Server Board S1200SPLR - CPU E3-1240v6 - no startup after reboot

[allengrace]

Hello community members

I'm posting here because since today my server is not starting; no POST beeps, no graphics. This system has been stable since December 2020, at first with 32Gb RAM and since May 2021 with 64Gb.

Server board S1200SPLR

CPU Xeon E3-1240v6

16GB Transcend TS2GLH72V1B DDR4-2133 ECC DIMM CL15 (x4)

I restarted today several times, having trouble with options to Grub, trying to get to single-user mode to correct a faulty fstab entry which was preventing full startup. After the fourth or fifth attempt, the system did not start at all. There are no POST beeps and no graphics are displayed (over VGA - there's no appropriate DP cable in the house today). The diagnostic LEDs pass through several states and end with 3+4+5+6 (out of 0-7) lit. After a while it appears to reinitialise and then pass through the same sequence again. Photo attached.

This page https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/multimedia/server-products/server-boards/7059/

interprets this combination as code 78: "Driver eXecution Environment (DXE) Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) Initialization"

although that page has no option for CPU E3-1240-v6, so I selected E3-1200-v5 as the most similar option.

I have tried removing DIMMs (error beeps when none present), tried the DIMMs in various combinations (no improvement), and each one singly (no improvement).

I have downloaded the available BIOS Updates and the System Event Log Viewer, but haven't done anything with them since they aren't much help without a display.

Does anyone have any suggestions for where the trouble might lie, or tips about further debugging possibilities?

greetings from sunny Munich

Allen

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello allengrace,

Thank you for joining the Intel community

I think it would be worth to try clearing CMOS by removing the quarter battery for 24 hours and then retry. Besides that you want to try a minimal configuration (CPU+ 1 DIMM only) and remove all PCIe cards and HDDs.

We will look forward to your updates

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:

https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[allengrace]

Hello Jose

Thanks for your suggestions. I took the battery out for 24 hours and retried - no improvement. Then I removed all drives and all but one DIMM, leaving one in A2. Unfortunately also no change, still the same LED configuration and no display. 

Do you have any further ideas?

regards, Allen

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello allengrace,

Thank you for the updates and the effort. The only thing left that I could think of would be to test a good known processor in case you have it. Or test this current processor in another working server. This would be to discard the issue is with the CPU and not the board. If possible to test, I'd love to hear the outcome. Otherwise you can submit a warranty replacement on the following site: Warranty Information (intel.com)

I will look forward to your updates

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:

https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[allengrace]

Hello Jose

Unfortunately I don't have either a substitute CPU or board. I will see what the warranty site has to offer. Thanks for your prompt replies!

cheers, Allen

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello allengrace,

Before proceeding to close the thread, I checked on the memory you are using and it does not show up as validated for this system according to the Intel serverconfigurator tool. This could be a possible source of issues even if the server used to boot before. So you can remove all the memory and try to boot the system to force it to beep for memory error. (famous 3 beeps)

Besides that, there could be a chance of the BIOS to became corrupted, so you can try to boot the system  using the BIOS recovery jumper into recovery position. For more details you can check section 9.2 from this document 

We will look forward to your updates

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:

https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello allengrace,

We will proceed to mark this thread as closed. If you have further issues or questions just go ahead and submit a new topic.

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit:

https://intel.com/support/serverbios