Help with installing OS on Raid 5 on Poweredge 1650

Question

Hello all,

I have done a brief search and have seen a few tips on what I am trying to do, but nothing specific to my problem. I have experience with PC's/software, but this is my first dabble in servers and Raid, please be gentle!

I have aquired 2 Dell Poweredge 1650 servers with a copy of Windows 2000 Server, both have 3 x 68.3Gb SCSI drives with the PERC 3/Di Controller.

I was told they needed some work, and the OS reloading. Sure enough, they do not boot to OS. I have given them some TLC, replaced the CMOS battery and am ready to try and load Windows Server 2000 on them. I have gone into the BIOS and corrected all the settings to what I beleive should be correct.

I have initialised drives on the PERC bios (ctrl+A on startup) and told it I want Raid 5, it offers me a 136.7GB container and have gone through both a scrub and a 'clear' and end up with a 'Container Status : OK'

I'm not sure what to do after this, when I go into Create Containters I get:

Select drives to create container:
0:00:0 FUJITSU MAP3735NC             0KB
0:01:0 FUJITSU MAW3073NC      95.3MB
0:02:0 FUJITSU MAP3735NC             0KB

Surely this isn't right?

Also, once I have corrected this, how to I get it to boot from my Windows 2000 Server CD?

Thanks in advance.

theflash1932 · Answer

You will need to press F6 and load the RAID driver below from a floppy disk.

(Download then run to extract/unzip these files to your floppy disk.)

You can also use the Dell installation utility (Systems Build and Update Utility) to install - F6 is not needed using this method, but it will require SP4 media.

gavin2812 · Answer

Hi, update on this, even though in 'Create containers' it is displaying the above, on boot is actually says the corretct thing, which is

1 container found 136gb

So now I just need help installing the OS (Windows Server 2000). I can have it boot from CD to install, but it does not detect a hard drive present, either letting it go through the CD boot or by pressing F6 as it loads...

So I eould be very grateful with some assistance in helping me load the OS with my Raid 5 setup.

Many thanks.

gavin2812 · Answer

Thank you for your time to reply flash, i'll try this tomorrow and get back. Much appreciated.

gavin2812 · Answer

Hi, just wanted to say thanks for the above info and advice, this first link, for the drivers, worked great for me. once again, much appreciated.

theflash1932 · Answer

No problem ... glad it helped!

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Help with installing OS on Raid 5 on Poweredge 1650

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