PE2950 I Windows install hangs on "Starting Windows"

"I even think the OS is installed but it just can't start up"

I think this is why Geoff was asking about F8 ... if you do get F8, then the OS is installed and simply cannot start - for whatever reason - but if you get no F8 boot menu, then the OS may not have started or finished installation.  (Remember that 2012 will not have an F8 option.)

How long does it "hang" for?  How long have you let it sit?

I've seen this happen when the OS (windows) gets confused about the available partitions that it sees. Are there any usb devices attached to the system, or storage cards that have storage devices attached to them, or fibre channel over Ethernet cards that may have storage devices attached? Also, I am surprised that your 2950 does not have an idrac in it. Just to be sure, is there a dedicated idrac port on the back of the unit, far left rear corner?

Tried waiting 30' to a full 60 minutes. I know that the OS will detect its HW in this stage but more then an hour seems exadgerated.

Kind regards

(Far left corner has a "plastic port with a wrench", inside nothing is connected to it tough.)

I did get the F8 option this time tough.

This last post made me think.

The server is a second hand one, and it had an external scusi controller who I imediatly removed (it being obsolete and not needed) to prevent another possible point of failure. I just reinstalled the card and booted of a Win 2008 R2. It is still at the starting windows screen but this time the windows logo doesn't keep still. Lets hope he makes it true startup.

I'll keep you guys posted

Morris

No Luck with this approuch either. Anyone any other idea's?

Well, it shouldn't be this hard ... I've done all these OS's on 2950's with PERC 5's and 6's.

So, I'm reaching here into my deep list of odd problems over the years:

- Is your system LCD panel amber or blue?  Perhaps there is a system error at the root of the problem.

- All these installs are via DVD/CD?  Have you attempted an install via USB?  I have had odd installation problems with "bad" optical drives.

- Are the ISO's all burned with the same optical drive and burning software?

- You said you tried "additional drives but that only complicated matters" ... what do you mean?  What drive(s) are you using?  Maybe the drive you are using is bad.

- You said you tried "initializing the drives before trying to install the OS" ... this should always be done when a VD is created.  When creating a VD, check the Advanced and Initialize boxes.  It does not usually need to finish in order to install the OS.

- You said "we created a '1 on 1' VD for the controller" ... what exactly do you mean by '1 on 1'?

- Is there anything special about the setup?  Did you change the stripe size of the VD?  Are/were there existing VD's and/or partitions on the existing disk?  Was it previously used in another system, particularly linux or Apple?  What size is it?

- Are the Windows Server OS's the Standard edition, or higher?

Flash,

Blue (replaced one broken fan recently)

I'll try the usb approuch, tough Win server 2003 worked fine with DVD and CD installs

I burned some at work (shame on me) and some on my laptop.

I have 3 caddies, used to be 3 SAS drives now i used only one. Tried sometimes with a single sas in Raid 0 and a couple of 1Tb Sata in raid 1

Yes I initialised

Virtual disk spanning the total volume of a phisical disk

I deleted all the old raid configs, initialised the disks, SATA have never seen linux, the sas had but that has been initialised again so all other partitions should have been deleted.

2008 R2 has a choice option: standard enterprise or datacenter. I am planning for an enterprise install.

2012 has the choice between Datacenter and standard. Here the goal is the datacenter.

Do you guys need screenshots, if so, what do you want to see? (read pictures of screen :-) )

Kind regards

M

I'm not sure we need screenshots, unless there is something else odd going on.

Trust me on the USB thing ... I had an optical drive that would install 2003 and 2008, but not 2008R2.  Does that make sense?  No, but changing out the optical drive, using the SAME media worked.  One of the oddest things I've seen ... I'm not saying that is your answer, but as unlikely as it sounds, it is worth a shot.  

I think we've covered all the most obvious stuff, but something isn't working right, so we have to look at less likely scenarios now.

"I burned some at work (shame on me)"

LOL ... sometimes the line between work at home and work at work gets blurry ... a few DVD's now and then is a small price for a company to pay in compensation for what we do for them while off the clock :)

Morris, I am sending you a friend request, then I will send you a private message.

Disregard Last Transmission :-)

Flash,

I tried booting by usb. I actually was able to launch the install and pressed F8 to launch the install in safe mode. When i configured (2012 datacenter, server with gui) and the actuall install rebooted it went back to hanging at the "starting windows" screen.

Is there a way to reset a server to its actual factory settings? I mean no Virtual media attached etc?

Kind regards

Morris

For the bios,  you can enter the bios and do an Alt-F, that will reset all the bios settings back to defaults. for the BMC, (after doing cntrl-E) you can choose to reset to defaults.