Instead of restarting, BIOS transfers to UEFI Interactive Shell

[jifrederick]

I had it working before normally before.  I took it apart and now have reassembled.  Resetting to optimized defaults doesn't cure the problem.  The Boot options are #1 UEFI Interractive Shell,  #2  CD, #3  SSD.  As I read the BIOS manual, the UEFI has to be there and I've not been able to force use of one of the other 2 options.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

Thank you for joining the community

Just some a couple questions:

• What system (server board model) do you have?
• By any chance is there any USB flash drive plugged in to any of the USB ports?
• Have you tried setting BIOS to factory defaults (F9)?

I will look forward for your updates

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:
https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[jifrederick]

Thanks, Jose A, for watching out for my problems.  Your BIOS manual doesn't have enough words.  I was able to figure out that the submenu under Boot Option 1 was the familiar Boot Order and was able to fix that to boot from the CD, then SSD.  Now, my problem is that the machine doesn't see my USB drives.  I assume that it's just some BIOS setting which is not corrected by factory settings or optimized defaults.  I don't like your RAID VROC.  If I give it a working RAID1 pair, it sees them as separate drives and only offers to erase the data and make a RAID volume.  When I can install the drivers using a USB drive, I plan to try installing the old RST ver 17.6.1027 that I got with another machine that uses the Z390 chip set.  I'm assuming that I can bring over a 12T RAID1 pair.  Thanks for your continuing help.  John Frederick

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

It is weird the system is not seeing the USB drives. You want to plug them to the ports on the rear that are connected directly to the board. You should hear a single beep. This is a sign the USB devices was detected.

Let me know how it goes

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[jifrederick]

Thanks very much for your continuing attention.  I posted another question that SergioS picked up.   My apologies if I'm wasting peoples'  time.  The USB problem went away. The machine is delightfully stable, but I have some issues:

1.  In the very initial Boot display, BIOS doesn't see a pre-existing 12T RAID1 pair.  It does see 2Ts and OS assigns them a single drive letter so it apparently works correctly.  Is there a BIOS fix for big disks?  If not, how big can I go?

2.  Your new RAID sees a Raid1 pair as 2 separate drives and only offers to erase the data and make them Raid volume.  I tried to install the previous RST version 17.  It seemed to install, but I can't find it to start it.  It doesn't show under INTEL in the App list.  If you have a version of the RST that will work with this board, I would like to use it.  It's what I use on my other machines.

3.  After the machine has been for about 8 hours, a blue LED at the edge of the board about 1" from the back panel comes on.  It looks like there are several LEDs there that are not in the User Guide.  Could you provide something?

Thank you very much for giving me attention that you might otherwise be providing to someone with a 100 server farm

jif

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

1. Is this 12T RAID 1 at least showing up in BIOS? What kind of disk are they, SATA, SAS, NVMe?
2. What is the new raid tool you refer, is it VROC?
3. To exactly tell you what this LED could be about, could you attach the server model?

About the RAID, what you want to do is to import an existing RAID configuration without recreating the RAID volume thus deleting everything?

I will look forward for your details

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[jifrederick]

I'm losing ground.  Now, BIOS doesn't see any drives except for the Boot.  It's a mistake for me to mess with BIOS.  The most valuable piece of knowledge is how to reset to factory values.  I found it once, but I've lost track of it.  If you could help, I'll go back and start from the beginning.  You're right that I want to shuffle RAID1 pairs built on other machines with your RST.  I have two new Western Digital Enterprise series 12T drives on order.  When I get them, I'll try to use your VROC to make a new RAID1.

Your BIOS manual, Rev 1.1 dated Jan, 2020 is inadequate.  Page 53 deals with "SATA and RSTe Configuration".The SATA Controller is, by default set to Enabled.  "SATA Mode Selection" is , by default, AHCI.  There's nothing there to tell me what the parameters mean and nothing to tell me that if I change SATA Mode Selection to RAID, my singleton boot drive will no longer work.

To get me restarted, please tell me where the reset to factory defaults is, and

confirm that the board will do 12T drives if I get the settings right.

Thanks again.

jif

[jifrederick]

Sory.  I didn't answer all your questions.  The board is M10JNP2SB.  BIOS doesn't see and therefore, OS can't see.  I'm accustomed to geting a CD with a board with a complete set of drivers.  You don't do that so I went to the support section of your web site.  RST was not there, only VROC.

jif

[jifrederick]

Correction.  I have a 2T RAID1 pair + 2 other 2Ts connected.  Disk Management sees them and VROC lists them as singles in Devices.  Each line says SATA disk on controller x, port y Incompatible.   BIOS didn't see the 12Ts.

jif

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

First things first, the option to do BIOS factory defaults is F9 when you are on the BIOS screen. It will prompt you so just select YES.

Then I think this couple articles will help you to with the VROC user guide and then with the regular RSTe or ESRT2 and how to set them up in BIOS

VROC user guide: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000030445/memory-and-storage/ssd-software.html

Embedded RAID setup: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006189/server-products.html

Hope they help

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

I am just following up to double-check if you found the provided information useful. If you have further questions please don't hesitate to ask. If you consider the issue to be completed please let us know so we can proceed to mark this thread as closed. I will try to contact you back on next Monday 28th if not hearing from you by then.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[jifrederick]

We may be at the end of our dialog.  My disk problem is apparently the disks.  Somehow, both the disks are damaged.  They are dead.  They don't vibrate or get warm.  I've tried them on multiple machines and multiple connectors.  Something happened to both at the same time.  I never heard of such a thing.  Sergio S came up with a copy of the old RST which I've installed and looks like the one that I have on my other machines.  F9 doesn't give me the question yes/no so I used F3 Optimized defaults and regenned Win 10.  Seems to work perfectly.    My problems were mostly of my making and I want to thank you and Sergio S for your patience.  I would be interested in the Factory Default key if it is different from F3, but it's not essential.  I think that we can mark this thread closed successfully.

John Frederick

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

Thanks for taking the time to share your finding. We will proceed to mark this thread as closed. If you have further issues or questions just go ahead and submit a new topic.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello jifrederick,

Just to answer your last question about the BIOS defaults in this particular model, you need to use F3 instead of F9. There is no change, it is the same action the only difference is that this model use a different key for the same action.

You can check the BIOS setup guide https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/intel-m10jnp2sb-bios-setup-guide.pdf#page=14

Hope this helps

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:

https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[jifrederick]

I posted a new topic, but now, I can't remember the title and can't fine it.  Updates: 1. My dead drive problems were a new feature called "power disable".  An adapter for the SATA power connector solved that problem.  My system is apparently not "RAID ready".  Neither RST or VROC display existing RAID sets correctly or give me a Create Volume option.  If I set  SATA Mode Selection to RAID, the system won't boot from the SSD generated with thee mode in AHCI.  If I set it to RAID and then try to gen a Win 10, no one, BIOS, Disk Management or Win 10 sees the SSD.    Please advise.

John Frederick