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UCS C460 M4 stuck at "Configuring and testing memory"

Robin Christ
Level 1
Level 1

Hi All,

 

I just bought a used C460 M4 (4x E5-4880v2, 8 * 32GB RAM).

When I try to boot it, it keeps stuck at the screen that tells me "Configuring and testing memory"

 

I heard that this might happen when the BIOS is corrupted.

I downloaded the ucs-c460m4-huu-4.0.2l.iso file and tried to extract the BIOS, but didn't have any luck with the getfw utility (It only tells me "Error: Extraction Failed")...

 

Could please somebody extract the BIOS for me? Or give me some guidance?

 

 

Thanks!

 

3 Replies 3

Kirk J
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

You can also get the firmware files from the UCSM related bundles (i.e. ucs-k9-bundle-c-series-4.0.2e.C.bin as example)

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/283612660/type/283655658/release/4.0(2e)

Using recent version of 7-zip, keep extracting embedded archives until you get to the following path:ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.C\ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.C

Rename the ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.C file to ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.tar  which will make 7-zip handle the extension/file type correctly, then unzip the now named ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.tar.

You should eventually end up with a file path like: ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e.C\ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.4.0.2e\isan\plugin_img

Inside the plugin_img folder, you will see various server firmware components including 

c460bios files.JPG

The actual C series bundle you need to download may vary depending on which exact bios version you are trying to recover.

Prior to bothering with the whole BIOS recovery,,, I would make sure you have attempted to:

  • Reset CMOS/bios to defaults (not sure if you can get to the F2 setup with the current state)
  • Confirm all the DIMM riser boards are well seated and don't have orange/amber LEDs lit
  • Confirm all CPUs are correctly seated.

You may also need to start pulling out CPUs/DIMM riser boards, and add them back with minimum requirements to see if you can isolate problem component (if it is actually a hardware issue).

2 CPUs and 4 DIMM risers in minimum requirement (i.e. CPU 1 & 2, and DIMM Riser cards 1,2,3,4) with one DIMM per DIMM riser.

 

Kirk...

 

 

Good morning Kirk,

 

Thank you very much for your reply!

 

I finally got the server to boot with the full configuration!

I reflashed the BIOS using the IMC (which only works properly with Internet Explorer because of Flash) and waited a bit longer for it to complete POST.


Does it always take around 4 minutes for it to POST? I have to admit that I'm new to the Enterprise Server Business...

 

 

Would you recommend updating the BIOS to an even newer version? It's currently running 2.0(9e) and I've seen that there's 4.0 available!

Do you know whether it's also possible to flash to Host Upgrade Utility to a USB stick instead of burning a CD with it?

 

 

Robin

Yea, I would recommend bumping up to the latest HUU that is available, but do take care to look at release notes of the latest 4.0 version to see what the previous version requirement is (i.e. 4.0 may need 3.0) and may need to do a stepped upgrade.

I believe the latest version of RUFUS USB boot maker will correctly allow you to burn the HUU ISO to USB stick.

Also, these 4 way systems do run a lot of diag POST checks, and do take a while to complete post.

 

Kirk...

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