DCE 7.5.0.62 restore issue

[DCIM_Support]

A great thanks to the folks that helped me earlier.  I am still unable to get the USB restore to actually restore my unit.

After connecting the monitor I have hit F11 to boot from the USB stick and sadly it doesn't do anything except sits at the login prompt.

On a whim I reformatted a USB stick with the 7.4.3 version and that version of the restore USB stick runs a script to restore the system.

After rebuilding the USB stick the third time, I only see the StruxtureWare Data Center login screen.  I have waited about 35 minutes the first time, 25 minutes the second time and thirty minutes the thrived time I have tried this.  Each and every time I run the restore Key for 7.5.0.62 it just sits and does nothing.

I verified my download as good  via both MD5 hash, and a SHA 1 hash, so this seems to be the correct file it just doesn't seem to do anything.

Anyone have any ideas on how else I could restore this system back to default?

(CID:132647229)

[DCIM_Support]

Dear Eric Haskins,

From your question:

After connecting the monitor I have hit F11 to boot from the USB stick and sadly it doesn't do anything except sits at the login prompt.

Do you exactly believe, that you have booted the DCE-server from a USB stick? DCE restore procedure do not have any login prompt, but only offer to execute restore.

Judging from your words, you booted again from the HDD of the DCE-server 😀. To check, enter the apcinfo login (apcinfo password) at the login prompt as I wrote about this in your past topic. If the login is successful, then you did not boot from the USB stick.

Did you create a DCE restore bootable USB stick on a PC under a user with full administrator rights?

With respect.

(CID:132647240)

[DCIM_Support]

I know I selected the F11 prompt to make sure I was booting from the USB.   I assumed however that my USB was created under admin, however the assumption is one I need to check!  Grrrr I hate feeling stupid but greatly appreciate the reminder 😀

(CID:132647243)

[DCIM_Support]

Dear Eric Haskins,

1. To check, after a successful boot from a USB stick, you should see this initial screen:

As you can see, there is no login prompt, only an invitation to start the process.

2. To verify the correctness of creating a bootable USB stick, you should make sure, that the creation process ends like this:

...
Extracting ks.cfg

Everything is Ok
Copying files to F:...
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
Cleaning up...
Done!

If the creation process ends like this:

...
Extracting ks.cfg

Everything is Ok
Copying files to F:...
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
 1 file(s) copied.
Accessing physical drive: Access is denied.
Did not successfully update the MBR; continuing...
Cleaning up...
Done!

That is a mistake: all files are copied, but MBR is not updated!

Check and report the result.

With respect.

(CID:132647298)

[DCIM_Support]

Let me work backwards..

I verified the download and the utility again last night and recreated my key again, making sure I was running under the admin prompt.

When I run the key creation utility I do see the cleaning up and done messages, thereby signaling the key was created successfully.

I take that key and plug it into the front of my AP9465 unit into one of the two USB ports.

I boot that system and select F11 ( I verified under F2 that the USB ports were active.)

A screen flashes by with two penguins on it and ends with the APC manager login.

I do not see any change in screens.

yesterday while testing this I did see the 7.4.3 USB stick invoke a script, but so far the 7.5.0.62 version simple stops and doesn't do anything.

Is there something in the BIOS I should check or some other ideas?

Thanks very much for all the help to date.

(CID:132647580)

[DCIM_Support]

Just to add 2 more thoughts, when I go into the F11 prompt there is an options for UEFI and BIOS, BIOS is the default and this is what I have left alone.

Underneath that I can see the Western Digital Hard drive and the Cruzer Micro USB stick, but the system mounts it as  a CDROM.

(CID:132647586)

[DCIM_Support · Accepted solution]

Dear Eric Haskins,

A screen flashes by with two penguins on it and ends with the APC manager login.

As I expected, you did not boot from the USB stick, but immediately booted from the HDD of the DCE server 😀.

Probably, your DCE appliance AP9465  is assembled after 2011, and therefore uses the new generation server DELL R210-II (it can be clarified on the DELL website by Service Tag). And it is very likely, that this server has a oldest version of BIOS 1.1.1. Therefore, in order to boot from a USB stick, you need to perform the following actions according to the solution (see https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/Can-t-figure-out-how-to-boot-R210-II-from-...😞

Re: Can't figure out how to boot R210 II from USB

The R210II has a slightly different bios from other 11g systems, here are the steps to boot to usb.

1. during bootup, press F11 when prompted in the upper right corner

2. Select Boot Settings then press key.

3. Select Set Legacy HardDisk Drive Order then press key.

4. Select HardDisk Drive #00 then press key.

5. Select USB device what you want to boot then press key.

6. You will see the HDD boot order has been changed.

7. Press key and press key to save the HDD boot order.

8. Select HardDisk group then press key to boot to the USB drive.

Try it, it should help you.

With respect.

(CID:132647593)

[DCIM_Support]

That was IT!  Your help is SO appreciated.  Thanks thanks thanks!

(CID:132647599)

[DCIM_Support]

😀 I.e., you were able to boot from USB stick and start the restore of DCE-server?

With respect.

(CID:132647604)

[DCIM_Support]

Absolutely. I was able to boot to the USB stick and restore the device.

(CID:132647608)

[DCIM_Support]

Ok, thanks so much for the good feedback 😀.

If there are more questions, please ask.

(CID:132647619)

[DCIM_Support]

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