Server hanging on POST

Serephucus

I may have done something stupid...

Went to update the BIOS and BMC of my C2750D4I. Was using the Windows installer because where the server is is a pain to get to, and I was feeling lazy.

Shut down non-essentials, run installer, prompted to restart. Do that.

Server gets to the POST screen, then sits there. Left it for a solid five minutes in case it was doing stuff I couldn't see, and nothing. Restarted. Still hanging.

So far I've tried clearing CMOS (removed battery), as well as leaving everything but the PSU plugged in, and attaching a network cable after it's been running for a while, still nothing (double-checked with monitor attached too).

I could try reseating hardware I suppose, but it seems highly unlikely. Anyone any other ideas?

deceit

Serephucus wrote: »

I may have done something stupid...

Went to update the BIOS and BMC of my C2750D4I. Was using the Windows installer because where the server is is a pain to get to, and I was feeling lazy.

Shut down non-essentials, run installer, prompted to restart. Do that.

Server gets to the POST screen, then sits there. Left it for a solid five minutes in case it was doing stuff I couldn't see, and nothing. Restarted. Still hanging.

So far I've tried clearing CMOS (removed battery), as well as leaving everything but the PSU plugged in, and attaching a network cable after it's been running for a while, still nothing (double-checked with monitor attached too).

I could try reseating hardware I suppose, but it seems highly unlikely. Anyone any other ideas?

After clearing cmos have you unplugged the server and tried holding the power to drain capacitors then testing it again?
If this doesn't work you could always order a new bios off ebay. Would cost about 15 last time I got one.

Serephucus

Had tried that, yeah.

As it turned out, it must have been something weird to do with boot order or something, because after pulling out all the other drives (nope, if you can believe it, I had forgotten to try that) it booted through fine. All up and running again now.

ED E

Nollog

That happens randomly with my NAS too, it just hangs and I have to get the longest vga cable known to man to set the boot order again.

Randomly, twice, after windows server updates.

ED E

/\/ollog wrote: »

That happens randomly with my NAS too, it just hangs and I have to get the longest vga cable known to man to set the boot order again.

Randomly, twice, after windows server updates.

Thats where IPMI is god. No need for a monitor or keyboard, just a patch cable and youre done.

Serephucus

Yup. That's actually why I was updating the BIOS. There was a BMC update with a new BIOS. Pretty sure they were meant to be flashed together.

ED E

Anything changed thats worth me fiddling or should I stay hands off?

Serephucus

Nah, don't think so. I just didn't have it up and running for a while because of dinking around with it before. Figured I might as well update before enabling it again.

1. Modify BMC threshold.
2. Modify Java console issue.
3. Modify gateway IP on the same network segment issue.

Those are the BMC changed listed on ASRock's page.

ED E

Havent noticed any issues with it, so if it aint broke...

Might add some drives though, filled a chunk of space recently and theres more still to go on. Time to setup camelcamelcamel alerts on WD reds.

Serephucus

Me too. I down to just under 2TB free (again). I've actually been thinking I might try out Seagate's 8TB drives. I know that Backblaze tends to hate on Seagate drives, but for the price, that's a lot of space. And given FlexRAID is essentially JBOD with some software on top, it's not like they need tolerances designed for a 24/7 workload in a block-level RAID environment anyway.

Basic specs:


[th][/th]
[th]WD REd 4TB[/th]
[th]Seagate Archive 8TB[/th]


Load/unload cycles
600,000
300,000


Unrecoverable erros
1 in 1x10^14
1 in 1x10^14


MTBF
1,000,000
800,000


Idle power (W)
3.3
5


Warranty (years)
3
3


Price (€)
174
274



That gets you quite a lot for your money...

Edit: so much for bbcode table generator

ED E

Thats pretty tempting. Swap out the PPU for an 8TB then add one 8TB DRU + 3x3TB DRUs. Thats a fair bit of storage.


Is this new helium tech considered mature yet or would there be any benefit in sticking to air drives until they refine them?

Serephucus

Yup, that's kinda what I'm thinking. Doesn't have the reliability of WD's Reds, but with that much storage for that little money...

I think what your asking inherently takes time, so we won't know for a while. I might just make the jump the next time I need to expand (though it'll be an expensive one). I'll be paying €260 for 4TB essentially, as I'd use the current PPU as a DRU. Still, brings the total capacity up to 56TB, assuming 1 PPU, which is a mighty bit better than the 28TB currently. I'm already at 16 (ex. PPU).

ED E

In a way, its almost too cheap. The WD He6's are ~£400.

Its interesting to read about helium and SMR, but I only have the one NAS, the one thing I want from it is no headaches. Crashplan is there, but if I ever have to use it things have gone way wrong. The sensible, boring, plan is probably to add 4TB disks up to 8 full bays, then swap the oldest unit for 8 or 10TB in a couple years. At that point Backblaze will have some stats out (even if they aren't the fairest tests).