Server stops responding when installing Windows Server 2003

This may or may not be what is causing it to hang, but it WILL be your next issue if its not this issue:

Server 2003 doesn't have drivers for your RAID controller. You will need to give it the drivers by loading them from floppy at the F6 prompt or using something like nliteos.com to integrate the drivers into your installation media. It is also possible that Windows does not have the correct driver for the SATA controller that your optical drive is connected to. Which RAID controller do you have?

I appreciate your fast response.

RAID controller is PERC 6i/R integrated and I have already downloaded the drivers from dell.com. Fortunately, I have an external USB floppy drive which is recognized during Windows Server 2003 installation and such drivers are supposed to be taken from here. However, after the installation step where all drivers are loaded, there is a message at the bottom of the screen saying that the installation program is initializing Windows and it hangs here.

To download the drivers I went to this page: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/  and went to "SAS RAID (3)" section and selected those with date 5/9/2012. My Windows Server 2003 is 32 bits version.

Regards.

It is Dell PERC 6/i.

Yes, I hit the F6 key at the very beginning of the installation process, then I am taken to a screen where a list of drivers are shown (only one in may case),  I select it and hit then ENTER key. After all this, installation continues loading drivers until the "Setup is starting Windows" message appears and here it hangs.

Ok, first, it is important to note ... there is no such controller as the PERC 6/iR.  There is the PERC 6/i and the SAS 6/iR ... they have very different feature sets and the drivers are not inter-compatible ... which one do you have?

"Fortunately, I have an external USB floppy drive which is recognized during Windows Server 2003 installation and such drivers are supposed to be taken from here. However, after the installation step where all drivers are loaded, there is a message at the bottom of the screen saying that the installation program is initializing Windows and it hangs here."

Windows does not pull the drivers from the floppy disk automatically ... you MUST load them manually from floppy by pressing F6 during Setup (very beginning).

This is the driver you should be using:
http://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER97889M/10/DELL_MULTI-DEVICE_A07_R211422.exe

This is probably not the cause of the hanging, and the onboard SATA controller (for the optical drive) looks to support only ATA mode, so that should not be the cause either.

Most likely cause is bad 2003 media.  If you downloaded it, I would suggest downloading and/or burning the CD again.

If that still doesn't work, I would suggest using Dell's installation utility ... 1) it will confirm your system doesn't have some other issue preventing it from booting to optical media, and 2) may bypass whatever is causing it to hang.

System Build and Update Utility (pay attention to the Installation Instructions on the download page for each ISO piece):
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r610?driverId=68RWT&osCode=WNET&fileId=2731101038&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SZ

Does your 2003 installation media have SP2 on it?  Is it R2?

You will have to have SP2 media in order to use the installation utility, and that is most likely what is causing the hanging - non-SP2 is not supported.

You can use nLiteOS.com to integrate SP2 into the installation media and see if that is the cause. 

Use 2003 CD's not DVD's, if you have a choice (DVD's may not work with the installation utility).

This server will only install Windows 2003 if it is SP2, or R2.   If your installation media is neither one, you will need to download SP2 and as flash1932 advised previously, create your own installation with the drivers and service pack .   Then retry your installation. 

Regards,