WS 2003 Hard drive not found - SATA

Question

I got couple of PowerEdge 1950, trying to install Windows Server 2003 / 2008
They came with no HDD in them, and i don't have any SAS, so i insreted SATA (Tried with both Seagate 1TB, WD 500GB only) on nr1 slot

But OS can't find any hard drives,

I went on BIOS, disabled / enabled RAID with no help, on SATA Mode i can only pick ATA Mode / OFF no more, tried both options,

still OS can't find any hard drives, i went into "Perc 5/i Integrated Bios configuration Utility" Physical Disks and there is my HDD,

Vendor ATA it says, i even made Virtual Disk with RAID0 (Couldn't select any other RAID level) Init it, still OS can't find any hard drives.

What am i missing here?

I would really appreciate your help,

Thanks in advance!

DELL-Chris H · Accepted Answer

Samidn,

The issue is that on an OS install the driver for the controller must be loaded to see the drives installed on it. With 2008, the driver file should be on the media itself, so you should be able to boot directly to the media. With 2003, there is a couple ways of doing this.

You can boot this disk and it will walk you through it - http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-1950?driverId=NF1CT&osCode=WNET&fileId=2731102793&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SM#

Or you can use this driver file directly at the "Press F6 to load 3rd party SCSI/Raid driver" screen on the OS media - http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-1950?driverId=GHNKT&osCode=WNET&fileId=3000719987&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SF#

Let me know how it goes.

samidn · Answer

Wow! Both of your methods worked, i thank you very much!

mgzorro · Answer

I have the same problem then the guy above.

I downloaded both files as indicated on your answer to him but I can not get the server to read it on the first option.

On the second option f6 does not respond.

I have 250GBx6 I would like to RAID1. But I can not get the server to read any of the hard drives. all 6 drives shwo to be online on the configuration screen.

theflash1932 · Answer

SMTD/SBUU is downloaded as a DVD ISO. 1) Your server must have a DVD drive, and 2) you must burn the ISO using special ISO burning software - you cannot simply burn the ISO file to the DVD.

What do you mean F6 "doesn't respond"? Setup will NOT immediately enter F6 ... it will enter it once Setup is complete so you can add drivers to Setup.

RAID 1 requires EXACTLY 2 hard drives. You could do a single RAID 5 or a RAID 10 with 6 disks. If the drives are showing ONLINE, then RAID is already configured ... make sure it is configured in the configuration you want before proceeding.

mrecho · Answer

Helloo   Links goes to a full list of drivers- firmware and software   Can you update please ?   Thank you

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

WS 2003 Hard drive not found - SATA

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