View Full Version : Server Booting to CD Problem
LiquidRetro
09-27-2010, 09:10 AM
I have an old Dell Poweredge 4600 that is no longer in service and is partially broken. Last month I used it to securely erase some SCSI Ultra320 hard drives and it worked just fine. I used DBAN. After this I powered off the server and unplugged it. Today I went to erase some more drives and I cant get the machine to boot to the CD for anything.
I made sure the CD-Rom drive is the first boot priority, the computer is in OS install mode, I even burned the newest version of DBAN without luck. I am thinking this has to be a bios setting as the CMOS battery is dead and all the settings were cleared off. So does anyone have any ideas to get this up and running?
callpocket
09-27-2010, 10:20 AM
Replace the battery, then go into bios and reset your boot order. Also look to see if the cd device is recognized in the bios -- possibly it has failed or been disabled. Check the cables to the cd device . . .
LiquidRetro
09-27-2010, 11:26 AM
Replace the battery, then go into bios and reset your boot order. Also look to see if the cd device is recognized in the bios -- possibly it has failed or been disabled. Check the cables to the cd device . . .
Cables are a non factor since i can see the lights on the drive work and hear it spin up. The case has also not been opened. Since its a server all the drives are hot swappable.
Despite the battery the changes I make at the bios level are being remembered. I can go back in and look and its as I had left it.
Thanks for the suggestions Repped.
Other ideas (like bios settings)
If the battery is dead you should get a "battery error" on boot and prompt to enter Setup.
Otherwise, F12 during boot to select boot device.
If the disc is bootable, then something wrong with the drive. Can you verify the disc in another machine?
callpocket
09-27-2010, 08:46 PM
If the battery is dead you should get a "battery error" on boot and prompt to enter Setup.
Otherwise, F12 during boot to select boot device.
If the disc is bootable, then something wrong with the drive. Can you verify the disc in another machine?
I agree -- thus why I asked if the drive was recognized in the bios of the machine. You need to check.. Lights on the drive do not always indicate it is working properly or recognized in the bios -- could be it is just getting power and lighting up the lights. If it is not shown in the bios, check/replace the cables first and then replace the drive.
Open up the case, replace the battery if you are getting an error about the system voltage. Once done, boot on up. You should have to reset the clock and the date. Once done and fully booted up, reboot and go back into bios. Check for the cd device to see if it is recognized -- you will see this when you try to set the boot order. If you want it to boot from cd first and there is no cd device to be picked, you know it isn't recognized -- it will say not available or not installed or you just won't be able to choose it.
It won't kill you to actually TRY the things recommended. A new motherboard battery costs around a dollar or two -- depending on where you go to get it. The other checks are free -- you just have to put in the time to do them.
LiquidRetro
10-01-2010, 08:12 AM
If the battery is dead you should get a "battery error" on boot and prompt to enter Setup.
Otherwise, F12 during boot to select boot device.
If the disc is bootable, then something wrong with the drive. Can you verify the disc in another machine?
F12 on this server is PXE boot, it was not helpful. The disk is good, I have used it in this machine last month. I have not verified the new disk I made yet but both will not work.
I agree -- thus why I asked if the drive was recognized in the bios of the machine. You need to check.. Lights on the drive do not always indicate it is working properly or recognized in the bios -- could be it is just getting power and lighting up the lights. If it is not shown in the bios, check/replace the cables first and then replace the drive.
Open up the case, replace the battery if you are getting an error about the system voltage. Once done, boot on up. You should have to reset the clock and the date. Once done and fully booted up, reboot and go back into bios. Check for the cd device to see if it is recognized -- you will see this when you try to set the boot order. If you want it to boot from cd first and there is no cd device to be picked, you know it isn't recognized -- it will say not available or not installed or you just won't be able to choose it.
It won't kill you to actually TRY the things recommended. A new motherboard battery costs around a dollar or two -- depending on where you go to get it. The other checks are free -- you just have to put in the time to do them.
I did get the battery error and replaced it this morning which was quite the task. The battery ejected out and dropped down between some plastic and the motherboard. I had to take about 1/2 the server apart to get it out but I did get it. Installed the new battery and reset the bios.
Inside the bios the CD-Rom drive does show up so I set it to the first boot priority. Rebooted the server and the disk spins up and the drive sounds like its trying to read the optical disk but then I get the message that No boot device was found, Press F1 to retry or F2 to run setup.
Any ideas?
shadowwar
10-02-2010, 07:25 AM
Bad media or bad drive.
callpocket
10-02-2010, 04:55 PM
Do you have another bootable cd that you could try -- just to verify the drive? You could use a Windows Operating system disk just to test.
R1Budha
10-03-2010, 03:28 PM
Bad media or bad drive.
or bad controller on the server
shadowwar
10-03-2010, 03:35 PM
Would doubt the controller as the drive is recognized by bios and it does spin up when trying to read as stated by the op. More common to be the drive. Not impossible for the controller though but not likely.. Think moving parts always wear out eventually.
LiquidRetro
11-09-2010, 02:52 PM
I just wanted to follow up with this thread. I replaced the battery and still had no luck. However I was able to get into the RAID card setup and verify each disk sector by sector (Found 2 bad disks I wont sell and turn into coasters) and then do a low level format. I did the format 3 times, not as good as dban but not bad either.
Thanks for the help.