Bios POSTS then blinking cursor.

KefkaZ

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Aug 27, 2011
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I'm overseeing a Server 2008 system (a Dell Poweredge) and am having the following issue: On boot, the system will POST and go up to the point where it would normally detect an OS. At that point I just have a blinking cursor and nothing else happens. The system is currently using a RAID 1 setup, and the Raid controller and the BIOS both show the hard drive. There is currently only one physical hard drive currently due to the second one failing a few weeks ago. I CAN boot to the Windows CD. I know that the primary partition is completely (and I mean completely) full. Help?

Things I've tried:
- Resetting NVRAM
- Booting to windows cd (works)
- Hard Drive diagnostics (Dell Smart and Quick tests show Hard drive as working fine)
 

KefkaZ

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Aug 27, 2011
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Did that and now it is showing that there is no OS and the HD is no longer showing up in the bios, although the physical disk is showing up in the RAID array manager.
 

americanbrian

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Can you try swapping the SATA/SAS port that it is plugged into. I seem to recall a large batch of defective SATA controllers on motherboards at around that time (2008ish).

I am clutching at straws a little bit but it is simple to swap the mobo sata header you are using. Use a SATA II port over the sata III ports for the purpose of testing this as it was defective sata III ports that I am remembering.