BIOS Power Management Setting

HP Engineer Jerry McCollom has provided the needed steps to perform a BIOS power management change. This was initially published on the MediaSmartServer.net forums . His process is documented below.

By default, the HP MediaSmart Server BIOS power management setting has the server in "always off" mode after power interruption, but the BIOS has support for “always on” and “previous state” settings.

In “always on” mode, the server will always power on after a power interruption.

In “keep previous state”, the server will return to the state it was in prior to the power interruption. If the server was intentionally powered down, and the AC power is interrupted, it will stay in a powered down state once AC power is restored. If the server was on prior to the power failure, it will return to the powered on state.

Since the server does not have video output, you cannot see the BIOS startup, setup screens, or settings. However, you can change them blindly with the help of a USB keyboard and some CAREFUL keystrokes.

Because the following is not an offically supported set of steps, I need to frighten you with the following disclaimer.

WARNING: THIS WILL VOID YOUR SERVER’S WARRANTY! BLINDLY MANIPULATING THE BIOS SETTINGS IS UNSUPPORTED AND IS POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS TO YOUR SERVER.

Now that you've been frightened, it's really very simple to successfully follow these steps.

CHANGING THE POWER MANAGEMENT SETTING:

1. Power down your server.
2. Attach a USB keyboard to the front USB port.
3. Power on the server.
4. As soon as the health LED blinks blue and red, press the DEL key. You will see the light stop blinking – it will remain either a solid blue or solid red. Optionally, you can press DEL as soon as you hear the fans slow down (they are full speed at initial power on, but will drop in speed once the BIOS posts.) If you take this route into the BIOS, the health light will remain a solid purple and will never start blinking.
5. Wait 5 seconds to be certain the BIOS is on the settings page and the health light is remaining solid.
6. Press the DOWN ARROW key four (4) times.
7. Press the ENTER key one (1) time.
8. Press the UP ARROW key two (2) times.
9. You are now positioned at the power management setting and it is set to “always off”. At this point, decide if you want to have the server be in “keep previous state” or “always on” mode and perform one of the following steps:
   1. To set the power management state to “keep previous state”, press the PG UP key one (1) time.
   2. To set the power management state to “always on”, press the PG DN key one (1) time.
10. Press the F10 key one (1) time to have the BIOS save this setting.
11. Press the ENTER and the server should reboot.
12. Unplug the USB keyboard.

TESTING THE NEW POWER MANAGEMENT SETTING

1. Power off the server with the power button.
2. Unplug the server.
3. Plug the server back in.
4. If you changed the state to “always on”, the server will immediately power on. You have successfully set the BIOS power management state. If you had the state set to “keep previous state”, the server should remain off. Continue to the next testing steps.
5. Power on the server.
6. Once the health LED starts blinking, unplug the server.
7. Plug the server back in. It should immediately power on. You have successfully changed the power management setting to “keep previous state”.

RESETTING THE BIOS TO FACTORY DEFAULTS

1. Power down your server.
2. Attach a USB keyboard to the front USB port.
3. Power on the server.
4. As soon as the health LED blinks blue and red, press the DEL key. You will see the light stop blinking – it will remain either a solid blue or solid red. Optionally, you can press DEL as soon as you hear the fans slow down (they are full speed at initial power on, but will drop in speed once the BIOS posts.) If you take this route into the BIOS, the health light will remain a solid purple and will never start blinking.
5. Wait 5 seconds to be certain the BIOS is on the settings page and the health light is remaining solid.
6. Press the RIGHT ARROW key one (1) time.
7. Press the DOWN ARROW key two (2) times.
8. Press the ENTER key one (1) time. This is selecting the “Load optimized defaults” option, which is how the BIOS is shipped from the factory.
9. Press the Y key one (1) time.
10. Press the ENTER key one (1) time.
11. Press the F10 key one (1) time to have the BIOS save these settings.
12. Press the ENTER and the server should reboot.
13. Unplug the USB keyboard.