ASRock C2550D4I - Won't boot. No BIOS. No IPMI. Nothing.

[morxy49]

So i came home today and noticed my NAS was down. Looked at the monitor and it was full of complete jibberish. Random characters everywhere. I remember it saying Python2.7 somewhere, but it had no relevant text before or after, so i don't think it means anything.
I couldn't reach the WebGUI, and it didn't respond to any keyboard input, so i held down the power button until it died.

After that everything went to hell. Oh boy.
I tried starting it up again. Nothing happened. Completely black screen. I let it run for a while, maybe 10 minutes, and tried to reach the WebGUI. Nope.
Killed it again and tried the same procedure a couple of times. Still nothing.

So i tried to access IPMI. Nah, doesn't work. Although i must say that i'm not completely sure i'm doing it right.

Also tried taking out the CMOS-battery for 30 minutes. Still no change.

Tried taking out one of the two RAM sticks. Nope.

Removed all eight harddrives. Still nothing.

Unplugged all unnecessary devices, such as UPS, USB-stick with FreeNAS on, keyboard etc. Nooope!

So right now i'm sitting here. I've played all my cards. There's nothing left to do, right? Anything? Please?

Hardware:
ASRock C2550D4I
2x8GB ECC RAM
8x3TB WD Red (unplugged atm)
Silverstone SFX ST45SF-G 450W

Software: FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201412090314

 

[jgreco]

So what you're saying is that the screen is consistently black?

Your best bet is to figure out whether or not IPMI is alive, and then check what it has to say, if anything. The IPMI has, I believe, some access to the system event log, which may have some information in it.

Can you check on your DHCP server to see if the IPMI has been assigned an IP address, and if so, can you ping it, or log in on it?

 

[morxy49]

So what you're saying is that the screen is consistently black?

Your best bet is to figure out whether or not IPMI is alive, and then check what it has to say, if anything. The IPMI has, I believe, some access to the system event log, which may have some information in it.

Can you check on your DHCP server to see if the IPMI has been assigned an IP address, and if so, can you ping it, or log in on it?

The problem is i don't know the IP of the IPMI. And now i've reset CMOS/BIOS, so i assume the IP is default, but i still don't know what the default is.

In frustration i tried everything, so i hooked up the NAS directly to my PC (NAS MGMT interface <-> PC LAN port) with an ethernet cable, and looked at the ARP messages. This is what i captured.

169.254.156.44 is my PC, and i assumed that 192.168.0.26 was the IPMI, but i can't get it to work. I can't even ping the address.

 

[jgreco]

169.254.156.44 is broken. That's a link-local address. Presumably you're using DHCP and since it didn't get a DHCP address, it stupided itself instead.

Manually configure your PC to an IP address on the 192.168.0.X network (netmask 255.255.255.0) and you should be able to ping 192.168.0.26.

That could be either the IPMI or the actual NAS. Hard to tell offhand.

 

[morxy49]

169.254.156.44 is broken. That's a link-local address. Presumably you're using DHCP and since it didn't get a DHCP address, it stupided itself instead.

Manually configure your PC to an IP address on the 192.168.0.X network (netmask 255.255.255.0) and you should be able to ping 192.168.0.26.

That could be either the IPMI or the actual NAS. Hard to tell offhand.

My router has always been told to give my PC the IP 192.168.1.221, but now i also set it statically to that IP in windows.

Tried pinging 192.168.0.26 afterwards and got this:

Pinging 192.168.0.26 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.26:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),​

Also tried to ping 192.168.1.26, because it seemed weird to have a zero. Then i got this:

Pinging 192.168.1.26 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.221: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.221: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.221: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.221: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.26:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
​

I guess that's a step forward?

EDIT: I noticed i read your post wrong. So now i tried changing my PC's IP to 192.168.0.221 and pinged 192.168.0.26. Got this, but obviously i lost my internet connection.

Pinging 192.168.0.26 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.26: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.26: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.26: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.26: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.26:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms​

 

[morxy49]

HOLY SHIT IT WORKED!

Thank you!!!

I could access the IPMI when i changed my PC's IP to a 192.168.0.* address. I changed the IPMI settings now so i should be able to access it normally on my network now, with a .1 address.

I'll update about the black screen as well.

 

[jgreco]

So, yeah, definitely do tell us what happens next.

 

[morxy49]

So, yeah, definitely do tell us what happens next.

Ok, so the IPMI seems to work pretty well. I could change the time settings and so on.
However, i'm trying to use the console redirection (with JViewer), and all i'm getting is a black screen, still.
Also, there is now a unlabeled red LED blinking (inversed synchronized blinking with the green BMC_LED)
Picture

EDIT: and i can't find the option to show video on the physical monitor, but maybe that's inside the BIOS.

 

[morxy49]

UPDATE:
So i've tried a completely different RAM stick. No difference.
Tried removing the motherboard from the case, and it's now laying flat on the table. Still black.
I tried with another PSU. Nope...

 

[jgreco]

I'd suggest contacting ASRock support and finding out what the blinking red light means. Plus of course tell them the rest of what's happened. You seem to be doing the right sorts of things at this point and it's looking like maybe a failed board, but they may be able to give you some more specific guidance of things to check via IPMI.

 

[joeschmuck]

Try using a single RAM module in a single slot slot. Try both slots of course. I was reading a posting that someone fried the MB because of unqualified RAM was used the the MB. Is your RAM on the certified list for your MB? Also there are a lot of postings on the internet with respect to problems like this for this MB. You might need a new one.

 

[morxy49]

Try using a single RAM module in a single slot slot. Try both slots of course. I was reading a posting that someone fried the MB because of unqualified RAM was used the the MB. Is your RAM on the certified list for your MB? Also there are a lot of postings on the internet with respect to problems like this for this MB. You might need a new one.

I think i've tried every possible combination av RAMs right now. And yeah, they're on the compability list.

 

[TheCowGod]

This sounds exactly like the problem I just had. Did you disconnect the fans from your motherboard during your testing? There are several red LEDs on the board that blink to indicate fan failure, and I saw them blink when I had the board disconnected from all peripherals for troubleshooting.

I contacted ASRock support and I gotta say, William from ASRock was awesome. Very responsive, helped me out from his home even over the Christmas break when officially they were closed, etc. I did all the same troubleshooting steps you did, and he ended up agreeing that there was no more troubleshooting to do, and he had me send it in for RMA. After they received it and tested it, he let me know what they had found: "A power rail sensor failed to trigger when there was actually a current going through the associating power rail. That resulted to the board mistaking it an insufficient power thus not to give POST."

Weirdly, after I received the replacement, that board only lasted two days before failing with the exact same symptoms. I sent it in for RMA as well, and of course both William and I were skeptical that two boards could fail so quickly, but I had gone out and bought a new PSU and a stick of RAM to test with, to eliminate variables, and it still wouldn't boot. Sure enough, when he tested the second board, he confirmed it was also bad. Weird.

Again, to his credit, he did extensive testing on the third board before sending it to me, to help assure that it was good, and he said ASRock HQ had asked that they send both failed boards in for analysis.

Anyway, it seems weird that yours would fail in what sounds like the same way. It could be unrelated, but I thought I'd let you know about it. I agree, contact ASRock support, they'll take good care of you. I'm sure my case was just a fluke, and your replacement board will be fine.

 

[morxy49]

This sounds exactly like the problem I just had. Did you disconnect the fans from your motherboard during your testing? There are several red LEDs on the board that blink to indicate fan failure, and I saw them blink when I had the board disconnected from all peripherals for troubleshooting.

I contacted ASRock support and I gotta say, William from ASRock was awesome. Very responsive, helped me out from his home even over the Christmas break when officially they were closed, etc. I did all the same troubleshooting steps you did, and he ended up agreeing that there was no more troubleshooting to do, and he had me send it in for RMA. After they received it and tested it, he let me know what they had found: "A power rail sensor failed to trigger when there was actually a current going through the associating power rail. That resulted to the board mistaking it an insufficient power thus not to give POST."

Weirdly, after I received the replacement, that board only lasted two days before failing with the exact same symptoms. I sent it in for RMA as well, and of course both William and I were skeptical that two boards could fail so quickly, but I had gone out and bought a new PSU and a stick of RAM to test with, to eliminate variables, and it still wouldn't boot. Sure enough, when he tested the second board, he confirmed it was also bad. Weird.

Again, to his credit, he did extensive testing on the third board before sending it to me, to help assure that it was good, and he said ASRock HQ had asked that they send both failed boards in for analysis.

Anyway, it seems weird that yours would fail in what sounds like the same way. It could be unrelated, but I thought I'd let you know about it. I agree, contact ASRock support, they'll take good care of you. I'm sure my case was just a fluke, and your replacement board will be fine.

Well mine is two years old, so i have no warranty left. I just bought a new one an hour ago, and it should arrive in a couple of days. Seriously hope that this will fix the problem, otherwise i'm just throwing my cash right in the trash bin.

 

[TheCowGod]

Well mine is two years old, so i have no warranty left. I just bought a new one an hour ago, and it should arrive in a couple of days. Seriously hope that this will fix the problem, otherwise i'm just throwing my cash right in the trash bin.

Are you sure you're out of warranty? According to William at ASRack, their sever boards usually have a 3-year warranty. You may want to look into that. If you can get the original board replaced under warranty, you could probably return the new one you just bought, or at least sell the warranty replacement board.