[Server-devel] OLPC XS- Not booting

[James Cameron]

On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 08:33:17AM +1000, Dudley Daduwe wrote:
> The problem faced here is that, when you power the XS server you can
> see that the server has been powered and the power light is ON,
> however, there is NO DISPLAY ON THE SCREEN.

This requires hardware support, and isn't really a problem to do with
the server software.

I've worked in hardware support diagnosis in the past, so I can suggest
some methods.  But really it takes diagnosis in person or over the phone
or via chat ... many questions and answers are needed.  Knowledge of the
particular hardware model would be critical.

To give you an idea of how I would proceed:

1.  check that the power supply is generating power for the motherboard,

1.a.  if there is a power supply fan and it is not running, the answer
is certainly no,

1.b.  if there is a power supply LED and it is off, the answer is
certainly no,

1.c.  if there is a motherboard power LED and it is off, the answer is
probably no,

1.d.  if there is a front panel LED for power, and it is on, the answer
is probably yes,

1.e.  if the hard drive can be heard to spin up, the answer is probably
yes,

1.f.  if a CD drive can be ejected, the answer is probably yes,

1.g.  if a USB peripheral with a power LED indicates power, the answer
is probably yes.

2.  check that the BIOS is executed by the CPU,

2.a.  if there is a beep, the answer is probably yes,

2.b.  if there is a series of beeps in a pattern, the answer is probably
yes, though the pattern should be analysed,

2.c.  if there is a screen image showing a BIOS startup, the answer is
certainly yes.

2.d.  if there is no evidence of BIOS startup at all, then there is a
possibility that damage has been made to the memory or motherboard.

...

Some things you could try, in order to gather information about the
problem:

a.  remove and reinsert the display cable,

b.  check the display has power,

c.  remove the IDE cable and try again (this tests to see if the drive
itself is causing BIOS not to start),

d.  check the strapping of the IDE drive.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/