MSC prevents BCM400 from booting 3

[phonetech1]

Hi All,
I'm totally new to BCM, I have one in our interop lab and I'm having a problem with only digital phones operational.
The hard drive doesn't run and when I attach the monitor and keyboard I don't see system booting. The indicators show that the HD is not running and serial and LAN ports are not operational.

However, if I remove the MSC board, I can see the boot process on the monitor, I can see boot choices (it is a WIN NT OS) and finally it hangs on the blue screen: that says WIn NT 1 system processor 255 MB memory. So I get a little further without the MSC board.

Can anybody help me out to understand what may be wrong?
I am an old telephone man (Avaya & Siemens) and I know not to do anything stupid and wipe out the system, lose licences etc.

Thanks

 

[snowman50]

when you first boot up do you hear a series of beeps.
3 fast beeps -pause 2 beeps with pause -followed by 2 fast beeps.

 

[phonetech1]

Yes, I do.

 

[snowman50]

OK then

THis happen to me recently.

The hard drive could not be seen so i changed it and got the same symptons again.

I eventually decided to change the power unit.

All worked ok and the hard drive led started to flash and system booted up ok.

So i suggest you change the power unit first.

 

[phonetech1]

Thanks snoman50

I'll get a new power supply, but it may take a couple of days.
In the meantime I pulled out the harddrive tray and reconnected it outside the system housing. Checked voltages at the hard drive connector and I can see that all voltages are present I can also feel that the hard drive is spinning so it is definitely getting the power.

Anything else I can check while I'm waiting for a power supply?

 

[pkellow]

Get an IDE to USB converter, and connect it to a PC including HDD (plus power of course). Make sure you can browse the disk. This might help prove the disk is okay.

 

[phonetech1]

Just got it connected thru usb/ata adapter. I can see six partitions and I can browse the files.

 

[pkellow]

That suggests the HDD is okay. You can maybe download Seatools for windows and run a short DST on it to add confidence that the HDD is okay.

 

[phonetech1]

I'll do that, but one thing I can't understand, why with the MSC removed the system at least boots?

 

[pkellow]

Regarding "finally it hangs on the blue screen", you won't see anymore on BCM 3.x. On a 4.0 or later, you could connect a putty session and watch the boot sequence.

I never heard of BCM not booting until MSC was removed. So either change the PSU as someone else suggested or change the MSC. However changing the MSC is no easy option, as the license is based on the MSC id, plus the MSC contains core telephony indepently of the HDD. However there is some relationship, for example if you apply the latest system update, this will upload later version of core to the MSC. You might also have to initialise the profile using serial link/putty on a new MSC. This might be a world of pain.

You could temporarily swap the MSC for a spare (200 for a 200, or 400 for a 400 only; 200 is obvious from no expansion connection); just to see if it boots.

Upgrading to 4.0 will simplify this no end. Upgrading to a 450 eliminates the MSC entirely.

Good luck.

 

[snowman50]

I did the same thing and tested the power supply voltages which seemed to be ok.

I tried the same power unit in a working bcm and the unit give the same error beeps as before.
I could not see why it's faulty but replacing the power unit fixed the problem.

 

[phonetech1]

Thanks for your input guys. I'm looking for a power supply just to eliminate this part.
I'll post an update.

 

[phonetech1]

snowman50, I've replaced a power supply with a spare one from a PC and the system came up. The serial port and LAN ports are active and I'm in the system right now.
Thanks for your help.

 

[RAZ56]

Just confirming this I had the same on a BCM 400 3.7.
All the same symptoms and same beeps from the POST test .
It was the power supply , changed as the last resort .
It was after a mains power outage .

 

[Bucky101]

I can confirm I have had an MSC prevent a system from booting. However when the MSC was in the system wouldn't post.

 

[MickKat]

I'm having a similiar issue but on power up I only get 1 beep and then only have digital phones right away. Voice mail and some other services take a couple hours before they are functional.
I've replaced the hard drive with the same result and also swapped out the BFT.
I do have a Red LED on the power LED.