[mdlug] Fixing a Dell Precision server

Carl T. Miller carl at carltm.com
Sun Feb 12 16:48:14 EST 2012


It's also possible that the person who changed the
battery did some other tinkering.  When you boot the
computer, do you see something about a SCSI controller,
a RAID controller or a PERC device?  There is probably
a message to press a key combination within 5 seconds
to configure it.

c


Mat Enders wrote:
> Replacing the cmos battery may have been coincidental. What was the up
> time before that?  When running the live cd does it see the SCSI bus?  If
> it sees the bus does it see the drive?
> Mat Enders from my BlackBerry®
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David McMillan <skyefire at skyefire.org>
> Sender: mdlug-bounces at mdlug.org
> Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:58:56
> To: <mdlug at mdlug.org>
> Reply-To: MDLUG's Main discussion list <mdlug at mdlug.org>
> Subject: [mdlug] Fixing a Dell Precision server
>
>
> 	Running Windows, alas.  But it's for a local nonprofit that can't
> easily afford a shop repair or to replace the machine.
>
> 	It was running fine until recently, when the BIOS began giving warnings
> that the BIOS battery needed replacing.  Well, someone went ahead and
> replaced the battery... with the machine off, which obviously wiped any
> non-factory BIOS settings.  Now the BIOS won't recognize the hard drive.
> 	The kicker is, the main hard drive is SCSI (which I have zero
> experience with), plugs directly into the motherboard, and is (as far as
> I have been able to determine) the original factory configuration.
>
> 	So, since everything else was operating fine, my best guess is that the
> BIOS needs adjusting to use the SCSI drive as a boot device.  Although
> *why* this would be, when the SCSI drive was factory-original, confuses
> me.  The problem is, when the nonprofit's in-house "computer guy"
> contacted Dell with the service tag#, Dell told him that BIOS upgrades
> for this computer are no longer available.
>
> 	So, now the thing's landed in my lap.  I'm guessing it should be *that*
> hard -- the BIOS firmware shouldn't have been changed by the battery
> change, just the settings, correct?  It should just be a matter of
> figuring out what the right BIOS settings are.  But since I've *never*
> used SCSI in my life, well... any guidance from more knowledgeable
> people would be appreciated.
>
> 	Now I'm going to go boot it with a Linux CD and see what a hardware
> scan says....
>
>
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