SBS 2008 On Dell T300 With DRAC KVM – Reboot to Windows Recovery?

For those that are familiar with how the Dell DRAC Java based KVM works, there are times during a server’s reboots that the DRAC KVM session flashes if we are working in another window with the subsequent loss of keyboard and mouse in the working window.

While running updates on a series of servers over the weekend, one of the servers came up after a reboot into the Windows Recovery window. It had booted from the SBS 2008 DVD.

Now, after a heart stopping few minutes the processes of elimination started.

The first thought was that the RAID array was no good and thus the boot into the WinRE. Just in case, we shut down WinRE and this time watched the Dell POST and BIOS messages.

When it came to the PERC 6/i the RAID controller’s BIOS indicated that all was okay.

Once the entire POST session was complete we saw the following:

Press Any Key to Boot to CD or DVD . . .

We left the KVM session alone and sure enough SBS 2008 began its boot cycle.

Put two and two together and we figured out that the KVM session must have interjected into our other window session _right at the Boot to CD or DVD_ screen.

Go figure. :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer