DL 380 G3 Rebuild

[David Missen]

I have a DL380 G3 with 6 x 38GB drives installed.

When I first took delivery I built Windows 2000 using the SmartStart CD (6.30) on a single drive (RAID 0) just to test the external Tape Drive that I intend to use (attached to Compaq SCSI adapter installed in the server)and this worked fine.

I now want to rebuild the server and have erased the NVRAM and Boot disk using the F9 prompt. However, the system now hangs at a blank white screen during the first stage of SmartStart setup (i.e. I don't get access to any of the menus at all).

I tried building the RAID arrays via the Smart Array 5i BIOS (2 disks RAID1 and 4 disks RAID 5) and when I rebooted the server the access lights started flashing on the RAID 1 array followed by the 4 Disks in the RAID 5 about 15 minutes later.

I left the server doing this overnight (assuming it was building the arrays) but it still hadn't finished by the next morning (14 hours later).

I've tried SmartStart 6.40 (same result), I have swapped the CD drive with another server (same result) I have tried the rebuild with just one disk (same result) and have disconnected the external Tape Drive (guess what!....same result)..... and I have tried erasing the NVRAM using the switch on the system board as well!

Should I try the System erase utility disk or does anyone have any other ideas?

[Tom Vicevich]

I'd do another system erase and try to start over.