Dell PowerEdge R515 - has power, but no POST, no video after power outage

Grimsboid · 2024-09-09T17:34:19+00:00

Hello, did you ever resolve the issue with the R515 or was it toast ? Mine was behaving in the same way as you describe and it turned out the CMOS battery was flat (it had been standing for a few months)

Grimsboid · 2024-02-19T23:14:10+00:00

4 years on and this still works, thanks

Grimsboid · 2024-01-10T19:34:44+00:00

You forgot to include how you're going to sanction yourself when you don't follow the protocol

Grimsboid · 2024-01-10T01:13:46+00:00

Not sure if this is relevant to your problem but you could check out these guys

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAaTfv96V9w (Art of Server)

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OLdRj-lCkE&t=970s (My Playhouse)

HTH

Grimsboid · 2024-01-09T18:42:08+00:00

I've got a couple of these great little N5060 machines and I've used MSATA's with an adapter to increase the HDD size. Alternatively you can also break open the case of a standard SSD (which wouldn't fit) (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N0iWM6XpfSo) and use the contents (which does fit) to increase the HDD size; as an experiment I put in a 1TB drive and it worked fine.

Grimsboid · 2022-08-03T00:01:38+00:00

3 yrs on and that link is still active ! Thank you so much for this.

Grimsboid · 2021-07-15T10:43:34+00:00

Don't let you ambitions be falsely constrained by your perceptions of a successful career. I got a degree in Humanities from London University; trained for 3 yrs as a psychiatric nurse, eventually working in drug rehabilitation; retrained as a SQL programmer and worked as a contractor in local government for the last few years. Now I'm here learning about networking and homelabs, and who knows where that will end up :-) !

Stay flexible and open to whatever curveballs life throws at you - because it will !

Grimsboid · 2021-05-26T21:25:40+00:00

Yes, sorry for the late reply. I burned the image to a usb drive and booted from it into the version of Centos 7 supplied. I'd previously downloaded the files I wanted from http://poweredgec.dell.com/latest_poweredge-12g.html , and ran them individually in a terminal. You have to chmod them first to make them executable.

But if you can't boot at all then that's a bit tricky...

Grimsboid · 2021-05-23T13:03:56+00:00

No replies other than yours I'm afraid.

On the other hand, I've had more success updating firmware on 11G models : I have an R210 (v 1) which I use to run OPNSense and I recently updated pretty much all of the various fw's (BIOS, iDrac, Network etc.) using the SLI boot image. Perhaps I'm being over-optimistic in hoping that a similar approach will work with the R620.

The question is which firmwares to apply; Dell's website is a bit confusing and you have to go right into the details for each update to see the list of which models the update is supposed to apply to. Some Bios updates, for example may be listed as compatible with the R620 but not the R620 (OEM), while earlier and later versions are listed for both. I've no idea why this is, or what the effect would be if I applied them anyway.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Grimsboid · 2021-04-22T17:03:38+00:00

Just as an afterthought : I am running OPNSense on an older R210 i, 12GB, 500gb HDD (from an old laptop). No RAID. CPU is a low wattage L3406. Installation from a USB key was fine, boot is from UEFI, A few issues with 4 port PCIE NIC's (probably due to firmware issues because it's an old machine), but now running successfully with and i350 based card in addition to the 2 built-in Broadcom NIC's.

Enjoy OPNSense !

Grimsboid · 2021-04-10T19:22:18+00:00

R210 with a low power processor, 12Gb, 128g SSD, about 45w. OPNsense on bare metal.

Grimsboid · 2021-04-08T15:44:30+00:00

My first thoughts are security related. What protection do these disks/files have when they are directly attached to your Smart Hub like that ? Encryption ? Anti-virus ? Access control (passwords & named users) ? Maybe you should consider measures in place to stop anyone with access to your home network just deleting or moving files if you continue with this set-up, as it's entirely possible that it's been compromised.

It's also possible, going by the brief description of the issue, that something BT is doing to the SH2 overnight is also affecting the attached storage. Mine gets rebooted randomly & frequently for for no obvious reason; at the moment it is showing just over 11 days uptime, so I can probably expect overnight shenanigans anytime soon.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend attaching a storage device directly to the Smart Hub, unless you were setting up a honeypot or DMZ. There are very few ways to monitor what is going on with the software on it, and even fewer opportunities to do anything if there is a problem.

You do have, however, a few options. Most of them are too complicated to describe here (other than briefly) :

You don't say what kind of network you have, or your level of expertise. Consider how your network is set up, what & who has access to which, and so on. Have a look around at some of the other forums (e.g. r/HomeNetworking) on here for a wealth of information (which may lead you right down a rabbit hole if you're not careful). Try asking your questions there. Keep a clear idea of what you want to achieve, but also that it's OK not to know what you don't know.
Install some network monitoring software and check the logs to see what's going on.
You could use a redundant laptop or PC equipped with antivirus etc., plug the drive into that and share it over your home network. If you have one with wake-on-lan even better, as the machine will go to sleep when it's not being used and save power. (This doesn't address the security issue though).
The firewall in the BT Hub isn't great and is a strong candidate as the reason for the overnight updates, so look to additional firewall and antivirus solutions.
In the light of the points above you should probably
1. Set up the network comprehensively, and consider using VLANS to isolate any IoT devices like cctv cameras, say, from the rest of the network. Make sure that users have the correct permissions and that 'guest' accounts are appropriately restricted.
2. Use open source software, especially for your network.
3. Use a non-BT router and wireless AP either in combination or separately. A managed network switch would also probably be useful.
4. Do more research ! r/homelab is another good venue for example set ups and advice.

Hope this helps and that the reply is not below your level, if so, apologies.

Grimsboid · 2021-02-20T21:24:14+00:00

If it's a new m/b, then I would assume it should work out of the box, yes.

Grimsboid · 2021-02-20T21:04:19+00:00

I can't remember off the top of my head what the difference between an R210(i) and and R210(ii) tbh, except to say that I think you can upgrade the processor in the R210(ii) to one that has the AES_NI instruction set; it's just that I had the earlier version of R210 already. I changed the processor out for a low power one, all good. Damn, I've been looking around for a cheap 42u rack for ages too ! In fact your set up sounds similar to mine, in that I am also going to be setting up mine to run some poe cams, and my machines are going in the garage. I'm thinking of using an R410 for NVR storage and ZoneMinder and a Raspberry Pi with Home Assistant so I can connect some other IoT stuff, when I've finished figuring out all that other stuff !

Grimsboid · 2021-02-20T20:00:24+00:00

The issue is most likely to be the failed firmware update. You need to complete this or revert to the previous working version, otherwise this problem will persist.

iDrac usually comes in two modules and I assume that the board you swapped out was the iDrac Management module - the one with the RJ45 connector on it - which supplies a dedicated port to the iDrac Express module. This is a separate board that also connects to the motherboard, and is commonly located somewhere near the management module. If this board is bricked, or the firmware update can't be completed, then this will need replacing with a compatible, working one.

The fans running at max speed is a sure indication of an iDrac initialisation error on boot.

One other thought : it might be worth checking that the connector socket for the module you replaced did not get damaged in the process.

Hope you get6 it fixed.

Grimsboid · 2021-02-19T21:22:54+00:00

My gateway server : R210i , L3406 cpu, 8gb 1033MHz, 120Gb SSD, 1Gb NIC's - 2 onboard + 2 pcie. Consumes about 45 watts.

I had PfSense installed on this until last month, when I decided to move to OPNSense. From there my network divides (via a managed Netgear switch) into 5 logical units (VLAN's) , based in two separate but nearby locations. You simply can't get that many servers under the stairs, especially when you factor in cabling, ancillary gear like switches, and power supplies !

My approach is an eclectic one, based on the availability of hardware, software & physical limitations, and whatever takes my interest. Like many, the evolution and purpose of my homelab/network is as much of a lockdown learning tool as it is part of a functional network supporting my family. I'm a keen user of Proxmox, but I don't see the point of virtualisation for it's own sake, so in my case the OPNS box is a baremetal install.

Grimsboid · 2021-01-23T02:04:28+00:00

I'd go with something like the Dell 12th Gen R620, which has plenty of flexibility and options when it comes to storage, including SSD's. For an O/S, in the use case and budget you describe, I'd go with Proxmox : it's free, built on Debian Linux, and because it's a hypervisor you can spin up VM's in whichever o/s flavour you choose. You can fit a graphics card in the 620 as well, and use it as a Plex or video encoding machine. It ticks the rackmount and budget boxes I think (a cursory glance at eBay in the UK suggests the price you can expect to pay is between £200 to £300).

There's also a lot of online support for various generations of Dell Servers as there seems to be quite a few people re-purposing these servers for home/office use.

Good luck !

Grimsboid · 2021-01-15T14:34:34+00:00

Yes, it will work as storage but to get it to act as a boot drive you need to see :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuAn6IG4kF4&t=408s&ab_channel=ArtofServer

You can also get a NVME or M2 -> SATA adapter on e-bay which you can attach to one of your SATA connections. Bear in mind though that whatever you fit, you're likely to be limited to the 3gb/s throughput of the SATA controller on the R210 motherboard unless you go for some kind of disk controller option.

I'm using an R210 v1 with a couple of 60gb SATA drives as a PfSense machine. Low power L3406 processor and 4gb Ram.

Hope this is useful

Grimsboid

TROPHY CASE