Dell Poweredge 2650 error

This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: "PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve

"Steve" wrote in message
...
This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: "PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve



Purely a guess:

1) possibly a BIOS/init test of the PERC onboard controller?

2) NT DLP Storage test 1 (DLP tape storage internally on the machine)?

I'd guess both messages are normal pre-POST tests, but I do not know for
certain.


-Stew

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:43:30 -0700 (PDT), Steve
wrote:

This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: "PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Not seen that one before, I'm afraid. However, these are some things
you could check:

- Are both PSUs working and plugged in (if the system has one).
- Is there any issue with the disks/RAID in the system? If new
server, maybe better to trash RAID config.
- There is also a Dell Diagnostics tool which can be booted from CD
and you gcan get more information from this. Unfortunately, I am not
at work at the moment, so don't have a link, but there may be
something on the Server Assistant boot CD, or one of the diagnostics
CDs available in the set for download.

If I was going to use this, I would use the firmware update disk to
ensure that all the various components are running at latest firmware.

Sorry I couldn't have been of more help,

Thanks.
Andrew.

"Steve" wrote in message
...
This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: "PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve


I dont think these are error messages, you can go into the BIOS and set
custom text for the LCD screen, the message you are seeing looks like the
last users server name.
Orange does mean there is probably a fault though, does anything else scroll
past? Maybe a fault code, these are often a letter E followed by some
digits and then a clue in plain text.
You could run Dell diags or install your OS and use Openmanage to identify
the problem.

B

On Mar 24, 1:33*pm, "Basill" wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message

...





This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. *In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: *"PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. *Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve

I dont think these are error messages, you can go into the BIOS and set
custom text for the LCD screen, the message you are seeing looks like the
last users server name.
Orange does mean there is probably a fault though, does anything else scroll
past? *Maybe a fault code, these are often a letter E followed by some
digits and then a clue in plain text.
You could run Dell diags or install your OS and use Openmanage to identify
the problem.

B- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

By George I think you have it. Yes there were other errors being
reported. I fixed those and then the display turned back to it's
normal color (sorry I forgot to mention that) but still showed the
strange text. I will try this as soon as I get home this evening and
see if that is the issue.

Thanks,
Steve

On Mar 24, 12:43*pm, Steve wrote:
This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other thanhttp://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. *In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: *"PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. *Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve

Well it appears as though Basill has solved my problem and quite
quickly too I might add.

Since I have had such good luck o this group here is another
question...

Is there a downloadable, bootable image with firmware upgrades for
these servers? IOW is there an image file of the latest firmware
upgrades that can be used to create a bootable disk that will, when
boot to, update all the firmware of the system?

Thanks again,
Steve

"Steve" wrote in message
...
On Mar 24, 1:33 pm, "Basill" wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message

...





This may not be the correct place to post this question but I could
find a better place other than
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/.
I did post this same question there but have not yet gotten an answer
so I thought I would try here as well.

So here is my question/problem:

I have inherited a Poweredge 2650. In setting it up I noticed that
the front LCD display is amber and says:
First line: "PIER1"
Second line (scrolling): "NTDLPSTEST1"

Whatever the problem is it does not prevent the machine from booting
to BIOS (I have not yet installed an OS) and reporting correctly on
the CPUs, RAM, etc.

I have searched the web (googled it) and can not find anything about
this error message. Can anyone here tell me what this message means.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve

I dont think these are error messages, you can go into the BIOS and set
custom text for the LCD screen, the message you are seeing looks like the
last users server name.
Orange does mean there is probably a fault though, does anything else
scroll
past? Maybe a fault code, these are often a letter E followed by some
digits and then a clue in plain text.
You could run Dell diags or install your OS and use Openmanage to identify
the problem.

B- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

By George I think you have it. Yes there were other errors being
reported. I fixed those and then the display turned back to it's
normal color (sorry I forgot to mention that) but still showed the
strange text. I will try this as soon as I get home this evening and
see if that is the issue.

Thanks,
Steve



-------------------------------------------------------------------


Steve -

FWIW - I don't think the text is strange. I believe it may be normal
hardware initialization messaging.


Stew

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:08:43 -0700 (PDT), Steve
wrote:

Is there a downloadable, bootable image with firmware upgrades for
these servers? IOW is there an image file of the latest firmware
upgrades that can be used to create a bootable disk that will, when
boot to, update all the firmware of the system?

The latest Dell firmware upgrade disk is a DVD, so may not work in the
2650. However, you can download the slightly older Poweredge Updates
CD, which I think contains all the necessary firmware for a 2650.
Whilst you can't boot off that disk, you can use it in conjunction
with the Build and Update CD, which will work on a Poweredge 2650, and
is bootable.

What I did at work was download the latest DVD, put it on a network
location after extracting the ISO using Winimage, and let the system
run the Windows update tool from the network.

Another thing you may find useful is to factory reset the BIOS in the
2650, ensure all the keyboard lights are on (i.e, numlock, capslock
and scroll lock), then press the following keys:

ctrl+alt+f
ctrl+alt+e
ctrl+alt+b

This will clear the relevant memory and the last command will reboot.

Latest BIOS for this beast is (IIRC) A21.

Thanks.
Andrew.