static IP.

You say it doesn't POST. Is it actually not POSTing, or you just can't see it. There is a difference. If you boot with a DOS floppy in the drive, does it boot the diskette even though the screen is dead?

I understand you mean you also cannot get into CMOS setup, etc. I'm just curious if only the display circuitry is dead, and the machine itself is alive.

[kc8adu]

Re: dl380 g4

why not stuff a video card in it for a test?
a 32 bit card will work in a 64 bit slot.
if it runs call it good.

[370forlife]

Re: dl380 g4

try putting it in neutral, pushing it and popping the clutch, that should get it going...

ohh wait...

put a vid card in it, pci-x slots are pci slots with a little extention on the back, they will work with pci cards.

is there a chance your monitor is dead?

[zandrax]

Re: dl380 g4

PCI cards works in PCI-X slots: the only drawback is, being the PCI bus shared among all cards, the bus speed (33, 66 or 133 MHz) and data bus (32 or 64 bit) used are the lowest common denominators, so the slowest card rules. This means a PCI card in a PCI-X slot is fine for temporary use, but slows down all other cards so it's not recommendable for production.
For testing purpose put a 1 or 2 MB PCI videocard, anything from Pentium 1 age should work: if it doesn't still post, then replace or have the motherboard repaired.
Anyway, IIRC there should be a PCI graphic chip soldered on the board, say an Ati chip (a Rage XL, a Radeon 7000 or if you're super lucky an ES1000) or a XGI Volari: check if this or the neighbour memory chip seems burned. Check if the VGA output may be the one damaged too: the video may work fine, but it can't be displayed on screen.

Zandrax

[370forlife]

Re: dl380 g4

Could be a number of things wrong with it, bad (or mad,) monitor, bad monitor cable, bad monitor port on motherboard...

Its not uncommon to see new servers with dual quad cores and such to have a simple 2mb integraded (usually ATI for some reason,) video card.

[willawake]

Re: dl380 g4

thanks for the pci card info. didnt work though
i tried all day but no joy. got an ok price on a used board

You say it doesn't POST. Is it actually not POSTing, or you just can't see it. There is a difference. If you boot with a DOS floppy in the drive, does it boot the diskette even though the screen is dead?

I understand you mean you also cannot get into CMOS setup, etc. I'm just curious if only the display circuitry is dead, and the machine itself is alive.

yeah it doesnt completely post. doesnt make the usual two beeps or even a post alarm. doesnt boot off anything. does everything else though. wierdest damn thing i saw

[zandrax]

Re: dl380 g4

Pity you had to replace the motherboard: what a really stange way to die.
Just to be safe, check voltages from both psus and test the USP with another computer before connecting the HP server.

Zandrax