PowerEdge 2400 wont start - no video

I have a PowerEdge 2400 server from the early 2000's which has been in
storage. It used to work fine. Yesterday I connect to monitor, KYBD and
mouse.. and the system does not start. Worse there is no video, no BIOS
info on the monitor!!

At first I suspect a dead system battery (#2032). What has happened to
the server? There should be SOME KIND of BIOS and Perc RAID info
displayed. It doesn't sound like the RAID array is starting.

What to do? I need to get the files from the drives.


-Ed

On 2/27/2011 9:28 AM, wrote:
>
> I have a PowerEdge 2400 server from the early 2000's which has been in
> storage. It used to work fine. Yesterday I connect to monitor, KYBD and
> mouse.. and the system does not start. Worse there is no video, no BIOS
> info on the monitor!!
>
> At first I suspect a dead system battery (#2032). What has happened to
> the server? There should be SOME KIND of BIOS and Perc RAID info
> displayed. It doesn't sound like the RAID array is starting.
>
> What to do? I need to get the files from the drives.
>
>
> -Ed
>

the manuals (including troubleshooting guide) can be found here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...u/en/index.htm
if there is a secondary video card installed in one of the expansion
slots then the onboard video is disabled. if it isn't posting then it
should be giving up beep codes or trying to communicate to you via the
diagnostic lights. and depending on the disk controller in your
particular unit there may also be batteries on the raid controller and
the controller may have lost your raid configuration hence why it does
not boot; but it should at least post.

On Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:33:16 -0500, Christopher Muto
<> brought the following to our attention:

>On 2/27/2011 9:28 AM, wrote:
>>
>> I have a PowerEdge 2400 server from the early 2000's which has been in
>> storage. It used to work fine. Yesterday I connect to monitor, KYBD and
>> mouse.. and the system does not start. Worse there is no video, no BIOS
>> info on the monitor!!
>>
>> At first I suspect a dead system battery (#2032). What has happened to
>> the server? There should be SOME KIND of BIOS and Perc RAID info
>> displayed. It doesn't sound like the RAID array is starting.
>>
>> What to do? I need to get the files from the drives.
>>
>> -Ed
>
>the manuals (including troubleshooting guide) can be found here:
>http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...u/en/index.htm
>if there is a secondary video card installed in one of the expansion
>slots then the onboard video is disabled. if it isn't posting then it
>should be giving up beep codes or trying to communicate to you via the
>diagnostic lights. and depending on the disk controller in your
>particular unit there may also be batteries on the raid controller and
>the controller may have lost your raid configuration hence why it does
>not boot; but it should at least post.

Yes thank you, I have the manuals ok. There's no other video boards in
the machine. I've tried to pull and re-seat every board and RAM stick
but still no POST. The machine returns a beep-beep and then the orange
"triangle" lamp starts flashing.
I've pulled and reconnected all the ribbons on the Perc board, and
re-seated the three SCSI drives. You think it's the Perc battery? I'll
have to explore it.. but would THAT cause no BIOS to display (no POST
verbose on the monitor)? The GREEN monitor lamp comes on but the
orange STBY lamps stays lit... typical I guess if no video. It is pretty
Tango Uniform right now.

The server is old, mfg in 1999 but there are files on there (it's
running Win2k Adv Server) that I must look at and perhaps recover.


-Ed

On 3/1/2011 6:45 AM, wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:33:16 -0500, Christopher Muto
> <> brought the following to our attention:
>
>> On 2/27/2011 9:28 AM, wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a PowerEdge 2400 server from the early 2000's which has been in
>>> storage. It used to work fine. Yesterday I connect to monitor, KYBD and
>>> mouse.. and the system does not start. Worse there is no video, no BIOS
>>> info on the monitor!!
>>>
>>> At first I suspect a dead system battery (#2032). What has happened to
>>> the server? There should be SOME KIND of BIOS and Perc RAID info
>>> displayed. It doesn't sound like the RAID array is starting.
>>>
>>> What to do? I need to get the files from the drives.
>>>
>>> -Ed
>>
>> the manuals (including troubleshooting guide) can be found here:
>> http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...u/en/index.htm
>> if there is a secondary video card installed in one of the expansion
>> slots then the onboard video is disabled. if it isn't posting then it
>> should be giving up beep codes or trying to communicate to you via the
>> diagnostic lights. and depending on the disk controller in your
>> particular unit there may also be batteries on the raid controller and
>> the controller may have lost your raid configuration hence why it does
>> not boot; but it should at least post.
>
> Yes thank you, I have the manuals ok. There's no other video boards in
> the machine. I've tried to pull and re-seat every board and RAM stick
> but still no POST. The machine returns a beep-beep and then the orange
> "triangle" lamp starts flashing.
> I've pulled and reconnected all the ribbons on the Perc board, and
> re-seated the three SCSI drives. You think it's the Perc battery? I'll
> have to explore it.. but would THAT cause no BIOS to display (no POST
> verbose on the monitor)? The GREEN monitor lamp comes on but the
> orange STBY lamps stays lit... typical I guess if no video. It is pretty
> Tango Uniform right now.
>
> The server is old, mfg in 1999 but there are files on there (it's
> running Win2k Adv Server) that I must look at and perhaps recover.
>
>
> -Ed
>

does your unit have dual power supplies or just one. if dual, do you
have power cords connected to each? if dual or not, does each power
supply have a green led light on it? and what exactly is the pattern of
the beep code that you are hearing?

On Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:28:54 -0500, Christopher Muto
<> brought the following to our attention:
>
>does your unit have dual power supplies or just one. if dual, do you
>have power cords connected to each? if dual or not, does each power
>supply have a green led light on it? and what exactly is the pattern of
>the beep code that you are hearing?

It has dual power supplies but only one has a power cord. They both work
however. The two beeps are heard at the end before the flashing orange
lamp turns on.


-Ed

On 3/1/2011 3:34 PM, wrote:
> On Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:28:54 -0500, Christopher Muto
> <> brought the following to our attention:
>>
>> does your unit have dual power supplies or just one. if dual, do you
>> have power cords connected to each? if dual or not, does each power
>> supply have a green led light on it? and what exactly is the pattern of
>> the beep code that you are hearing?
>
> It has dual power supplies but only one has a power cord. They both work
> however. The two beeps are heard at the end before the flashing orange
> lamp turns on.
>
>
> -Ed
>

get a power cords in both power supplies and make sure both power
supplies have green lamps. you are creating confusion as to the source
of the problem by cutting corners. the blinking error status light may
just be because of the power supply. if you get past that you may find
the real problem. but this is too much to discuss via newsgroups. i
think you need to hire a skilled person that can help... it should not
take very long to determine the source of the problem. or you could
just ship off the three drives (carefully label their physical position
in the raid before removal and note the model raid controller that they
were attached to - not mentioned here) for data recovery.

ED: Did you find some other insights into the poweredge 2400 power o
issue. I can't get my video up either

On 3/27/2011 2:18 PM, amroid wrote:
> ED: Did you find some other insights into the poweredge 2400 power on
> issue. I can't get my video up either?
>
>

this guy hasn't written back for nearly a month. why don't you start
you own thread with details about your configuration, problem, and what
lead up to the issue.

On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:43:35 -0400, Christopher Muto
<> wrote:

>On 3/27/2011 2:18 PM, amroid wrote:
>> ED: Did you find some other insights into the poweredge 2400 power on
>> issue. I can't get my video up either?
>>
>>
>
>this guy hasn't written back for nearly a month. why don't you start
>you own thread with details about your configuration, problem, and what
>lead up to the issue.



Gosh, I sure wish you'd stop telling people what they can and can't do
in this newsgroup and just stick to the question at hand. You get on
others case about OT but you are doing the same here.

On 3/29/2011 1:25 PM, RnR wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:43:35 -0400, Christopher Muto
> <> wrote:
>
>> On 3/27/2011 2:18 PM, amroid wrote:
>>> ED: Did you find some other insights into the poweredge 2400 power on
>>> issue. I can't get my video up either?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> this guy hasn't written back for nearly a month. why don't you start
>> you own thread with details about your configuration, problem, and what
>> lead up to the issue.
>
>
>
> Gosh, I sure wish you'd stop telling people what they can and can't do
> in this newsgroup and just stick to the question at hand. You get on
> others case about OT but you are doing the same here.

NO he isn't. You ought to actually read the posts. The OP
hasn't gotten a reply in 2 days, so a SUGGESTION to start a
new thread is good advice and definitely on topic.