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Server Beeping, Fails to Turn On

K

kandrey89

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 11, 2015
Messages
182
Hi,

so I power cycled my server and like the old rule in the book, if it's been running don't touch it, so it broke.

I have Supermicro X10SAE mobo, E3-1245v3 CPU and 16GB of ECC RAM. The server worked well for 2.5 years but now here's what happened:

I turned it on and I got a whole mess of beep codes, and they changed as I started unplugging everything.

Short beeps for all:
2, 4, 5, 4, 3
then it changed to 6, 9, 3
then it changed to 3, 3 and is now permanently stuck beeping 3, 3 long pause 3, 3, etc

Supermicro does not list these beep codes. I now only have 1 memory stick, CPU w/fan and Mobo working, everything else including all the extra fans disconnected. I pulled out the RAM and the code changed in frequency of sound and number of beeps to 5 short and 1 long, which is what I expect, so it's not a RAM problem.

It's not a PSU problem, I swapped it out with another one, same issue.

Can't really replace the CPU or Mobo since they both cost ~$250 each in order to troubleshoot.

Would be nice to understand what those beep codes are...
 
https://ami.com/ami_downloads/Aptio_4.x_Status_Codes_(beep_checkpoint).pdf

The only three beep code I can find in the there is saying your BIOS is corrupted. (DXE volume can't be found, DXE IPL can't be found).

As I understand it, this is the process I see happening on the first boot.

PEI phased detected corrupted firmware and initialized recovery (2 beeps)
recovery firmware volume was loaded and the DXE phase begins
Since recovery mode is just a shell of a system not all of the platform resources are available (4 beeps) and console drivers aren't loaded (5 beeps).
DXE tries to find a new BIOS image to load but can't and exits back to PEI mode. So recovery failed (4 beeps).
PEI phase tries to continue booting, but no other DXE volumes are found to continue the boot process (3 beeps) and hang.

Second boot: No clue what's going on here, maybe there's flag set that tells the system that recovery from the first boot failed.

All remaining boots. PEI can't find the DXEIPL (3 beeps), which means it can't load any DXE volumes (3 beeps) .. so it starts over and tries again.
 
Last edited:
Great, thank you for the info.

Now how do I fix my BIOS? :D

Supermicro has 1 year parts and 3 years labor, I'm 2.5 years in, will I need to RMA or can I fix it myself? BTW did you know stupid SM says that RMA has to be done in original packaging, ROFL, wtf...
 
Per Supermicro manual, tried main boot image recovery and also the boot block recovery, it seemed to recognize the ROM image I downloaded (saw the USB light flashing, accessing data) and put in the USB but I still did not get the display to select to update the BIOS like the manual says it should, anyway, after several attempts, all I get now is 4 beeps as soon as the computer turns on.
It doesn't even complain that the memory is removed when I remove the RAM, looks like the BIOS is fully bricked, beeps 4 times always, going to RMA it, here's hoping SM are not going to be baffoons for asking me to RMA it in original box, who keeps the mobo box for 3 years? Well, actually I probably have it somewhere, but I don't feel like looking for it in the attic.
 
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