I'm banging my head against HP(E)'s support at the moment, and would like to share the issue I'm experiencing as it's something they cannot understand. We have a bunch of DL360, DL380 and BL460 servers running a mixed environment, some Windows 2008, some Windows 2008 R2, some RHEL. All of the Windows machines were purchased with a Windows licence, and are automatically activated offline with the usual product key + certificate + SLIC tables in the BIOS. However, one server suffered a motherboard failure which was replaced. Since then, this server will not activate: everything points to the SLIC tables missing. We have checked everything in the BIOS, reflashed with the latest HP BIOS firmware, etc, nothing doing. We have even replaced the motherboard a second time, but with no result. Both the SLIC toolkit and MGAdiag report missing SLIC tables. HPE Support are insisting it's a Microsoft issue. However, as far as I know, SLIC tables are in hardware. Furthermore, we have even done a test taking the HDD out of the problematic server and putting it into another DL380, and amazingly, it's OK, the SLIC tables are there. So to me, this reinforces the fact it is purely a hardware issue and not an OS issue. However, HPE insist it's a Microsoft problem and their hardware diagnostic tools say everything is OK. Is there anything in the BIOS / hardware / OS / low level / etc that could be "hiding" the SLIC tables from the OS? Could it be that this server does have the SLIC tables but for whatever reason, they cannot be read by the OS? We could activate the OS through the telephone to MS, but it's not something we want to do: every other server has the OEM activation and I don't want this server to be an odd one out. Any thoughts? TIA
Thanks, but I really want to do this an official way and not have some third party KMS activation software. I know I can do that, I want to avoid. It's been escalated even further with HP for now
Slic tables are hardware they should be in bios obviously they have replaced mother board with no slic added. You may need NbDmiFit
@urie which utility in notebook DMI fit would work on servers??? I've tried DMI fit on my replacement G6 MB & my XW6600 and it would not work. If you have a solution using DMIFIT I think both myself and ftboy would be appreciative. @tfboy You will need to reinstall using the original ROK DVD and Smart Start. If you no longer have the ROK disk, but the server is still under contract ask for tier 2 or 3 support and supply them with a High resolution photo of the HP OA COA on the server, they should allow you to purchase replacement DVD(s) (~$55). If you run RWeverything you will find the SLIC tables and MSDM table listed as table ffffv HP Prolient. Hopefully your server is under contract, my G6 is not and I can't not find my old 2008R2 ROK DVD to fix its table. It appears the utility that fixes the SLIC is part of the HPActive in the $oem$ directory but the 2012R2 ROK is no longer BIOS locked (and unsupported on the G6). I had purchased a replacement system board off ebay after my ML370G6 bricked two days after the warranty expired, and it does not have the tables, FN HP! ($200 vs $1800 and the eBay one offered a 1 year replacement warranty, HP 0 day warranty). Option two is to use the commands: SLMGR -UPK. Reboot to safemode and delete the file: tokens.dat. Reboot to normal mode. SLMGR -rlic SLMGR -ipk (key from COA) SLMGR -ATO Of course this will require reactivation if you change anything including the RAID, raid driver, run HPSUM, or unplug / re-plugin external storage like a MSA or NX4.
Final though: If the server shipped from HP with the OS make sure the serial number and the product number in the BIOS is correct. Then reflash it. This failed on my ML370 but looking at the quick specs it appears that the old board was licensed by the ROK as there is no PN listed as having 2008R2 OEM as an option.