I'm dealing with a tricky issue on our client's server. The server suddenly lost its PERC controller and the physical disks are not showing up in iDRAC9. We contacted Dell support, and they advised us to upgrade the BIOS and iDRAC. I managed to update the BIOS to version 1.10, but I noticed the iDRAC version was showing as 1.8 even though the BIOS reported version 1.10. Dell suggested performing a power drain, which didn't fix the issue. After some remote assistance, they tried to upgrade iDRAC9 to the latest version, and that update failed too, but afterward, the PERC controller and disks reappeared, aligning the BIOS and firmware versions. We could boot the OS, but it goes into automatic repair and then results in a BSOD with the error stating "Driver Verifier DMA Violation" followed by a reboot loop. Dell is suggesting a complete OS reinstall to rule out hardware issues, but we're reluctant to do that since it would require setting up the Active Directory from scratch at the client site. By the way, the RAID1 virtual pool status is reading as ready. The server runs on Windows Server 2022 with a Dell PERC H755 controller and two disks configured in RAID 1. Any advice on resolving this issue without reinstalling the OS?
3 Answers
To get around the BSOD issue, I would recommend trying the following steps in the Advanced Options of the Server 2022 ISO: Boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, then run commands like `verifier /reset`, `DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth`, and `sfc /scannow`. Just be cautious, these commands can change things significantly, so make sure you know what you're doing before running them.
I've had a similar experience with an R7625 server. After a firmware update, half of its disks flagged as failed. I managed to fix it by draining the power and re-importing the virtual disks using the PERC controller. If you haven't done that yet, it could be worth a shot! Just make sure you feel comfortable with hardware RAID.
It sounds like you're in a tough spot! Ideally, you want to avoid an OS reinstall, especially since it involves a lot of reconfiguring. Have you tried running all the available firmware updates through the lifecycle controller? If the BSOD keeps happening, booting into Safe Mode might help. If you can, try to log in and see if you can access the command prompt from there to run a few commands that might stabilize the system.
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