Can anyone help me restore my EX485 SMI USB files? Looks like my Server 2008 install over wrote the file in the SMI. I have a VOV cable, and with all of the drives out, the system just boots to a command window.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Can you take a picture of what your looking at? Also with no drives installed in your server if you were to turn it on could you also check your router and look at the DHCP Listing to see if you see a device starting with the name MININT followed by other things. If you see this then you do not need the SMI Files.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

OK, so I got the screen shots for you... and yes I am projecting it on my door (I couldn't find my VGA-DVI cable).

No drives in the system I get the screen shots below. I was able to boot into WHS v1, and there was an E: of 258MB(?) formatted as NTFS.

Thanks for the pics! It appears your SMI Files are working and your server booted into its recovery mode and is waiting for the a Client to begin the server recovery process. The E Drive you listed is the actual SMI USB Drive thats on your motherboard. When WHS Boots up the HPMediaSmartService hides this area to protect it.

If you see these screens with your drives installed then either something is wrong with your System Drive or as some EX485 users have reported in the past your BIOS has and incorrect Boot Setting. The easiest thing to do is to check the BIOS Boot Order Settings.

You may also want to connect your System Drive to another computer and verify it has 2 partitions named SYS and DATA and run a CHKDSK on the SYS Partition.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I have set the boot order to the correct drive, and it seems to stick. As soon as I add a new drive, or take a drive out, the BIOS seems to reset itself back to the SMI as the primary, and I have to edit the boot order again. Any ideas on how to stop this? Re-flash the bios? Is there an updated Bios?

Thanks,
Danny

I am not aware of any BIOS updates for the EX48x MSS. May I ask you why your changing drives and if you were to leave the drives in the server and reboot does it reboot normally? When it reboots into recovery mode have you also looked at the BIOS to see if the boot order has changed?

Your server would boot from the SMI into recovery mode if it does not see a bootable device which woud be the System Drive in the bottom bay or external device. If the BIOS setting for the the BOOT ORDER is correct then I would take a close look at your System Drive.

I have a similar issue on an older server that's really old but it runs a video camera system and runs off the older PATA or IDE Drives and there are times when it will not boot off its system drive and I have to point to the drive to get it to boot at which time I will remove the drive and perform a CHKDSK on it and the problem will go away for for several months at a time.. While this is not an EX48x system it is a similar issue and I am curious if you connect the System Drive to another computer and perform a CHKDSK on the system drive if it will resolve your issue.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I recently Acquired an EX485 which does not have a functional USB-SMI Area on the motherboard and its no where to be found. I do have a working SMI Flash but its missing the proper NIC Driver. Of course I use a USB-LAN Adapter to get the server to recover and the Server NIC is functional.

If anyone has or is willing to expose their SMI Area I am looking for the NIC Driver files and I expect there are 2 files for the NIC and the listing in the Drivers List text file. This would allow me to complete the SMI FLASH for the EX48x. In the mean time I will continue to plug away at it.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

It refers to the following NIC drivers:
drivers\netrtx32.inf
And I've attached the 3 files in a ZIP

FWIW I'm having battles with the SMI image I grabbed that from and I see that the file named BCD in the \BOOT that has a file date where my issues started, so if you can get me a copy of that file I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks for the drivers. Attached please find the file you requested.



If you run into difficulty let me know. I will test the drivers out to see how they work out for me. I still can us a USB-LAN Adapter to get the recovery going and when the server goes to reboot all I need to do is remove the Flash Drive and connect the network cable back into the servers NIC and the rest takes place normally.

Not sure if you have a Debug Board or if you need assistance but if the is anything I can help you with please feel free to ask.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I have a full debug board and I'm chasing my tail in trying to get this running, I suspect something else is wrong with either memory or CPU since even after replacing the power supply I can't get WHSv1 installed off of a DVD. Honestly I gave up and moved to a new Acer RevoCenter server, but I'm just stubborn and don't want to let this machine beat me.

I may do up a thread with all the issues it's had and what I've tried, but the good news is that I have a complete SMI image on a flash drive I can boot from.

I know what its like to be stubborn and wanting to get the things working again. There are a few key things to making sure booting off the flash drive works well for you. I do not know the history or current condition of your server or how much you know about how the server does its recovery or what to actually look for outside of the HP Documentation so allow me to list a few things to see if they might be of help or not.

(1) Insert the SMI Flash Drive in the bottom rear USB Port
(2) Back out the bottom hard drive
(3) Turn the server one and watch for the health light to blink its recovery mode blink code
- If the LED's are not functional watch monitor for the words Listener Created
(4) Seat the bottom Drive
(5) Check the routers DHCP Listing for a device starting with the name MININT followed by other things

Now if you see the device name in #5 you are good to go and if not then your NIC is not working properly or the NIC drivers are not loading properly. I did a single test of the NIC Drivers you provided and they did not work but I have one thing to try to confirm if I got the name wrong or not but I will let you know.

Please post the link for the new forum post about your problem and I will be more than happy to help you sort through the issue.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8