Local operating system boot fails when external storage is attached - IBM BladeCenter and System x
Source
RETAIN tip: H195948
Symptom
Operating Systems (OSes) which are not Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) aware can fail at the point of bootstrapping the OS from local hard disk drives (HDDs). The issue occurs when a Host Bus Adapter (HBA) is installed in the server and attached to external storage. The issue has only been seen with the QLogic and Emulex HBAs, but may be seen with other manufacturers' HBAs. One of the symptoms of this issue is seen at the point where the OS normally starts to load, but instead, the end user will see the "feed me" screen, indicating an unsuccessful bootstrap of the OS.
Affected configuration
The system may be any of the following IBM servers:
- BladeCenter HS22, Type 1936, any model
- BladeCenter HS22, Type 7870, any model
- System x3550 M2, Type 4198, any model
- System x3550 M2, Type 7946, any model
- System x3650 M2, Type 4199, any model
- System x3650 M2, Type 7947, any model
This tip is not software specific.
This tip is not option specific.
The system has the symptom described above.
Workaround
The following steps detail what to do when either a UEFI or non-UEFI aware OS is used.
UEFI aware OS:
- Follow the steps detailed in RETAIN tip H194888 to specify the boot file.
- If using Windows 2008 R2 and the steps detailed in the above tip do not correct the issue, refer to Microsoft Knowledgebase article 975535 - "The system becomes unbootable after you add raw disks to a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has EFI enabled," located at the following URL:
Non-UEFI aware OS:
The failure to bootstrap the OS can be circumvented as follows:
From within the F1 Setup menus for configuring UEFI, ensure that the HBA Legacy Option Rom is disabled and add the "Legacy Only" Start Option as per the following procedure:
- Power on or restart the system and press F1 when prompted to enter Setup.
- Select System Settings and press Enter.
- Select Devices and I/O Ports and press Enter.
- Select Enable/Disable Legacy Option ROM(s) and press Enter.
- Select the Slot number in which the HBA is installed and press Enter.
- Select Disabled and press Enter.
- Press Esc 3 times to return to the System Configuration main menu, select Save Settings and press Enter.
- Select Boot Manager and press Enter.
- Select Add Boot Option and press Enter.
- Select Legacy Only and press Enter.
- Press Esc to return to Boot Manager.
- Select Change Boot Order and press Enter.
- Select the existing Boot Order and press Enter.
- Select Legacy Only and press the + key to promote it to a position above the local device which contains the OS. Typically, this would be above Hard Disk 0. Press Enter.
- Select Commit Changes and press Enter.
- Press Esc to return to Boot Manager.
- Select Reset System and press Enter.
Additional information
For non-UEFI aware OSes, this behavior is by design.
The symptoms described occur because UEFI firmware sees devices in one order and legacy firmware sees them in a different order due to basic differences in UEFI and legacy firmware with respect to devices. There is a need to prevent the externally attached storage devices from being mapped in both UEFI and "Legacy Only" modes.
The Workaround resolves the issue by forcing device mapping to be performed in legacy mode only and ensures that the Legacy ROM of the HBA connected to the external storage does not execute.