HP ProLiant ML150 G5 BIOS Recovery - No POST.

[kano]

Hello,

I have recently performed a BIOS update an ML150 G5 server that has resulted in bricking the server.

The BIOS version prior to update was 017, 01/31/2008.

The new BIOS version was 017, 10/25/2010.

BIOS updates were performed using RomPaq and a USB key.

Prior to the BIOS update I had updated BMC firmware from 3.00 to 3.20 as the BIOS notes suggest.

Both BMC firmware update and BIOS updates reported success.

After performing a power cycle after the BIOS update, the system powered up, fans running however nothing on the screen and no error beeps.

The BMC is still functioning correctly, the heartbeat LED on the motherboard is blinking, I am able to access the BMC CLI via the serial port using a terminal emulator, however there are no options to assist in debugging.

After further investigation I noticed that if I connect a terminal emulator to the serial port at 115200 there seems to be a BIOS recovery option, which allows upload of a BIOS image via XMODEM protocol upon power up.

I have attempted to upload the BIOS image from RomPaq however it gets no further than the following:

Press <SpaceBar> to update BIOS.
Confirm update BIOS? (y/n) y
Begin remote BIOS flash? (y/n)y
Starting remote flash.
Upload new BIOS file using Xmodem protocol.

New BIOS received ok.

It seems that the BIOS image being uploaded needs to support "serial flash" in order to continue and perform self flashing according to AMI BIOS documention online.

Is there a way to use this BIOS recovery method on the ML150 G5 or is there another recovery method that can be tried? I am running out of options.

I should also note that I have updated other ML150 G5 servers to the same BIOS revision with no issues at all (the previous BIOS version in this instance was 10/02/2008).

Is there a known issue updating from 01/31/2008?

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Kane.

[Kyle_W]

Kane,

These are the consumer support forums. Since you are seeking help on a server, I would recommend posting this in the HP Enterprise Support Forums for better coverage and support. 

You can access the enterprise support forums at the following link.

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/

-Kyle

[kano]

Thanks Kyle, I couldn't find the correct forum at the time, however I did eventually come across it and have posted In it.

For reference this is the post:

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/HP-ProLiant-ML150-G5-BIOS-Recovery-No-POST/td...

Cheers,

Kane.

[Kyle_W]

Not a problem Kane, just trying to point you in the right direction.

Good luck!