Hi,
My EX470's health light keeps blinking blue and none of the hard disk lights turn on. I am not able to access it from any machines on my network. The EX470 has been working fine for several months/years before then.

When I power the EX470 off/on, the health lights blink red/blue for a second, then goes to just blinking blue.

I unplugged the attached Sans Digital 4-bay eSata with a single 2GB disk I still get the same behavior (per board recommendations to see if the external drive was the problem).

I took out/put back the three-1TB WD green expansion disks in the EX470 one at a time, it did not change anything (so it doesn't seem like a single expansion drive in the EX470 is causing the problem).

I took out the original 500GB Seagate system disk and put it into an old external SATA/USB dock to see if it can be read on my Windows 7 machine. The disk makes a "clicking" sound when put in the powered dock-- seems like it may be bad. Windows 7 is unable to open the drive.

I also tried to put one of the 1TB WD drives into the dock and Windows 7 did not recognize it either. Should this work?

Am I correct in thinking that the original system disk can be bad? How can I verify this (I'm 95% sure the clicking sound doesn't sound normal and it is a problem). Since I am unable to read the 1TB disk (which sounded fine), I am not sure if using the dock is a surefire way of seeing if a disk is good or not.

I am not sure what version of the server software I have (I think I had auto-updates on), and I have my original CDs that came with the unit. I have 3.5TB of drives inside the 470EX (.5TB system + 3 1TB WD green) + a 2TB in the San Digital enclosure. I turned on file duplication for important files, but do not have a recent external backup + have 1000's of photos/files/etc, I'd like to still keep. About 6 months ago I upgraded the memory from the standard 512MB to 2GB and everything booted up fine and has been working.

What would you recommend as my next steps? If I need a new system drive, do I acquire another 500GB or can I go larger?

Thank you all on this forum for your help.

It sounds like your system drive is bad, you should be able to replace it and perform a Server Recovery.

You might want to review this guide to recovering your data, just in case: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-U ... 573697777f

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
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Dear Alex,
Thanks for your guidance! I will go ahead with a server re-installation.
I wanted to ask for your (and others) advice on what type of HDD to put in as my new server disk.
Should it be a faster 7200RPM disk or a "green" drive like my expansion drives?
Also, does it matter the size of it? Is it best to get a smaller drive (e.g. 500GB) so that it contains mostly just the system data or a larger one for future expansion (all my other bays are full + I already have 1 external drive on it)?
HDD prices these days have doubled + tripled in price!

Thanks again,

Hmm, I can see that a [url]SANDISK 120GB SSD drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 38496&SID=[/url] is selling for $129 at newegg. Its cheaper than many 500GB conventional HDD drives now-- could I use this as my primary server drive?

[EDIT] I just ordered the 120GB SSD disk for reliability and performance over the green drive. I also felt if it doesn't work out, I could use it on a laptop. I hope that the server will reinstall correctly on it and not complain its a smaller drive than what was originally installed (500GB system disk) in it.

Thanks

Hi,
My new 120GB drive just arrived today. I put it in the slot of the original 500GB system disk (with a 2.5-3.5" adapter) and powered on and am getting a flashing red/purple status light. I have an external eSata drive that is part of this array and it does not affect this indicator if it is plugged in or not.
I put in the CD for my server recovery on a computer I attached to the WHS. It started the recovery and it said "server recovery complete" and asks to reboot and reinstall the server software (which will take 5+ minutes with multiple server boots). Unfortunately it looks like it is hanging here. The status light is still flashing red and purple on the box and none of the hard disk lights are on. Could someone point me to where the problem may be? Could I have a bad SSD disk, or did I not install it correctly (e.g. I put it on the bottom slot of my 3.5" adapter which appears to be the same place as the original 3.5" disk it replaced).
NEW: I just noticed my windows security was blocking "HP MediaSmart Server Setup" Wizard that's why it was hanging I think. It gives a warning to "not click Next until your server is connected to your home network and the bottom right LED on your server is either solid blue or solid purple". The bottom-right light is still flashing red/purple. Can anyone advise me what to do next? Do I turn off the server and try to read the SSD on my main computer through a SATA/USB adapter?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

kind regards

Hi,
I am in the process of recovering my server, but my server is still blinking red/purple and I am still at the HP Server Setup Welcome Screen.
On the HP website, it says to use a paperclip (the last instruction on the linked image) as part of the recovery. I don't remember seeing this screen and I have no inserted the paperclip.
Again, I have already completed the first step where it said "server recovery complete" and now I need to reinstall the server software.
Should I insert a paperclip now? Will that effect any of the data drives in it?
Thank you.

Update: I think there may be an issue with the mounting for the 2.5" SSD drive into the 3.5" bay.

The 2.5-3.5" conversion tray doesn't seem to match the EX470 backplate. I tried to put the 2.5 disk into the 3.5 sled without any adapter, and was able to slide it in and think I have the SATA/power pins matched up. I still get the blinking purple/red light, though nor do any of the hard disk health lights light up.

Should I perform another server recovery again to try to stop the purple/red blinking lights (I stopped half-way my first time at the install server screen since it said not to proceed until the status LED is either solid blue or solid purple which it is not)?

Thank you.

Argh,
With the SSD installed, it does not seem to find my server.
I called HP tonight, and they thought that the EX470 would not take an SSD- is this your experience too?

Thanks,

I don't remember anyone using an SSD with their MSS, since the drive trays are designed for 3.5" drives. I would expect HP would say it's an unsupported configuration.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

The flashing blue health light does not seem to be a well documented failure mode like the blue/red or purple flashing lights.

My situation surfaced after a power supply failure. Lots of diagnostics, finally got a debug cable so I could hook up a monitor. The registry on the boot drive was corrupted beyond repair. I created a new system drive and I'm now copying the files from the old drives into the new shared folder structure.

As 2.5" and 3.5" drives have the same SATA spacing, you may be able to align a SSD if you mount it just right. A normal adapter bracket may not do this.

Also note that Windows Server 2003 does not support the TRIM command so cleanup may be an issue. You may have to schedule a manufacturer's utility to run periodically to accomplish the same thing if possible.

Flashing blue simply means the server has booted past the BIOS checks and has found a bootable device that is not the recovery flash, but that the OS has not loaded far enough for the HP enclosure management driver and service to start and control the LEDs.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

For Server recovery - you need to be recovering onto the same disk environment (or better) as the original. In this case, if the server backup is of a 500GB drive, then you need at least 500GB to recover to - 120GB SSD won't do it.

I ran into this same problem trying to only recover the C: drive (of 60GB) to a 500GB disk (previously 1TB) - it still doesn't like it.

[edit] Apologies - my experience is with WHS2011, but it may still apply....

_________________
HP-EX490 (unmodified) running WHS 2011: 6.15TB storage
External Enclosure PROBOX HF2-SU3S2: 1.5TB storage

I have a similar problem. Blinking blue led. I have been through the server recovery process in safe mode and it all seemed to go OK. After the reboot it is supposed to go flashing white but I still have flashing blue health led and of course the server still cannot be found on the network.
Any ideas of how else to recover please?
If I have to get a new server is it possible to just install my existing hard drives and still get to all my files?
Appreciate your help

Do you know that the System drive is healthy? If the server won't boot you likely have a failed hard drive. Here's a guide to recover your data from a failed server: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-U ... 573697777f

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?