Having trouble installing an OS on a PowerEdge 2850

Hi there,

It's more than likely that the OS media you have doesn't have the RAID controller drivers available and therefore can't see the drives to install. What OS are you trying to install? Also, you will need to find out what RAID controller is installed in the server. To do this, allow the server to POST and you may eventually see the following text appear:

"PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller BIOS #.

Press to Run Configuration Utility

Or press for WebBIOS

The controller will begin to initialize and spin up the hard drives. Once the drives are up, the following information will be displayed.

HA -0 (Bus 4 Dev 0) Standard FW #.## DRAM=##MB

# Logical Drives found on the Host Adapter

# Logical Drive(s) handled by BIOS"

What we're looking for is the part that I've marked . If you can let us know what this shows, I'll be able to give you the correct RAID drivers.

Thanks for your time, hope to hear from you soon.

Oh Sry I forgot to tell u the OS I was using :-P I was trying to install windows server 2003 enterprise (because that's the only OS I have an access code for) but I could put windows XP on it

Hi John, here is the RAID Controller ID (in the image I have attached) I did try looking for the SCSI and RAID drivers but I couldn't find them anywhere but I thought that I might have to create a Logical Drive for it to work...Im off to bed now (its 10:15 Pm here in New Zealand) Thanks for ur help! =)

Hi John, I do have a floppy drive but what file do I put on it? I cant seem to find the download link you sent =P.  I did think I had to set up a logical drive but I thought I had to have 2 drives for that...I only have 1 at the moment but 2 days ago I purchased an identical server witch has another drive, I will be picking it up very soon. If I can install an OS on this 1 drive could I just insert another and would it be used as a storeage drive or a mirror backup? (btw the server only has 2 drive bays) Hope to hear from you soon :) Thanks Again :)

I did say I have a 1U up the top Oh wait...I said U1 lol sry. Yes I do have a 1U PowerEdge 1850 with a PERC 4e/Si or do you have a 2U PowerEdge 2850 with a PERC 4e/Di

So, do you have a 1U PowerEdge 1850 with a PERC 4e/Si or do you have a 2U PowerEdge 2850 with a PERC 4e/Di (the 2850 is 2U and uses the 'Di' controller)??

I will assume it is actually an 1850, using your screenshot as a reference.  Here is the file you need to download:

www.dell.com/.../poweredge-1850

Download and run the file to extract its contents, then place those 8 files on a floppy disk to load at the F6 prompt during Windows Setup.

The PERC's do NOT support non-RAID, so in order for ANY drive to be seen/used by the OS, the controller must first put it in a RAID array.  With a single disk, RAID 0 is your only option - configure and initialize a single-disk RAID 0 with that disk.  You can, after installing the OS to a single-disk RAID 0, put another drive in (of equal or greater size) and convert the single-disk RAID 0 to a two-disk RAID 1, on the fly (alternatively, you could configure a second disk as another single-disk RAID 0 to use as a separate/storage drive, but that would give you NO redundancy should a disk fail).

BTW ... the fact that you said the server has only two bays clinches it ... you have a 1U PowerEdge 1850, not a 2850.

:)

So, now that we got it sorted out that you actually have an 1850 and not a 2850, you can use the links and instruction in my last post to get the OS installed, which I posted assuming that was the system you had.

And the Image was of the server Yes

Ohhhhhhhhhh I thought it was a 2850! now that I look at the auction it dose say 1850! Sorry!!!    I have Just created a Logical Drive and I have booted of my windows server 2003 disc and it is showing unpartitioned space!!! YAY!  Do I still need to use the Drivers?

I am half way through installing it now! Thank You SOO Mutch!!!!  

I meant to mention this from your screenshot (says it is limited to 256MB) ... there is a BIOS setting called OS Install Mode.  This is not needed - even to install 2003 - and needs to be turned OFF.