Intel SS4200-E won't boot

[idata]

Hi there,

I have an intel SS4200-E which has been working smoothly for the past 6 months, 24x7. Is has two SAMSUNG 1,5 TB Ecogreen drives installed and it's my home server for backups and media.

Today I come home and noticed all the leds were lit and the server unavailable. I restarted it, it seems to power cycle, but then the power led / button keeps flashing blue forever. The two harddrive leds remain solid blue. I can't acess the web interface to see any logs, and the system doesn't answer to pings for it's ip address.

Should I reset the system ? If so, will I loose any of the information on the hardrives?

Or should I try to mount one of the disks in a Linux system to try and recover the information on it ?

Thanks in advance,

Pedro

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Resetting the system won't erase RAID configurations. Please follow the steps in http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4200-e/sb/CS-028587.htm http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4200-e/sb/CS-028587.htm.

[idata]

Hello Edward,

Thank you for your input. I tried to reset the system following the steps in the page but difficulties arise just as step 1. I can't complete step 1 because the power led never stops blinking. I tried to press reset for more than 5 seconds but nothing happens and the system doesn't restart.

So I think the SS4200 is not completing the startup sequence... I've done a little digging and come upon this:

http://ss4200.pbworks.com/Boot%2BIssues%2B-%2BPower%2Blight%2Bflashes%2Bcontinuously http://ss4200.pbworks.com/Boot%2BIssues%2B-%2BPower%2Blight%2Bflashes%2Bcontinuously

This is exactly what I'm experiencing.

This page also refers other reset modes:

1. Pressing the reset button while holding the power button (from OFF) until the power button flashes orange (about 2 seconds) and then releasing both causes the ss4200 to boot from IDE (or USB if you don't have a dom plugged in)

2. Pressing the reset button while holding the power button (from OFF) until all buttons flash 3 times causes the ss4200 to return to factory defaults - including the firmware that was originally on it. 3. Pressing the reset button while holding the power button (from ON) for a few seconds causes the ss4200 to return to factory defaults but with the firmware unchanged.I'm guessing that the boot order was changed when the power failed... I'll try resetting it from OFF and see if it is fixed.

Thanks,

Pedro

[idata]

... and so I tried to reset from OFF but all continued the same.The unit wouldn't start up with me holding the power & reset buttons. It would power down after a couple of seconds (just like this post on this community.... /message/83211# 83211 http://communities.intel.com/message/83211# 83211

Having precious data on it, I purchased a serial cable to have a peek on what was going on. I went into the BIOS and changed the boot order. The SS4200 never boot from the IDE interface no matter what... (My SS4200 has a IDE to CF adapter, so I took the CF and formated it, then tried to reinstall Lifeline, but it never booted from the IDE again.

My escape was that it still booted from external USB, so I made a SLAX live usb disk with console acess, booted from the USB, reconfigured raid and LVM2 and finally copied my data to an other external USB disk.

Now I'll probably forego IDE and Lifeline altogehter and make a FreeNAS USB disk... either that or sell my SS4200.

Somehow the BIOS stopped booting from the IDE interface after 6 months of usage with the same configuration. I've read similar problems due to non approved disks (mine are Samsung and are not in the THOL) but these disks have been in there, working, for ages... IMHO it's probably a BIOS bug that Intel should have fixed.

Rgds,

Pedro

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Nice work!

Did you manage to verify if it's software or hardware failure that causes not booting from IDE? If it's software failure you may try to re-image the DOM from here: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15845/eng/EmcImager-1.1.1-1.0.8.29352.zip http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15845/eng/EmcImager-1.1.1-1.0.8.29352.zip

If it's hardware failure (either DOM or baseboard) you may contact Intel Customer Support for a warranty replacement.

[idata]

Hi Edward,

Yes, I tried to reimage the DOM. Using serial console access I could see the progress screens, but the process would fail with a verification error after, supposedly writing to the DOM. In the end I couldn't figure out if it's a DOM failure or BIOS problem. I can read and write to the CF card on windows, but it can still be a problem with the IDE to CF adapter (my system is a SS4200 EHW that I converted using this article http://ss4200.pbworks.com/Convert+SS4200-EHW+to+SS4200-E http://ss4200.pbworks.com/Convert+SS4200-EHW+to+SS4200-E

Cheers

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Oh I didn't notice it's a SS4200-EHW system... If that's the case I don't think you can use the imaging utility to flash the DOM. Actually the only officially supported OS on SS4200-EHW is Windows Home Server.

[idata]

I am badly in need of this file. Intel has taken it down.

My dom crashed and I purchased a new one. But canot get it to work.

Can someone please help me and post this file EmcImager-1.1.1-1.0.8.29352.zip

Thanks in advance.

[idata]

I am badly in need of this file. Intel has taken it down.

My dom crashed and I purchased a new one. But canot get it to work.

Can someone please help me and post this file EmcImager-1.1.1-1.0.8.29352.zip

Thanks in advance.

[idata]

Email me at damian@firebellyconsulting.com and I will point you in the right direction. Of course, remove from the address.

[jfero1]

I have intel Ss4200-E

My problem is, when i turn it on the power button light doesn't turn on only the HDD let 2 and three turn on and the fans other then that nothing happens.

[WWila]

I have too Intel ss4200-e.

I believe the problems is the network card. Because, I have not access to storage and I have not answers to ping.

I tried to reset for standard configurations with the buttom reset (in back side). But I can not access and have not answers.

Can someone help me? You know if anyone fixes this storage? (I'm BR - São Paulo).

Thanks.