Joseph C.
asked on
Booting from USB - A Dell PowerEdge 2850 Rack Mount Server Question
Hello there, I'm hoping someone on this site can possibly assist me in booting from a USB that I've formatted with Linux. I'm having trouble booting from it. I have tried following this, (which is the most detailed tutorial I've found on the subject), tutorial http://kb.open-e.com/How-to-Configure-Dell-Server-(2850)-BIOS-to-boot-from-USB_133.html, however, I haven't been able to boot, I've run through the particularly lengthy boot sequence many a time, pressing CTRL + S, CTRL + M, CTRL + E, F12, F10, F2, and F11. Each has had varying results. F2 and F11 aren't listed anywhere on the screen as options, although other users hoping to accomplish the same task have been suggested to use those function keys to access boot menus and such. I have had no luck with either. I've tried both holding it down from the moment I see the DELL progress bar, to the end of the boot sequence, and rapidly 'spamming' each of those keys for the duration of the boot process with no success :(. I've also tried enabling an "OS Install" feature on the BIOS, and that seems to have the effect of adding a piece of text at the end of the boot sequence telling me "There is only 256MB of memory available!" and that I can "Strike F1 to continue, or F2 to enter Setup Utility" or something along those lines. I've tried both options. F2 boots to the BIOS. I've also been able to get to the BIOS by CTRL + E and then pressing Escape and exiting out of that menu which brings me to the BIOS. (This was how I configured settings from the tutorial I linked above before this new Strike F1 message was displayed.)
My server contains two Xeon processors, each clocked at 3.00GHz, 16gb DDR2 memory, and two RAID arrays, one of two 146gb SCSI drives, and one of three 300gb SCSI drives (I can look at the actual raid configuration should it be needed).
I would greatly appreciate any help. I'm somewhat new to server management so I'm hoping that my inexperience and user error can be attributed to being unable to boot to the USB.
Side Note: I've tried all 4 USB ports on the server, the two near the power button on the front, and the two in the back, meant for what I assume is a keyboard and mouse. The light on my flash drive comes on for all the ports, which indicates power, though it is always solid. (I'm using a Sandisk Cruise Glide 32gb drive to boot off of for the installation of Ubuntu
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give to me!
Sincerely,
Joseph C.
My server contains two Xeon processors, each clocked at 3.00GHz, 16gb DDR2 memory, and two RAID arrays, one of two 146gb SCSI drives, and one of three 300gb SCSI drives (I can look at the actual raid configuration should it be needed).
I would greatly appreciate any help. I'm somewhat new to server management so I'm hoping that my inexperience and user error can be attributed to being unable to boot to the USB.
Side Note: I've tried all 4 USB ports on the server, the two near the power button on the front, and the two in the back, meant for what I assume is a keyboard and mouse. The light on my flash drive comes on for all the ports, which indicates power, though it is always solid. (I'm using a Sandisk Cruise Glide 32gb drive to boot off of for the installation of Ubuntu
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give to me!
Sincerely,
Joseph C.
Is the system set up to boot UEFI, or BIOS? In UEFI mode it is unlikely to boot anything except a hard drive with Windows already installed.
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CTRL + S (PXE/NIC menu)
CTRL + M (PERC 3/4 menu)
CTRL + E (DRAC/BMC menu)
F12, F10, and F11 don't do anything, unless OS is installed with ISM/SBUU/SMTD.
F2 is the BIOS/Setup menu key.
CTRL + M (PERC 3/4 menu)
CTRL + E (DRAC/BMC menu)
F12, F10, and F11 don't do anything, unless OS is installed with ISM/SBUU/SMTD.
F2 is the BIOS/Setup menu key.
ASKER
I confirm the following settings:
Integrated Devices > Usb Controller was/is set to On with BIOS Support.
Boot Sequence >
(Check marked) (was #3, is now #1) 1. Hard drive C:
2. IDE CD-ROM Device
3. Embedded Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
(Was previously check marked, is now not check marked) 4. Embedded Gb NIC2 IBA GE Slot 0740 v1300
Hard Drive Sequence>
1. Hard-disk-emulated USB flash drive
2. System BIOS boot devices
3. Embedded PERC 4e/Di Adapter(bus 02 dev 0E)
Trying these now. Thank you for the suggestions and information!
Update:
Booting looks the exact same. There's no noticeable change to any text on the screen :/ I had OS Install Mode set as On. I'll try it now with OS Install mode set to Off. The last piece of text on the screen is the memory is limited to 256mb! and that F1 continues and F2 enters setup.
Update 2:
Alright, set OS Install mode to OFF, and rebooted. Now the "Memory is limited to 256mB! Strike F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup utility" message is gone, ending with the BMC Setup (CTRL + E) as the last text on the screen, so OS Install Mode changed something... Whether or not it's an improvement remains to be seen.
Integrated Devices > Usb Controller was/is set to On with BIOS Support.
Boot Sequence >
(Check marked) (was #3, is now #1) 1. Hard drive C:
2. IDE CD-ROM Device
3. Embedded Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
(Was previously check marked, is now not check marked) 4. Embedded Gb NIC2 IBA GE Slot 0740 v1300
Hard Drive Sequence>
1. Hard-disk-emulated USB flash drive
2. System BIOS boot devices
3. Embedded PERC 4e/Di Adapter(bus 02 dev 0E)
Trying these now. Thank you for the suggestions and information!
Update:
Booting looks the exact same. There's no noticeable change to any text on the screen :/ I had OS Install Mode set as On. I'll try it now with OS Install mode set to Off. The last piece of text on the screen is the memory is limited to 256mb! and that F1 continues and F2 enters setup.
Update 2:
Alright, set OS Install mode to OFF, and rebooted. Now the "Memory is limited to 256mB! Strike F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup utility" message is gone, ending with the BMC Setup (CTRL + E) as the last text on the screen, so OS Install Mode changed something... Whether or not it's an improvement remains to be seen.
Leave OS Install Mode OFF ... it is not intended for any OS you will ever use.
What is your BIOS version?
What OS are you trying to boot?
Are you sure the USB you have created is in fact bootable? Test it on another machine, etc.?
What is your BIOS version?
What OS are you trying to boot?
Are you sure the USB you have created is in fact bootable? Test it on another machine, etc.?
ASKER
Will test the USB on another machine. I am trying to boot Linux Ubuntu 16.04. My BIOS version is something like A07. I will confirm that when I return to the machine later today.
ASKER
Alright! I'm back and I've managed to install Ubuntu without too much of a problem, actually no problems. That's just where the fun starts, so I installed it on a 600gb RAID aray (made of 2 300gb drives), but now I can't seem to boot to it... I have four options for the Boot Sequence. They are as follows:
(checked at the moment) 1. Embedded Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
(checked at the moment) 2. Embedded Gb NIC2 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
3. Hard Drive C:
4. IDE CD-ROM Device
I originally set option #4 to #1, selected it, and successfully booted to a CD this time... Not a USB. I installed the OS, and ejected the disk, so I assume I'm not going to be using the CD-ROM for booting. I've already thought to try Hard-Drive C: as #1, and even HD C: and both Embedded controllers (the Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot things) with no avail. A new piece of text has appeared in the boot sequence though, its something about connecting to DHCP, it tries to do that twice, then defaults to the "strike F1 to retry, F2 to enter setup" text.
Here's also what I have for the Hard-Disk Drive Sequence, I've tried both options being on top for each of the options I mentioned in the above paragraph^:
1. System BIOS boot devices
2. Embedded PERC 4e/Di Adapter bus 02 dev 0E)
I'm hoping now that I've installed it, that this is a relatively simple problem relating to some configuration in bios.
Thank you all once again for your help and responses!
(checked at the moment) 1. Embedded Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
(checked at the moment) 2. Embedded Gb NIC2 IBA GE Slot 0638 v1300
3. Hard Drive C:
4. IDE CD-ROM Device
I originally set option #4 to #1, selected it, and successfully booted to a CD this time... Not a USB. I installed the OS, and ejected the disk, so I assume I'm not going to be using the CD-ROM for booting. I've already thought to try Hard-Drive C: as #1, and even HD C: and both Embedded controllers (the Gb NIC1 IBA GE Slot things) with no avail. A new piece of text has appeared in the boot sequence though, its something about connecting to DHCP, it tries to do that twice, then defaults to the "strike F1 to retry, F2 to enter setup" text.
Here's also what I have for the Hard-Disk Drive Sequence, I've tried both options being on top for each of the options I mentioned in the above paragraph^:
1. System BIOS boot devices
2. Embedded PERC 4e/Di Adapter bus 02 dev 0E)
I'm hoping now that I've installed it, that this is a relatively simple problem relating to some configuration in bios.
Thank you all once again for your help and responses!
The DHCP message simply is referring to not being able to find a DHCP server while PXE booting (booting to a network location with the NIC's).
You can turn off PXE boot on the NIC's in the BIOS.
Hard Drive C: should be at the top, unless you want to "try" booting to the other devices first, but for troubleshooting, it should be at the top.
You probably need to fix your GRUB boot loader for the boot issue.
You can turn off PXE boot on the NIC's in the BIOS.
Hard Drive C: should be at the top, unless you want to "try" booting to the other devices first, but for troubleshooting, it should be at the top.
You probably need to fix your GRUB boot loader for the boot issue.
ASKER
GRUB boot loader you say... That sounds rather complicated. I believe in the OS setup I chose to setup the boot loader in /dev/sva1 or something along those lines, where should I have done it to? And also how might I figure out how to fix it :/
Thank you for your help!
Thank you for your help!
No, that location (default) is probably fine, just wouldn't be the first time I've seen it needing to be repaired.
You'll have to google how to repair - I'm not a huge Linux guy. Or post a different question.
You'll have to google how to repair - I'm not a huge Linux guy. Or post a different question.
ASKER
Gotcha, thanks!
Suggest closing, accepting best answer to question.