You have to reboot your server once you disable the service then you will see the 256mb partition show up as another drive.

The partition is not part of your hard drives its actually stored on a chip on the motherboard. If for some reason its not there then I have no other information that you can try to see it. With that in mind I would re-enable the service and then reboot your server so that it will run properly.

Thing is at this point you now have a bootable USB Drive to use for server recoveries so your in good shape there. Maybe someone here with more experience in these matters will post a message on how to get the files back on your motherboard but if you do not see any reply in the next few days I would then post a new message asking the question but also state how you know the hidden SMI USB Partition is not showing up which will save lots of time.

Also what truely matters is your server is up and running so you can use it and you have a way to recover it down the road should you need to do so.

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Comp1962, I found an older post that you created where you stumbled upon the hidden flash directory.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5965

I noticed that on that partition you only have 60mb free on that drive. I have the same files that you had posted and i had checked the files sizes against yours too but for some reason I have 116mb free.

I wonder if there's other 'hidden' files there that are preventing me from recovering my server using this flash drive.

^ i'm just running some experiments now before I rebuilt it permanently.

When I posted that picture it was from a motherboard with a failed component that I was never able to determine what the failure actually was. It prevented the service I had you disable from loading and exposed SMI USB Hidden Partition on the motherboard.

I just booted up my EX470 Test Server to look at the SMI FIles and to take pictures of them for you to compare against what you have to see what the difference might be. Now this is from a fully functional EX470 unlike the original pictures I posted which were from a server with a known motherboard issue as mentioned above.

So take a look and compare, your SMI Local Disk may be listed as something other then E:







You might want to take a close look in the SOURCES Directory to compare the file in there with what I am showing and the actual file you used on your USB Stick to boot your server. Its the only file thats really large that I can see of all the files in the SMI USB Drive.

Let me know how you make out.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

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

You have the same flash as it shipped with, that has not changed in any EX47x. I built it, and I know HP didn't change it after I left.

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Alex Kuretz
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Yup the files are same.

I'm just trying to figure out the discrpancies in free space in the drive and why I'm not able to get an ip in recovery mode using this flash drive. The external usb flash drive I used with the same files load up just fine.

Hmm that doesn't make much sense. Does it show up in the DHCP client list in your router?

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Alex Kuretz
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This has me very confused.

With the onboard flash, no entry in the DHCP. With the external flash, IP and recovery without a problem.

I do recall someone else's post with the same probelm. I'll have to go hunt it down.

I posted in an other thread that I copied the same files from the USB thumb drive to the internal flash, yet if I boot off the internal flash, it does not boot. Because I have the VGA cable, I can see that the internal USB flash hangs at Verifying DMI pool, when I boot off the EXTERNAL USB thumb drive, it passes the Verifying DMI pool. If I'm able to fix this, then booting off the internal flash should work.

When I googled it, I found http://www.duxcw.com/faq/computer/dmi.html so far no luck.

_________________
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server.

Copying files isn't the same as making it an active, bootable partition. Also, the boot order will hit the HDD first, then any connected USB device in the bottom-rear port, then the Recovery flash.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
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The partition was unallocated space when I was able to make it appear. I then created a primary active ntfs partition and copied all the file in there.

I'm currently running the modified bios from when I was playing around with teh BE2300. Tonight i'm going to try reloading the stock bios and see if that makes a difference.

I've heard of issues performing Server Recoveries with upgraded CPUs, I didn't think it required a BIOS reversion though.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
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I actually went back to the stock sempron. The BE2300 and LE1640 were very unstable in my machine for whatever reason. So there is no need for me to actually run the modified bios.

First things first though, i'm going to try and clear the cmos and see if that will resolve it.

toyceli22,

Thinking back to last year when my SMI USB area became visible and the HP MediSmart Service would start then shut down it was after I had installed the LE1640 which I ran for about 1 maybe 2 weeks. I remember I lost the PhotoShare and at the time I was playing with an email program called I believe HMAIL server or something like that which took over my network probably because I configured something improperly. I removed that HMAIL or whatever it was called and my network became stable again but the loss of the HP PhotoShare just annoyed me but another annoyance was I kept finding my server shut down.

So I attempted a Server Recovery and it could not be completed. Oh it was a horror show. I decided to backtrack at which point I put the original processor back in but could not perform the recovery the way specified by HP. Oh I was crying for serveral days. Then I used the method of pulling the system drive out to get the recovery to take place. In fact I even had some difficulty with that so I recall using a new drive to get the recovery to take place then I wanted to see if I could do it again but I ended up having to format the drive then start the recovery. Today I know this is simply not normal behavior but it worked and I lived with that for a while before replacing that server with another EX470 but I was determined back then to figure out the reason why this happend to me but its a different situation then what your experiencing.

Long story short once I was able to get the server to boot and run the SMI USB area became visable and I was curious what that was about and in part you found one of the very first messages I posted with a picture about that. The other thing is my servers health light was purple and all my health indicators were flat but I was able to control my fan speed at a constant speed with Alexes WHS FAN CONTROL add-in. I also recall at the time Alex asked me if I were color blind so I took a video of the health light but had to do it in the dark to show him the color. Hey you know the RED and PURPLE colors on that light are close but I know the RED color very well and its a bright color but the purple although close is lighter. Now if you look at one or the other too much you can confuse them so I took the video and its purple I assure you.

So why did I just write a book? Well it stems back to the LE1640 which I have always said is a hit or miss processor for use in the EX47x Servers. Some have them running without issue while other had nothing but trouble with them. What is not clear is which version of the LE1640 works and which does not. I think the reason its not known is because soon after people started to try the LE1640 others started to modify their BIOS and use several different X2 processors settling in with the BE2300= and the ADD3800+ and soon there was not to much discussion over the LE1640.

Having said all that I suspect that certain versions of the LE1640 may have caused an issue with the SMI USB area on the motherboard. Now I can not say for sure as I can not prove it or have documentation to prove it but maybe we can start figuring this out now.

My version of the LE1640 is the ADH1640IAA44DP on the box its listed as the ADH1640DPBOX

Can you kindly identify the LE1640 you used using both the numbers written on the processor and if you happen to have the box what was written on the box as well.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

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

Here are the 2 chips that I had attempted:

le1640: ADH1640IAA4DH
be2300: ADH2300IAA5D0

So far tonight I have tried reloading the x2 modified bios and clearing the cmos without any luck. I'm still not able to boot off the internal flash. So for now i'm rebuilding with the external flash just so that i can have a working server for now.

toyceli22,

Thanks for the processor information. I started to write down the LE1640 numbers hoping others would post theirs ones that work well and others which proved to be a problem. I just desire to figure this out once and for all.

As for using the external USB Boot Drive its a good option, you know it works and you can always store it away with your recovery discs or get some 3M velcro and stick it to the side of your server so its always there should you need it in the future. Thing is it really doesn't matter all that much how you recover your server just matters that should you need to do so you can and its really no differnt then having to dig out the client recovery disc should you need to recover a client so your server now is no different.

_________________
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