DAMN RAID .. someone help

Alright so I got an old IBM xServer 305 from work to install Windows server 2003 on. When I got it, it was working fine with Fedora running on it. I tried doing a simple install of Windows (boot from the CD). It got half way through the install and died. When I tried to start over it said that it couldn't find any disks. There are two SCSI drives attached to a ServeRAID 4lx PCI controller. So, I tried updating the firmware and that went smooth. I then got the matching SCSI drivers and installed them during the windows install, still no disks.

I have tried that, reseating the controller, switching between the drives, and reinstalling linux. It can't find the disks. It says that the drive is defunct. Any ideas? I've spent the last two days on this crap.

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Comments

JDMurray

Was there an error message when the install "died" or did the installation just freeze? Can the SCSI host adapter's configuration menu see the two SCSI drives? If it can't, Windows will never see the drives either. And if you can, check the power supply to see if it's supplying the proper voltage, or try swapping it out with a new, equivalent PSU.

Find someone where you work who knows the history of the server; maybe they can shed some light on the problems it's had.

seuss_ssues

Did you hit F6 when booting from the cd and give it the drivers needed for your RAID controller?

nuglobe

seuss_ssues wrote:

Did you hit F6 when booting from the cd and give it the drivers needed for your RAID controller?

Yuppers.

I get an error saying that the one disk is defunct and that one logical drive is critical. There is only one disk in there at the moment. So it's detecting it.

As for the original install it just came up saying ti couldn't find a file.

JDMurray

So I take it that the SCSI host adapter can see both drives on boot and its diagnostics finds no problems with the drives, cables, or termination. Was this server actually running before it came into your possession, or had it been sitting unused in a storage room for a while?

nuglobe wrote:

As for the original install it just came up saying ti couldn't find a file.

Was it at the part of the install where it performing the initial of copying files from the installation CD to the hard disk, or was it actually installing from the hard disk? Not finding a file on the CD is a different set of problems from not finding a file on the hard disk.

nuglobe

The server was in the build cage. The datacenter I am at had been bought out, and they have a Dell only policy, so when people upgrade or leave we put the servers in there. The install error came up after it had started the gui install section. Pretty much right before it asks for the CD-Key.

JDMurray

If this "old" server was running recently and without problems with Fedora, I'd suggest you have a look at the IBM Web page for that server to see if it and its peripherals are rated for Windows 2003 Server and are on the Windows Server 2003 Hardware Compatibility List. Another test is trying to install Windows 2000 Server on the box to see if that succeeds.

nuglobe

Its on the 2003 HCL. I don't have 2000 but I will give XP a try.

JDMurray

If XP doesn't work, try a Linux distro like Ubuntu.

blargoe

Problem sounds more likely to be with the controller or array itself, to me. Have you tried to start from scratch - completely blow away the raid configuration on the card and create another array.

nuglobe

Yeah I tried all that and still it doesnt work. I just brought a different server home from work. Thanks for all the help though.