Field Notice: FN - 70595 - UCS Servers Might Fail to Boot if Memory Errors Occur During Boot - Software Upgrade Recommended

Notice

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	24-Aug-20	Initial Release

Products Affected

Affected OS Type	Affected Software Product	Affected Release	Affected Release Number	Comments
NON-IOS	Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Software Bundle	4.0	4.0(4h)	For FI-Attached (UCS Manager) Servers
NON-IOS	Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Software Bundle	4.1	4.1(1c)	For FI-Attached (UCS Manager) Servers
NON-IOS	Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware	4.0	4.0(4k)	For Standalone (IMC SW) Servers
NON-IOS	Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Firmware	4.1	4.1(1f)	For Standalone (IMC SW) Servers

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCvu14656	M5 servers BIOS results in boot loop at testing memory - Server will not POST

Problem Description

A Unified Computing System (UCS) server that runs these firmware package releases might experience a boot loop if a memory error occurs during the boot cycle.

• UCS Manager Managed Servers (UCS B-Series, UCS C-Series, and UCS S-Series): Release 4.0(4h) or 4.1(1c)
• UCS Standalone Servers (UCS C-Series and UCS S-Series): Release 4.0(4k) or 4.1(1f)

Background

Memory errors that occur during Power On Self Test (POST) should result in a logged DIMM failure, but will cause the memory test process to fail. This prevents the server from booting.

Problem Symptom

UCS Manager Managed Servers

The FSM stage will show “Waiting for BIOS POST completion”. The KVM screen will show “Configuring and Testing Memory” and will not proceed past this step.

UCS Standalone Servers (UCS C-Series and UCS S-Series)

The KVM screen will show “Configuring and Testing Memory” and will not proceed past this step.

Workaround/Solution

In order to resolve this issue, upgrade to a later firmware version:

• UCS Manager Managed Server: Release 4.0(4i) or 4.1(1d) or later
• UCS Standalone Servers (UCS C-Series and UCS S-Series): Release 4.0(4l) or 4.1(1g) or later

For customers that run firmware exposed to this defect, upgrade to the appropriate version from the preceding list to prevent occurrence of this issue during future reboots.

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email or telephone

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