Windows Server 2012 R2 on HP Microserver (N36L, N40L, N54L)

[CBenz]

Hi everybody,

since Windows Server 2012 R2 is about to be released in a few days I would like to ask if the issue regarding the HP NC107i integrated network card has been solved?

Installation of Server 2012 R2 is stuck at ~84% because the NIC driver is missing.

It was listed in the attached Document as a known issue at the end of the paper (page 10).

Thanks in advance.

P.S. This thread has been moved from Servers > General to ProLiant Servers - Netservers.
-HP Forum Moderator

[Bharat Khetani]

Same here.  R2 has now been released.  Where are our updated drivers?

[Jahn Peter]

Same here. :(

[francis_f]

the same on J08, but got a blue screen :-(

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-HP-Consumer-Products-and-Technologies/microserver-bluescreen-HPSA2-sys/m-p/3022849/highlight/false#M11540

[oceang]

Another user of 4 microservers who has the same question.  Has anyone got any idea how to get HP to respond on progress?

[Dennis Handly]

>Has anyone got any idea how to get HP to respond on progress?

This is a peer to peer forum, not an official HP support site.
Have you tried contacting the HPSC?
http://www.hp.com/go/hpsc

[oceang]

I have raised  a ticket on the HPSC in Australia and am awaiting their response.

---

@Dennis Handly wrote:

>Has anyone got any idea how to get HP to respond on progress?

This is a peer to peer forum, not an official HP support site.
Have you tried contacting the HPSC?
http://www.hp.com/go/hpsc

---

[oceang]

I have had the following response from HP.   First up, the earliest resolution looks like December. Second up, it is a possibility that HP just wont support R2 on Gen7 ever.

Here is the response for those interested.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

This is with reference to the Windows OS 2012 R2 installation for your product HP Proliant N40L G7 MicroServer.

I checked my internal resources and found the information about the drivers for 2012 R2. The driver for Windows 2012 R2 is still in a testing phase and full functional drivers are expected to be released sometime in December of this year.

However, I see the server you have is a G7 server and as per the OS support matrix G7 server is not tested for MS Windows 2012 installation.

Please check the OS support matrix from the below link-

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/windows/index.html.

For HP Proliant N40L G7 MicroServer So 2012 R2 may not be tested as it is not a recommended OS for this model.

[Whootowl]

I'm thinking that (given the same NIC hardware/firmware) the tested driver solution should work for previous models.  It is doubtful that Hp would deliberately gimp the installer to refuse installation on G7.  Hp is merely reiterating that they will officially support only those OS listed in the product's matrix (so they need not take calls from G7 owners).

It is perplexing in my mind why the existing driver for this NIC would have no issues with Windows Server 2012 but would be an insurmountable obstacle for installation of 2012 R2.  I'm not aware of any changes to the underlying driver architecture.  Why would "testing" even be necessary?  It seems the driver was merely omitted from the library of "signed" drivers.  This is forcing many users to install a supported NIC, but such is work/expense that should be totally unnecessary and this forces the user to consume a precious card slot.   If Hp is trying to encourage users to purchase a new server, they should realize that for lack of a good user experience folks will likely look to other OEMs for their new server.

[tygarbyte]

Just in  case some one googles this.... or decide to update to 2012r2 / win8 from an earlier OS

SOFTPAQ NUMBER:  SP64420
PART NUMBER: N/A
FILE NAME:  SP64420.EXE
TITLE:  System ROMPaq Firmware Upgrade for HP ProLiant MicroServer Servers (For USB Key-Media).

VERSION:  2013.10.01A
LANGUAGE:  English
ROM FAMILY: O41
REVISION: A

CATEGORY:  ROMPaqs

DIVISIONS:  Systems

PRODUCTS AFFECTED:  HP ProLiant MicroServer Servers

OPERATING SYSTEM:  All

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION:  N/A

PREREQUISITE:  N/A

EFFECTIVE Date:  11/16/2013

ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED:  Yes

SOFTPAQ UTILITY VERSION: 1.0

SUPERSEDES:  sp54344

DESCRIPTION:   This release provides updated system ROM images for the latest maintenance releases of HP ProLiant MicroServer Servers.






Important Notes -


This SoftPaq version will execute the "kbd" utility to upgrade the system bios due to a bootblock change.






New Features -


HP ProLiant MicroServer system ROM O41 (10/01/2013)
_____________________________________________
None






Problems Fixed -


HP ProLiant MicroServer system ROM O41 (10/01/2013)
_____________________________________________
Addressed an issue where Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 may stop responding while booting the operating system.






Known Problems -


HP ProLiant MicroServer system ROM O41 (10/01/2013)
_____________________________________________

None