We have just received 2 HP DL380 G7's from our DR site. They have been running fine at the site for some time but we have tried to power them up in our DC and they will not post. We get a very brief flash of the post screen and then the systems power cycle. Both systems behave in the same way. Has anyone come across this issue before? There are no beep codes. We have tried removing the battery as well as the hard disks but it appears to be an issue that occurs prior to the system posting.
HP ProLiant DL380 G7 – Troubleshooting POST Issues on HP ProLiant DL380 G7 Servers
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Related Solutions
Replace the CMOS backup battery and clear CMOS.
So, after bringing a third system into the mix, and experiencing the same issue, we began to question the environment. I dug up a copy of the HP ProLiant Servers Troubleshooting Guide and found the POST problems flowchart shown below.
Carefully running through the steps in the chart, we realized that the one constant across all of the servers was a KVM switch attached to the data center crash cart. This was a consumer-class USB-enabled KVM. As per the highlighted node in the flowchart, Do you have known good KVM?, I could not answer conclusively.
So, we unplugged the servers from the KVM switch and ran an automated boot, sleep 300; reboot sequence in rc.local. The servers had no issues with this, regardless of the normal DIMM, low-voltage DIMMs, PSU wattage, etc.
This was all the result of a poor interaction with a USB KVM switch. By virtue that this was the console, it ensured we'd see the failure if we were looking for it. Self-fulfilling...
Best Answer
Check your KVM... Try with different keyboard/monitor or run headless. Don't repeat the mistakes made here.
See: HP ProLiant DL360 G7 hangs at "Power and Thermal Calibration" screen
Edit: It would be important to get into the ILO to see server messages. The ILO's settings are persistent, so removing the battery won't help you. Even if your issue is not KVM-related, the rest of the flowchart above should help you isolate the issue.
If you have physical access to the server, you can try this sequence:
Test to see if the system will boot...
If that doesn't work:
Test to see if the system will boot...
If that doesn't work:
Test to see if the system will boot...