Issue installing MS 2003 on 2950Mod3

Question

I recently bought 5 PowerEdge 2950 Mod 3's. I tried to do an Acronis restore from an older Dell to a 2950. The rescue did did the restore, the server rebooted and I made it to the Windows logo screen. The server then cycled back to the BIOS start up, and keeps looping in the same loop.

I went online to troubleshoot and read articles on it, as I was getting an error stating that the drives could not be read. I downloaded the drivers I needed, set my BIOS so my USB was seen as a floppy as instructed in the blog for the issue I had, and pressed F6 once into the OS startup for recovery. I then selected the -S option but I kept getting the error that the floppy drive could not be read.

I then F3 out of the OS setup, manually selected to boot of of the CD drive, and tried to do a fresh install of 2003, following the steps given in the same blog. I fixed the error where I am given 1GB on the drive, and was able to get the full MB's my drive is at (300GB HD). Once I select to install my MS 2003, I get an error that I do not have enough space on my HD, yet I am showing the full amount of space I should have.

I have tried this on all 5 of the 2950's I just bough, and on different SCSI drives for this server. I get the same error every time.

I have not been in tier 3 for long, and think I am now out of my limits of figuring this out on my own. Some advice/help would be much appreciated.

Bruce

theflash1932 · Answer

What is the model of server you are restoring FROM? Does Acronis have the ability to restore to dissimilar hardware? The ability to add drivers (RAID/storage in particular) during the restore?

Given your floppy disk error, you can try one of two things: 1) perform a full format of the floppy first and/or try a new/different disk or 2) use nliteos.com to integrate your storage drivers.

BTW ... this server supports only SAS or SATA drives, not SCSI (SAS is Serial Attached SCSI and is not similar at all to SCSI).

So, before we proceed, what exactly do you want to do from here? Do you want to perform a clean install of Windows?

If so:

Which RAID controller do you have?
Does your 2003 media have a Service Pack? What is the SP level?

sbnadeau · Answer

Oh yes, sorry, we are on a RAID1 currently, and SP2.

sbnadeau · Answer

I am using Acronis recovery 11, under the Universal Restore, which is supposed to restore to dissimilar hardware. Yes it has the ability to add RAID setups for the restore, and that worked find to a certain extent.

I successfully restore from Acronis onto the new HD on the 2950, it goes into a reboot as it should, it comes to the Windows screen, stays there for 3 seconds and then boots back to the dell screen.

I Googled the problem and saw many links with the same issues as myself and I asked a buddy who has 20 years experience what may be the problem and he told me it was PERC drivers needed from the OS. and the links I followed stated the same. I followed this link here; http://thebackroomtech.com/2008/03/13/a-dell-poweredge-server-windows-2003-x64-and-the-battle-over-sas-raid-drivers/ and I seemed to have gotten past the errors I was countering. My last hurtle was that the HD would only see 1GB of memory out of 300GB, and I corrected that as per the article. The PROBLEM I have no encountered is that when I proceed to do a fresh install of server 2003 and I get to the step to partition my drive(s) and I select install, I error out that there is not enough space on my HD, which is completely clean and ready for an install.

I just WANT to be able to get either a proper restore of the virtual server I am trying to migrate from onto the server we're migrating to, OR, be able to do a fresh install of the OS and restore the folders and files we need,

I though the machine we were restoring from was a Dell, but it is a custom build box, I cannot see any markings and can only find S5000PSL for the mobo, 2 quadcore CPU 3.0GHz, 14GB RAM. The machine is a Hyper-v server we are trying to restore from, and according to Acronis this can be done when a server fails.

theflash1932 · Answer

I don't have experience with Acronis, so I can't help with that, but I can help you get 2003 installed on your 2950.

Which model of RAID controller model do you have?
Does your 2003 media have a Service Pack?
2003 32-bit or 64-bit?
What is the SP level?
Do you have a CD drive or a DVD drive?
What is your BIOS version?

sbnadeau · Answer

Hey, I will take the help I can get. at this point Acronis is not in the picture as the restore isn't working.

My next step if this doesn't work is trying to install or restore to a SATA HD instead.

Yes, 2003 SP2,

32-bit,
SP2,
DVD drive,
BIOS is 7.2.0

E2K-UCP-61-(B). PERC6/i

theflash1932 · Answer

You have a few options:

1. Dell installation utility.

Systems Management Tools and Documentation (SMTD), which includes Systems Build and Update Utility (SBUU) can be used to walk through all steps of installing the OS, including RAID, partitions, drivers, etc.:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-2950?driverId=CMY20&osCode=WNET&fileId=3289202330&languageCode=en&categoryId=SZ

Just boot to SMTD first, follow the prompts, then put in the 2003 CD when prompted. This will require SP2 media (CD version not DVD), a DVD drive for SMTD, and the latest BIOS (I assume you meant 2.7.0, since there is no 7.x).

2. Install directly from 2003 CD.

You can install directly from the OS CD, but there are some things you need to know:

You MUST first configure AND initialize RAID in the CTRL-R utility.
You MUST load the RAID driver at the F6 prompt during Setup.

Driver can only be loaded from floppy disk (USB or local).
Windows may tell you it already has a driver - use the one on floppy anyway.

You can use nliteos.com instead to slipstream the driver into the installation media.

F6 will no longer be necessary.
This will create a new installation CD to install from.

Use the 'hard drive' version of the driver:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-2950?driverId=GHNKT&osCode=WNET&fileId=3000719987&languageCode=en&categoryId=SFYou

You must then must install all the drivers manually, after the installation. They can be obtained from support.dell.com (browse by model, not by Service Tag).

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Issue installing MS 2003 on 2950Mod3

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