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I have a Dell 2950 server that happens to have a currently broken Windows Server 2008 R2. When power cycled the normal Dell BIOS comes up. Pressing F2 results in the F2 prompt changing to "Entering Setup". However, the boot stops at:

Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller BIOS...
...

Remote Access Configuration Utility 1.26
Baseboard Management Controller Revision 2.28
Primary Backplane Firmware Revision 1.05
IP Address 0.0.0.0
Gateway: 0.0.0.0
Press <CTRL-E> for Remote Access Setup within 5 sec.....

In this case, pressing CTRL-E indeed enters RAC setup, but I don't know what to do there.

I wish to get the device to boot from a CD. What can be done to bypass the RAC prompt and get into the BIOS for setting boot order, etc?

Bryce
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  • Well, it went and booted. It might just be flaky. If so I will withdraw the question. – Bryce Jun 26 '17 at 16:39
  • Yeah, it boots past this point about 1 in 3 times. SE won't let me withdraw the question. – Bryce Jun 28 '17 at 04:45
  • Hey @Bryce, I've got the same problem with a 2950 too. RAID is ok, but booting stuck after the 5sec of RAC ... I can boot on DVD or USB using the F11 Boot Menu, but in my case I want to understand what is the real problem. Do you have any clue? – 4wk_ Apr 23 '18 at 17:10

2 Answers2

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After the 5 seconds, to the boot process continue, or it get stuck?

If it get stuck, you can have a problem with the PERC RAID card. Try to remove it and reboot the server; if it boots correcly, re-seat it and reboot another time.

shodanshok
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  • I reseated the raid controller and sideplane. No change. If left alone, after 5 seconds it boots in Windows Server 2008 R2. If F2 is pressed, it never gets past the above prompt (but if CTRL-E is pressed in the 5 second timeouyt, I get to the DRAC config screens). – Bryce Jun 20 '17 at 19:31
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The 2950 is pretty old. There might be a BIOS update for it, anyway, although they usually distribute firmware updates to run on a working OS.

My googling suggests that you might have a boot menu option available if you press F11. (And a System Services option if you press F10, which will get you into the Lifecycle controller and might allow you to update firmware.) Hopefully that will help you get to the boot from CD option.

Katherine Villyard
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