Are you able to "BOOT" to the CD on another machine, or simply open/browse it?

There is nothing special that needs to happen in order to boot to a CD on a 2950.  Did you burn image onto a CD or DVD?  Does the 2950 have a DVD drive?  Is the BIOS configured to boot to CD?

CORRECTION to item #3 above:  the drive IS DVD.  More specifically, it is:  "

PD438

Assembly, COMPACT DISK READ WRITE/DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE COMBO..., 650M Hitachi LG Data Storage, Black

"

Thanks,
Pete

Hi theflash,

Thanks.  Simply put, 'yes' (mostly).  Sad to hear about 'nothing special'.  Here are details:

1. Yes, I'm able to "BOOT" to the other CDs.  I tested the CD in question (three+ actually) on multiple differnt PCs and all worked.  The machines on which the DON'T work are the 2950 (two, actually, both identically configured machines).

2. "Did you burn image onto a CD or DVD?".  Yes - both.  When first burned CD failed I tried another (CD), using a different brand of blank CD.  When second burned CD failed, I tried again, using a blank DVD.

3.  "Does the 2950 have a DVD drive?" No, I think it's just CD, not DVD.  Tho' I should double-check this.  If I'm wrong I'll re-post later with update.

4.  "Is the BIOS configured to boot to CD?"  Yes.  In fact, I tried several varions.  Most importantly, and first, was selecting *only* the CD as the boot device.  Later I tried:

1. Using F9 to go to boot menu, then choose CD.
2. Using "Server Manager", and it's option to affect boot devices/order (sorry, I might have the wrong name for this server management tool accessed via web from within Windows)

BTW, a couple of points I  neglected to mention in my original post:

A. I also tried booting (same .iso) from a USB Flash device - no joy.

B. With Dell's help, I made a Dell DDDE bootable CD & USB Flash.  Again, neither worked on the server (but DID work on alternate PCs)

 

Thanks again for your help,

Pete

Is it necessary that a bootable CD (ISOLinux, for instance) have the PERC driver on the CD in order to boot, even if the booting OS does not require access to the HDD?

Thanks,

Pete

No.  So long as it is a bootable CD and everything is being run from/on the CD, it should boot to the CD with no additional driver support.  If you need access to the disks from whatever is running on the CD, then you might need to consider adding driver support ... depending on what you are running on CD.  For example, Dell's OMSA Live! CD and SBUU already have the RAID drivers.

I must admit that I am at a loss as to other reasons it may boot to some CD's and not others.  If it is indeed a DVD drive, then it should read either CD's or DVD's.  But if we are talking about CD's ... if you can boot to a pre-made/labeled disk (OpenManage labeled disk, Windows labeled CD, etc.) but not a "burned" CD (OS image, diags, SBUU, etc.), then I would have to assume that there is something wrong with the burned CD - be it the format, speed, burning software.  If you can BOOT to those CD's on other machines (not just browse its contents), then it must be something about how it is burned/formatted that the 2950 DVD drive doesn't like.  You might try using another software or burning at a much slower speed.  You might also try updating the firmware on the DVD drive, in case the firmware update contains updated code to add broader support for burned CD's.

Flash,

Thanks - all good points.  My assessment & conclusions are about the same, and it's good to get this affirmation.  I've check with other sources (in addition to this 'Community), and consesus seems to point to the optical drive.  That's probably where I'll start.

I'm eager to also try some of the things you mentioned but, alas, it's a production server, so access is limited...  I'll keep you posted as I learn more.  Please be patient, as it might take me a few weeks.

Thanks Again,

Pete

Thanks.  I finally had a chance to try a new optical drive and it did indeed solve the problem.

Thanks all for your help!

Pete