PowerEdge T320 -- rear chassis fan at high speed

Thanks for the quick reply. I was planning on doing those various updates tonight. We'll try for the flea power tomorrow morning (I'd never heard of that before).

Let's say all of the above don't resolve - what would be the next step(s)?

Thanks,

-Ben

Just tried the above and am not getting anywhere still. It appears that I am unable to perform a BIOS update because of problems with the iDRAC. I also tried doing a reset of iDRAC using racadm but that is throwing errors too.

Here is the sequence of what I get when booting:

1. power on

2. "configuring memory" in middle of screen - finishes fairly quickly

3. "initializing iDRAC" in middle of screen - sits at this for 2:06 minutes

4. reboots

5. repeat #1

6. repeat #2

7. normal POST screen with message "Lifecycle Controller Disabled" (BIOS is  1.4.6)

8. "Warning! iDRAC initialization error. Continuing to work..."

1. hit F1 to continue

9. "Initializing firmware interfaces..."

10. "Initialization complete"

11. "SWC0700: iDRAC is not ready. The configuration values cannot be accessed."

1. hit F1 to continue again

12. Windows boots normally

Any other suggestions?

Thanks Robert. Is the BIOS updating not controlled by the iDRAC? When trying to update the BIOS (jumping to the very latest version), I was trying to do it through Windows and that update was failing. Maybe I'll have better luck with the bootable ISO?

I ended up using a bootable USB with DOS to get the BIOS updated to the latest version. No change.

I tried disconnecting power for 10 mins and clearing the flea power. No change.

I also tried to update the iDRAC (which can apparently only be done with a Windows installer?). That wouldn't even launch. I forgot the exact language but it was basically saying that the system did not have compatible hardware for the update.

So I'm still having the same symptoms: getting prompted for F1 during bootups, iDRAC errors during bootup, and the fan is running at high speed non-stop.

Thanks for your help.

I have the same exact issue as this person. Lost power, went to UPS power, shut system down,  10 minutes later booted back up and the iDRAC has been a disaster ever since. What I am reading is the motherboard needs to be replaced? I find that beyond ridiculous that just rebooting a server will cause a function of the board to physically stop working. I also read there have been extensive issues with iDRAC failing on these integrated server boards.

The server is now a couple months out of warranty, who do I contact to get this fixed.. immediately?

This is a hidden addiction to this Dell product.
Many have this problem after updating BIOS, etc.
Dell, honestly, should replace the card (or rewrite the ROM) even after the warranty, as the problem is hidden until the update (provided by Dell) or mysteriously reboot.
The cost would be small considering that she would reuse the plates just by re-recording, but it would be very respectful to the consumer.