C240 M3 Stuck at "Configuring and testing memory .."

[TONY SMITH]

Hi,

This server's just been returned to us from Cisco, who had it on loan since it was new.   We're trying to put it back into service, but have hit the following problem.

On first power-up the server gets as far as the "Configuring and testing memory .." message.  Just that message, it doesn't show any progress in actually testing memory.   After a few seconds it shuts itself down, then spins up again, repeating that a couple of times before sitting with the "Configuring and testing memory .." message at the top of the screen, but now also showing CIMC IP address at the bottom.   All four LEDs above the power button show steady green,  and the unit ID buttons switch the blue LED on/off as they should.

I can get to the CIMC login screen, but the password's been changed from default so can't get any further in that direction until we find out the new user/password details.  Unless someone knows how to reset CIMC to default.

I've tried the following recovery steps ..

(1) If we set the "Clear CMOS" jumper J2065, the server won't power up.  It powers up to standby, but does not respond on pressing the power button.

(2) Using the "BIOS recovery" jumper J2068 doesn't appear to have any effect, the server does not read the recovery file from USB flash drive.

Any ideas?   

Thanks, 

Tony S

[AFROJ AHMAD]

Hi Tony,

the issue could be because of CPU or any other hardware issue.

I would suggest to reseat all the components One by One and check the issue.

Thanks-

Afroz

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[TONY SMITH]

Cheers.  There's not much to reseat at this stage.   The server came back with two CPUs of unknown type, I've removed and set those aside in case they're some sort of weird CPU that needs a special memory configuration.

We've fitted a single E5-2609 as CPU1 and single DIMM in A1.  There are no PCI cards or anything else to reseat.    As a matter of fact the server behaves exactly the same if there's no memory at all, making me think it's hanging up before starting the memory check.

I would love to get into the CIMC, but does anyone know a way to reset the username/password other than via the BIOS screens (which aren't accessible).

Thanks, Tony S

[Keny Perez]

When you say BIOS screen is not accessible, do you mean F8 which will take you to the CIMC config page?

-kenny

[TONY SMITH]

Keny, that's correct.  There are no on-screen prompts for any F key options, nor does it respond to any blind key presses at any time during the attempted start up.

[Keny Perez · Accepted solution]

I would remove the CMOS battery for a while, put it back, try again and if still nothing... I would look for a motherboard replacement.

-Kenny

[TONY SMITH]

Thanks, will try that.  I presume you're referring to what Cisco calls the "RTC battery".

[Keny Perez]

correct.

-Kenny

[yaojianbo]

Had you solved this issue?

[TONY SMITH · Accepted solution]

Sorry, I should have updated.   Cisco replaced the server, the replacement appeared to work and we even got as far as configuring RAID, but not quite time to update the firmware before the replacement server died as well.  

Cisco sent a second replacement chassis, and also two replacement CPUs, and it's been working ever since.

[Keny Perez]

Please mark the question as answered for future users to take advantage of the info here.

-Kenny

[johnnylingo · Accepted solution]

I saw this behavior too on a UCS-E140DP-M1 blade.  It had been working fine until we upgraded the CIMC firmware from 2.X to 3.X. Clearing CMOS and reseating the blade did not help.  I downgraded to the CIMC back to 2.4.1, then used the clear CMOS command, at which point it began booting OK again. Finally, I upgraded by the BIOS by booting the 2.4.1 HUU ISO image and then was able to upgrade CIMC without issue.

So my conclusion is you may encounter this behavior if the CIMC firmware is "too new" for the BIOS.  I had tried to upgrade the BIOS by itself numerous times but always got an error; using the HUU was the only way to get it upgraded.  I noticed it seems to ship with a generic BIOS, but the upgraded versions have "UCSE" in the name and I'd assume are custom. 

Fixing stuck UCS-E Server

[Wes Austin]

This is correct. Typically when we do not boot past the "Configuring and Testing Memory" screen, this means that either the BIOS is not initializing correctly to read the hardware or you possibly have an unsupported hardware configuration. For Example, the DIMM population rules are not correct.

HTH,

Wes

[sabadri]

We had this exact issue but for M4 blade, finally what worked for us was "Uing the BIOS Recovery DIP Switch" from Cisco installation manual in Pgae 110. it literally says:

"If the BIOS BootBlock is corrupted, you might see the system get stuck on the following message:Initializing and configuring memory/hardware"

Procedure 1: Reboot with recovery.cap (or bios.cap) File

Step 1        Download the BIOS update package and extract it to a temporary location.

Step 2        Copy the contents of the extracted recovery folder to the root directory of a USB thumb drive. The recovery folder contains the recovery.cap (or bios.cap) file that is required in this procedure.NoteThe recovery.cap (or bios.cap) file must be in the root directory of the USB thumb drive. Do not rename this file. The USB thumb drive must be formatted with either FAT16 or FAT32 file systems.

Step 3        Insert the USB thumb drive into a USB port on the server.

Step 4       Reboot the server.

Step 5        Return the server to main power mode by pressing the Power button on the front panel. The server boots with the updated BIOS boot block. When the BIOS detects a valid recovery.cap (or bios.cap) file on the USB thumb drive, it displays this message:Found a valid recovery file...Transferring to Cisco IMCSystem would flash the BIOS image now...System would restart with recovered image after a few seconds...

Step 6        Wait for server to complete the BIOS update, and then remove the USB thumb drive from the server.

Bios software could be downloaded from Cisco (I downloaded the version based on the year we ordered the server)

Unzip the iso then look for the file named C220M4-2.0.8g.zip then unzip it, find the .cap file in C220M4-2.0.8g\2.0.8g\bios\UCS > C220M4-BIOS-2-0-8b-0.cap rename it to bios.cap or recovery.cap put it on the root of the USB drive (Format it FAT16 or FAT32)

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286281345/type/283850974/release/2.0%25288g%2529