Try this and see if this helps

http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-65754

First - thank you for the (good) suggestion...

Regarding the 1801 "no more room for ROM" error - I truly am baffled (e.g. why is this suddenly happening now?).  I did try to get into the BIOS/setup and disable/restart the "banks" per your link (I tried all six enabled <- normal/default, all six disabled, and three enabled/three disabled).  No luck, I still get the 1801 error in each scenario.  I thought that something (hardware?) might have gotten jostled in the case and hence tried to re-seat everything that I could (e.g. I'm not sure if I re-seated the ROM (where is it?) or if it is permanently wired/soldered to the motherboard but I tried).  Again, it's a mystery as also is the "no operating system found" and indeed I cannot boot anything from the HDs/RAID set(s) (but yet the ServRaid adapter seems to think it is there and bootable).

I also downloaded the IBM diagnostics disk (CD image / bootable) and it seemed to run on all accounts/tests - I didn't see anything tagged as an error.  Also, only entires in the BMI log (or POST log) are my power downs and occassionally no power (when I unplug the redundent power supplies from AC source(s)).

??

About the 1801 error.

There are several workarounds by using F1 BIOS setup that can   

correct this issue:                                             

                                                                

1. Use the PCI ROM Control to disable the loading of a BIOS     

   Option ROM image. Load only needed Option ROM images and/or  

   prioritize when the ROM image will be loaded and executed.   

                                                                

2. Change the PCI boot device priority.                         

                                                                

3. Disable some of the PCI components during boot.              

                                                                

DETAILS:                                                        

                                                                

This is an system architecture limitation.                      

                                                                

Legacy PC architecture limits ROM image memory space to 128K    

maximum. This limit becomes more of a concern as more devices   

that require ROM space are added to the system. Some of these   

devices may load their images into ROM space by default.        

Additionally, like devices are not able to share ROM space.     

                                                                

The "1801 No more room for option ROM" message on the screen    

indicates that the system ROM space is full and it has no more  

room for additional adapters which use ROM space.               

                                                                

A characteristic of some devices is that the image initially    

loaded into the ROM space may be larger than the final image.   

This means that certain devices will require more space when    

they are initially loaded than they will require after their    

initial execution. ROM images with this characteristic should   

be prioritized to execute early in the BIOS process to optimize

the use of the available ROM space.                             

                                                                

Loading a device's ROM images is required if you plan to BOOT   

or PXE from that device, if not, then loading the ROM image is  

optional.  


 Also, I would suggest you go to IBM site and search bootable media creator. And update all code on the server.                                                      

First - thank you for your suggestion(s).  I thought (incorrectly) that I had pursued that avenue in trying to solve the 1801 problem.  In fact when I disabled the LAN ports in the advanced/boot menu, the 1801 problem ceased.  Hurrah! (I owe you a coffee)

(I have no idea as why this issue should have occurred at this time as the previous BIOS/boot configuration was as such and stable for over two years.  To some extent, I don't care, I'm happy to be beyond that...)

But...  (there's always that 'but')

I still have the 'operating system not found' problem which is getting to be more than disconcerting.  During POST all of the SAS drives appear correctly, going into the cntl-A SCSI setup all RAID sets show properly with the correct set showing as 'bootable', and I ran the (standalone/bootable) advanced diagnostics disc/CD on the HDs without error (all HDs are SAS) and the SAS portion shows no issues with the controller or the physical HDs themselves.  As stated earlier, I physically pulled all of the HDs and ServRaid card and reseated them.

It appears that my system (and me too) is confused.  Is there some way to inform it that indeed there is a bootable/system on SAS drives 1 & 2 which is RAID set X?  

Again, there is nothing(!) that I did that would have gotten near any boot records...  (it was a 'normal' power-down / power-up sans the power-up being successful)

I guess the good news is that I'm past the 1801 problem - indeed I still need help with the system not found issue.

(Thank you)

Update -

Perhaps this is a (sudden/unexpected why?) Windows 2008 issue with my boot record being corrupted?  Am about to start a new thread as I'm becoming convinced it isn't the hardware...

Please see X3500 (7977) "operating system not found..." Part-2 for the next chapter in this continuing (and frustrating) adventure.

(Thanks again for the above help!)