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Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

 
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Stephen Parry
New Member

HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Hi everyone. I have recently purchased an old LH4 and need the HP Navigator CD to get it up and running. Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy as i've tried everywhere, including the HP website. I'm stuck. Can anyone please hepl? :-(
6 REPLIES 6
Sean T. Craig
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Hi Stephen,

You're not stuck. The Navigator CD is no longer available through HP, nor is it required. All the drivers on it are antiquated. Everything you need is available for download from the HP Website, the trick is finding out what you need.

Is this a new install? How many hard drives? Which O/S are you planning on putting on? The server supports up to 2000 Server but many people have had success with Server 2003; the only difference is HP had not written any drivers for 2003, and you will need to use the native O/S Drivers.

The first thing you want to do before installing your O/S is make sure you BIOS and Firmware are up to date. You can download BIOS Version 4.06.36 PS from this link:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=50450&prodNameId=15383&swEnvOID=54&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ns1783en
and the lastest firmware for your embedded NetRAID Controller here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=50450&prodNameId=15383&swEnvOID=54&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ns-30515-1
Both executables will create a boot floppy that you will use to start the server and run the updates

After that, you need to configure your drives for use. Are you planning to use a RAID configuration or JBOD SCSI? My recommendation is the RAID but it depends on how many hard drives you have and how much space is required. You can access the NetRAID Express Tools Utility by pressing M during POST when it banners the firmware for it. Configure your drives through the menus. I recommend using default values just in case you lose your configuration at some point in the future and you need to recreate it. If you've specified parameters other than the defaults, you will need to make sure to record them in case you need them in the future.

After your array is created, you need to initialize it. You can do this from M as well. Now you're ready to install your O/S.

If you're installing Windows 2000 Server, boot to the CD and press as soon as the CD starts copying the executive files. When that's done, you will need to specify 3rd party mass storage drivers by pressing "S" and putting in a floppy that has the drivers that you can download from here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=50440&prodNameId=15383&swEnvOID=226&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ns-12640-1
Of course, these downloads are assuming you are installing Windows 2000 on the embedded RAID Controller.

Give that a try and if the information doesn't apply to your configuration, write back with your current config and what you're trying to do.

Best of luck,

Sean T. Craig Sr. C.E.T., M.C.P.

P.S. Feel free to rate the value of these responses by assigning points to them. Thx
I am King...of my apartment.
Stephen Parry
New Member

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Hi Sean. Thank you so much for your help.

I have an LH4 with the standard netraid embedded controller and an additional netraid 3si. Using the pages you gave me, I have installed the latest version of the bios and the firmware for both controllers.

I have also downloaded the raid scsi driver you mentioned. When I boot up, I can see both 9.1gb drives, format them, mirror them and initialize them. The problem starts when I begin to install the op sys.

I press F6 and select the correct driver but when the op sys gets to the part where you should normally press enter then format your disks, it says it cannot find any hard drives.

No matter which Microsoft op sys I try, I cannot get it to see the drives.

That is the reason I thought I may need the Navigator CD.

I don't understand how the bios can see them and let me play with them but the op sys won't, even with the latest upgrades and the correct driver.

Can you help any further?

Thank you once again.

Steve (stephenparry@hotmail.com)
Sean T. Craig
Honored Contributor

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Hi Stephen,

Here's what's happening. At the command level, the firmware of the controller allows you to access the drives but the O/S needs a driver to know how to use the controller. For whatever reason, the O/S isn't loading the driver.

A couple of things you need to consider:

1. Which O/S are you installing? If it's NT4, you need to create the 3 boot floppies otherwise, it will not load a driver for the CDROM at the O/S level. After you specify the driver using , specify another driver and scroll "UP" the list (above what is displayed) and choose the ATAPI CDROM 1.2.

2. You mentioned you have both the embedded and a 3si controller. Which one are the drives connected to? The only advantage the 3si has over the embedded is that there are 3 channels instead of 2. Also, the embedded has 32MB of cache and the 3si has 16MB upgradable to 64MB. Unless you require 2 standard SCSI channels, I recommend using the embedded controller and saving your 3si for a backup in case the embedded fails in the future.

3. If you are using the 3si, be sure to disable the embedded controller in the CMOS.

4. Make sure that the driver you are using is appropriate for your O/S. NT's will be different from 2K.

5. To create the driver disk, download the executable, extract the files, and then copy the contents of the install folder that was created onto the root directory of the floppy disk.

6. If you are installing W2K, boot to the CD and start pressing as soon as the CD starts loading. With NT, as soon as the first disk starts loading. Stop when it is copying the executive files. When it is done copying, (or done disk 3 in NT) it will ask you to press "S" to specify the driver. Insert the floppy and press . Choose either the HP NetRAID or the NetRAID-3si, whichever one your drives are connected to.

The Navigator CD does have an assisted install which will load the driver for you, but it will also load 50 other drivers that you don't need. It will also create a utility partition at the start of the disk that you will probably never use. The one good thing I can think of for the Navigator is for NT4, in that it will allow you to exceed the 4GB partition limitation (2GB when using a FAT partition) so you can make your system partition as big as you like.

I wish you the very best of luck and please let us know if this worked out for you.

Regards,

Sean T. Craig Sr. C.E.T., M.C.P.

I am King...of my apartment.
Bryan Eley
Trusted Contributor

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Any luck trying Sean's recommendations? As he said, you might be able to get the installation to work with the onboard controller. I may also have a navigator cd around here someplace...

Bryan
Daniel Munguia
New Member

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Hi Sean:

I'd read all your reply and, i appreciate your help, really.
But, i just have a little trouble...i have not the HP Netraid-2M driver for my HP Netserver LH 6000. I'd download a Netraid driver for W2K, but it's an .exe file. I understand (let me know if is not right), i need a set of files in a floppy drive.

I will appreciate your help about this, again.

Regards.

Daniel

P.D. I know, your are thinking: "2 years later, and someone have these obsolete server!?!?!?!", and the answer is yes, and i need you use it. sorry.
Bryan Eley
Trusted Contributor

Re: HP LH4 Navigator CD. Where can I get one?

Daniel,

If I'm not mistaken, I think you can extract the exe contents to a folder and copy them to a diskette, and press F6 during the OS install and insert the disk with the drivers. Extracted the files take up only about 72k.