New drives

Question

My company was going to trash a PE 2650 server because of a shipping mistake (the front left handle was bent). Instead, we decided to use it in our department as a data server. There were 5 36G SCSI RAID drives in it and we wanted to upgrade them to 146G. While running, we pulled the first 36 and installed the 146. The rebuild completed on it's own and everything was fine over night. While waiting for the other 2 146's to ship, we were installing windows updates the next day. When the server was rebooted after one of the updates, it would not start up because it no longer saw any drive. This conveniently happened on a Friday afternoon before I was leaving to go on a week vacation. So I shut the computer down thinking that when I returned I would have the 2 146's and just install W2K server from scratch. So I installed the 3 146's, powered up, installed the W2K server disk, and received a no disk found. I went into the CRTL M utility and viewed the config, but there were no logical drives. So I tried assigning one; didn't help. I also tried creating a boot disk for the PERC but it doesn't recognize it when the disk AFU runs. Finally, I put the 36's back in and there is a config mismatch.   Service tag J4XBR51.   In the end, I want the 3 146G and 2 36G. I want to partition to a C: with 1 36G and a D: with everything else and be able to install W2K server software. I need help setting up the CTRL M and CTRL A (if necessary). Not sure how many logical or physical drives there should be or how to set up the RAID config.

tester25 · Answer

Perhaps a 36GB RAID1 Vdisk created using the two 36GB hard drives. Then either a RAID5 or RAID0 using the three 146GB hard drives.

Is this the type of advice that you are looking for?

"Conveniently happened on a Friday afternoon before I was leaving to go on a week vacation" Murphy's law. :-)

gavaletz · Answer

HA-0 (Bus 3 Dev 0) PERC 3/DC Standard FW 1970 DRAM=128MB

gavaletz · Answer

From CTRL A: I don't come up with a CCU but instead it is a SCSISelect Utility. I only have the options of selecting 2 'Bus:Device:Channel' a or b and really cannot do anything from here.

tester25 · Answer

Ah, CTRL + M is the utility.  You'll need a different user's guide for that. Simple Array Setup or Advanced Array Setup is what you'll want to look at.

tester25 · Answer

Okay, which RAID Controller is in your system?

gavaletz · Answer

Yes this is what I am looking for. Do you have a link or procedure of how to create this type of configuration. Thanks.

tester25 · Answer

Here's a link to a user's guide: A container is the same thing as a virtual disk or RAID virtual disk.

tester25 · Answer

Yep. While you are at it, you should upgrade the firmware on your RAID Card. If you are installing Windows, then be sure to use the Dell drivers during install. You have to press F6 at the very beginning of the install of Windows to be able to use another manufacturer's drivers.

You should go here and select your server model and then the OS and other information. This is where you can download the drivers and firmware for the RAID Card.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

gavaletz · Answer

OK. So I configured the system for two arrays. RAID 1 has 2 36's and RAID5 has 3 146's. In the process of initializing the logical drives. Once that is finished, I should be able to install the OS? Correct?

gavaletz · Answer

I already have it downloaded to a floppy. Just a little confused because there is an Adaptec PERC 3/Di and LSI Logic PERC 3/DC. I have Adaptec PERC but it's a 3/DC not Di???

gavaletz · Answer

Which OS are you trying to install?

Windows 2000 Server

Which RAID Controllers are in your system?

PERC 3/DC Standard

Which OS did you download the RAID Card driver for?

Windows 2000

Which version of the RAID Card Driver did you download?

perc-cerc-w2k-5.48-A04

Which RAID card did you download the driver for?

PERC 3/DC

Do you see something during the bootup procedure that tells you that there were virtual disks found?

Yes.

After running the OS install with the above RAID driver (not the 3/Di), it allowed me to continue. I got to the set up Windows 2000 now, press Enter. However, the next screen is the licensing agreement and even when I choose F8, it just sits there. Is my F8 key not working?

tester25 · Answer

PERC 3/DC is an add-in PCI RAID Card with two SCSI channels.  It uses different drivers and firmware from the PERC 3/Di.  The PERC 3/Di is an onboard RAID controller with two SCSI channels.  If you only see 'PERC 3/DC' during the bootup, then only use those drivers.

tester25 · Answer

Which OS are you trying to install?

Which RAID Controllers are in your system?

Which OS did you download the RAID Card driver for?

Which version of the RAID Card Driver did you download?

Which RAID card did you download the driver for?

Do you see something during the bootup procedure that tells you that there were virtual disks found?

These are all the things that you need to check.

gavaletz · Answer

After starting the OS install, I did the F6 and inserted the disk and selected the RAID controller. It continues on and then asks me if I want to install or repair. I choose install and it stops: Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

gavaletz · Answer

The F8 key did not work. Used another key board and continued on.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

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