reboot sometimes freezes, adaptic scsi card possible problem

[David Wood]

Hi Burt,

In message 
<e46716cf0808011207m2ef1b24bmaf2a1c2977959c03 at mail.gmail.com>, burt 
rosenberg <burt at cs.miami.edu> writes
>On reboot, one out of 10 times, reboot (from hardware initialization) stops.

This is about a Dell PowerEdge 2950.

I'd start by upgrading the BIOS - and whilst you're at it, I'd bring the 
whole machine up to date, as the BMC firmware, backplane firmware and 
PERC firmware are all likely to be out of date as well.


The Dell System Build and Update Utility CD with the Server Updates DVD 
will handle all the necessary updates. The ISOs are available on the 
Dell Downloads site. The current System Build and Update Utility CD is 
rather old - I'd use the System Management Tools and Documentation DVD 
in its place (which boots into the System Build and Update Utility).

You boot the System Build and Update Utility CD (or System Management 
Tools and Documentation DVD), tell the machine that the repository is on 
a DVD, and it will prompt you to change disk. Insert the Server Updates 
DVD. You will need console access - keyboard, mouse and monitor. I think 
I noticed a USB KVM somewhere amongst the information you gave. You 
don't have a DRAC 5 in the machine - if you did, you could have used the 
DRAC console.

This system handles the correct sequencing of the upgrades (for example, 
you should upgrade the BMC firmware before the BIOS - at least, I 
believe that's the correct order, but I'd have to check) and carries out 
the upgrades in an environment where your hard disks aren't mounted. 
You may even find you have hard disk firmware updates outstanding.



The BIOS in the machine is old - version 1.2.0. The next revision, 
1.3.7, which is far from the latest, has something that sounds possibly 
relevant:

Fixed possible issue of system device re-enumeration after power 
failures.


There are also potential updates for your processor microcode and memory 
reference code just by updating the BIOS.



Obviously, upgrading all the firmware in your machine is a potentially 
dangerous operation. My experience is that all will go well, but I can't 
guarantee that you won't hit trouble.



Best wishes,




David
-- 
David Wood
david at wood2.org.uk