20 Most Recent Dell PowerEdge 1800 Server - Page 7 Questions & Answers

It is definitely the PSU that's not working properly,because defective motherboard should still receive the 12V. you can use a desktop standard power supply to check if the server runs fine, even a cheap one is ok for a test run. they sell also cheap (about 15-20$) PSU tester, definitely worth when working with servers and WS.
the Power supply fan might have a dedicated rail coming from the thermal sensor(thermistor.)this is why it can run even with bad 12V rail.

Think of blinking amber as the initial state of the LED. As long as the system is receiving power from a power source and can pass that power through the system board to the LED on the Control Panel it should, at least, blink amber. As a result, a blinking amber Power Button LED is a reliable indicator that the system is receiving power from a power source. This, in turn, tells us that the source and power cord are likely to be functional. The Blinking Amber LED also tells us that the power supply to system board connection is good as well as the connections between the system board, I/O Panel and Control Panel. Depending on the components installed and the condition of those components, the LED may progress past blinking amber and move to solid amber. If the LED does not progress past blinking amber it indicates that the system is not able to properly distribute power to the system components. This is discussed in the next section of the interaction.


It does not indicate that the power supply is bad. It simply indicates that, for whatever reason, one of the power supply 'rails' is not operating within its specified range or, simply, that there is a short somewhere in the system.
The LED state could be the result of a misconfigured or incorrectly installed system component. A bad drive, for example, may be shorting out one of the rails. Incorrectly installed memory can cause a blinking amber front panel power button LED.

Someone has pushed the system identification button on the front of the server. If you push it again the light will be solid blue.

During the Windows XP setup you will need to provide the RAID driver using a pre-formated floppy disk.
Windows will ask you if you want to provide additional drivers and give you the key combination to use to do that.

This is either a sign that your tape drive is bad or it is time to get a new cleaning tape. Find out if it is covered under warrenty first i have had problems with tape drives on the model in the past.

is there an error message that appears? can you check error logs? I need more information to be able to help you. I would first try to blow dust out of the fans, as it may be over heating, another possibility is that there is software on the machine that is causing it to shut down.

Have you replaced the power supply?

Did you swap out the RAM and/or CPU. Is this a heat related shutdown?

The best solution is to get another power supply and back the data up.

If you can't do that, and you have SCSI drives, then I would suggest marking the drives (0, 1, 2, 3, etc) and putting them in another Dell Power Edge server with the same RAID card and reading them that way. It can be dangerous to your data if you don't know what you are doing.

There are programs out there that can help you re-construct your RAID if needed. CaptainNemo and RAID Reconstructor have helped me in the past. If you have a Dell Perc 3/DI in your existing server, I may have the parameters for those programs.

Let me know.

if you really need the BIOS update. you need a working PC to download the BIOS and unzip it to a CD. install it, since the PC do see the CD, you may have do some maneuver to ge the BIOS installed.

Turn off the option n the bios where it says OS Installed make sure it says os not installed
The Bios will only use 256 ram

It has a fan problem. You need to check if all fans are working properly.
Also install open manage server administrator on the server from Dell support website and check for hardware logs if you can see something wrong?
You will see the root cause of the problem from open manage server administrator

Hi Mirwais,
The beeping problem could be an indication of a few issues. One of which could be that the hard drive is overheating and when you remove it for those ten or twenty minutes, the drive cools and the problem disappears until the next time it heats up. You should open the machine and do a cleaning with a vaccuum. Heavy dust accumulation within the box can be a cause of poor air circulation. Also be sure to vac out the power supply fan and check that the fan is actual working to cool the system.
Also the beeping sound could be a sign that the processor is overheating, so be sure that area around the processor is cleared of dust and the processor is getting proper circulation. Have you experienced any system freezes. It YES then I would definitely look closely at the processor.
--RoadHawk

Hi Yunisa,
I need a little more info on this issue. Do you hear the power supply fan operating when you switch the server on? Did the server still startup even though the monitor is not displaying? Did this problem just occur or where there other signs of a problem coming? This may sound a little foolish to you, but check to make sure that the server is plugged into power and that the monitor is connected properly. There should at least be a message on the monitor indicating there is no signal coming to the monitor. The first thought that comes to mind if all is connected would be that the power supply has failed. Please check this out and get back to me with info.
--RoadHawk

Upgrade your bios or set temperture high on the management software

Hi digggger,
Could please explain in more detail what you are attempting to do? Is it that you want to have a dual boot system? Meaning you wish to use the same hardware and be able to boot into the system of your choice at startup?
--RoadHawk

Most likey the PSU is dead, or fuse on the plug socket.

Hi the Power Supply also needs to be upgraded for the additional RAM and new CPU . Please look into this aspect. My opinion a slightly Overrated PS would be better .

Hi

The title of your post suggests that you have "Maga RAID" errors. Maga RAID messages would be in line with issues on the LSI PERC sub-system.

However, the extract posted in your suggests network problems.

Any number of physical to driver and configuration issues can result in network problems.

Try the basic checks;
1. Change or try a known patch cable
2. Run "ping" test to a known good system connected to same network switch or direct connect with a "cross-over" cable and check for dropped connections.
3. Is the NIC and switch set to Auto-Negotiation or static at 10, 100 or 1000Mbps speed
4. Can you try another switch
5. Check and load correct or latest manufacture's drivers

Reply with more info.

Mike

You must figure out if there is a harddrive controller running the drives. If this is a striped array I suggest calling support. Pulling all drives and it gets through the POST process the board is fine. Do not swap HDD slots unless you suspect a backplane failure. Most modern controllers support drive roaming, but why chance it....(if you have a hotswap bp)