I'm trying to do a factory recovery on a EX470 (not the one in my sig) but am not having any success. Here are my observations and what I've tried so far. Using these shortcuts for the light color/state. I'm using an un-partitioned 300GB drive which has been checked for hardware errors of which there are none.

SB - solid blue
BB - blink blue
SR - solid red
BR - blinking red
SP - solid pink (could be purple, damned hard to tell the difference)
BP - blinking pink

LEDs:
With no hard drives installed:
Power: SB
Network: SB
Health: SP
HDD LEDs: SB

With system drive (lowest bay) installed and power OFF
Power: nothing
Network: nothing
Health: SR
HDD LEDs: nothing

With system drive (lowest bay) installed and power on
Power: SB
Network: SB
Health: SP
HDD LEDs: nothing
In this state I have to hold down the power button for ~4 seconds to power off

With bootable USB stick in lowest rear USB port (contains the SMI files from a working EX470)
Power: SB
Network: SB
Health: SP
HDD LEDs: nothing
In this state pushing the power button powers off immediately. All HDD LEDs turn SB and the Health light stays SP.

At no point do I get a blinking health light of any color. During one attempt the recovery program did find the server and proceeded with the recovery it but I was never prompted for a server name as I expected. I could RDP into the server (the name was HPSERVER) but when prompted for the Administrator password of course I didn't know it. Subsequent attempts cannot find the server. I do see a client named minint in the DHCP client list.

I've read a bunch of the "can't get into recovery mode" posts in this forum but none of them seem to match my symptoms. Hoping someone feels like taking the challenge.

While typing this post I decided to try moving the USB stick to the front USB port (no HDD installed) and this time the server was found. I plugged in the HDD after about 15 seconds (after the second burst of activity on the USB stick). I then selected do a factory restore so it's now in the process of doing that. It's going to take a while but I figured I'd go ahead and post this. So far the HDD LEDs are not lit up and the health light is still SP, the power and network lights are SB. I don't expect this is really going to work but figure I'll let it let it go and see what happens. Stay tuned...

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HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

I've never heard of the health light being illuminated while the power is off.

Can you describe the LED behavior from a total power off to power on with no drives installed?

If you get to the solid pink health LED, have you tried pushing the Recovery button and see if it generates a blinky code? We have them documented in the Wiki.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

I agree that it makes no sense. I have tried pushing the recovery button but no "blinky" code.

The recovery I started has finished. This is where it is now;

Notice the warning not to continue until the bottom right LED is blue or purple? In my case it isn't even lit. No color at all. Also, notice the name of the server (in the login screen in the background). This is from me showing it in the Explorer view "Microsoft Windows Network". This is where I could enter Administrator but I don't know what the password is. I could also RDP in but again, no password.

Power off with no hard drives and no USB stick installed:
Power: SB
Network: SB
Health: SP
HDD LEDs: SB

Power on
Power: SB
Network: SB
Health: SP
HDD LEDs: nothing

If I unplug the power cord and then plug it back in, the HDD LEDs turn SP along with the health light. If I do the same thing but with the HDD plugged in, they turn SR.

Strange behavior indeed. One other thing I should mention is I bought this EX470 used and had to have a diode on the MB replaced. Given that the EX470 boots I believe that the repair was "good". Naturally I have no way to know that for sure since I don't know exactly what the diodes function was. It was located right next to the CPU so I wouldn't think it's related to controlling the LEDs but I suppose the LEDs behavior could be trying to communicate that there is something wrong with the MB. I have gone over the MB with a magnifying glass but haven't seen anything else that looks out of place.

_________________
HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

If the power is truly off but you have LEDs illuminated, then there is something wrong with the hardware. There should be no LEDs illuminated until you power on the server.

If you see "HPSERVER" as the hostname, then your server is ready to set up and you should just need to run the client install.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

My plan was to sell the unit after ensuring it functioned properly. Given that the LEDs are not showing what is expected, I can't with a clear conscience sell it as a functional unit. So, I'm going to part it out. I'll post details in the Marketplace forum.

_________________
HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

Hello All,

I am very sorry to dig up an old-ish thread. I have searched forum after forum for advice on my EX470. Its symptoms are very similar to those described in this post. I have attempted to recover the server time and time again, but to no avail.

I've had my EX470 for about 3.5 years now, i had turned it off until very recently (i'd bought another NAS drive, which has since been filled up), and i've decided to turn it back on and get it loaded up with some drives. I attempted a server default to wipe all of the old info off of the original disk, which had seen about 2 years of service. On attempting to default the drive and system settings, i was presented with an issue; the restore software cannot locate the server. I am hoping that maybe somebody can identify the issue indicated by the description of LED activity below? This process is the same, regardless of whether i hit the reset button with a paper clip at the Blue/Red stage or not. I only have the one 500GB drive installed, nothing in the USB ports, nothing in the eSATA port;

Both Power and Network LEDs remain Blue for the entire process;
The health indicator display the following light patterns with the 500GB HDD in Bay 01

<Power button pressed>
Purple light for 5-6 seconds,
Flashes Blue/Red x5 times,
Flashes Purple/Blue x9 times,
Lights up Solid Red.

On pressing the reset button again, the health indicator shows me a blue light, followed by four red lights, all i can seem to find on this is that the server cannot be found. (Thanks HP)

I am using a cross over cable between the EX470 and the windows machine trying to connect to it (i've tried XP SP2 and Server 2003 32-bit), i have tried both a static address of 169.37.37.40/16 and DHCP. I have tried with a wired router with the client set to DHCP (and the router issuing a 192.168 range).

I've read a little about SMI files and i'm wondering if anybody would be so kind as to point me in the right direction on how exactly i discover if these files are intact, which i am sure, by reading other posts and comments, they are not. And, if that is the case, what is required to re-instate the files to turn the most expensive door stop i have ever bought into the media server it's meant to be...

I appreciate everybody's time and thanks in advance.

Lee

1 blue and 4 red means Recovery mode failed, and could indeed mean that your onboard flash has been erased or damaged.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/wiki/in ... rror_Codes

A search on "SMI" or "recovery image" should turn up discussion on how to make a bootable USB key that you can use in the bottom rear port to boot off of.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

I should note that the server I was trying to recover had been repaired due to a diode (or whatever they're called). The guy (my neighbor) that repaired it could not find an exact match for the part so he guessed at it. I bought the EX470 knowing it was damaged but it was cheap so I figured it was worth a shot. I've given up on it and parted it out. The server trays alone covered the cost of it.

_________________
HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

Ok, I have an EX470 with WHS 3.0 on it that is acting all funky and stuff that I wanted to do a recovery on to resolve. However, as usual the recovery is not finding the server. HELP!

I am using several PC's and Laptops (WIN7) to try and do this - the recovery is coming back with server not found. Yes the server appears to go into recovery mode (red/purple blinking lights).

I connected a network cable directly between the two systems to eliminate the router. I turned off the firewall for both internet and local network on the win7 PC.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Bill