HPE SSA – Reboot System After Completing Configuration

Virtual Media tends to work decently on the LO100i devices like the one in your system. Are you licensed properly under the Application License Key Menu?

Otherwise, when you press "Connect", you should see the file path of your .ISO image change to a URL containing the IP of your client computer and connection type (e.g. /192.168.10.55, 0, USB 2.0). If it does not do this, the .ISO will still look like it's connected, but it really isn't. When you press connect, does the IP of your client machine show up in the Virtual Media window?

HP requires that BOTH UDP and TCP port 5901 be open between the client system and the LO100i. Due to those port requirements, you may have to run the browser from an Administrator account on your PC or client system. You may also need to Connect/Disconnect several times until the IP string shows up properly like in the image below. For me it takes two tries when running as Administrator from a Windows Server 2008 client using Internet Explorer 8.

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...