DL380 BSOD installing W2K3 after BIOS updated

[BarnabyArnott]

We are removing an old Windows 2000 server instance which has been running fine as a database server on an older 2003.x.y BIOS version.

We planned to create a fresh install of Windows Server 2003, so first ran an online BIOS update to 2004.09.15. After this the system failed to finish booting the old OS instance.
Oh well, we continued to destroy the RAID set; start from scratch, and install W2K3 on a freshly created and formatted partition.

The server is not performing well. During the phase 1 (text) install, it either blue screens or is VERY slow to copy the files to disk; or during the initial GUI install phase, it bluescreens as soon as the mouse is available.

We have NOT noted the bugcheck codes yet, as they appeared to change.
We HAVE
a) removed RAM (although is was good, it was banked A-512x2, B-256x2, C-512x2, so we removed B, and shifted C to B for a total of 2GB now)
b) rerun the BIOS update with the v7.8 firmware CD and the 'force' option.
c) cleaned the CD lense
d) tried different disks
e) reset the BIOS options to default

The only related info I've found is:
-The 2004.09.15 BIOS release notes suggest random BSOD issues like this were fixed (a result of CPU/firmware bugs)
-An old forum thread suggested disabling hyperthreading. I will try that tomorrow, but this was an old thread + hyperthreading is on by default and should work as designed/intended
-The same thread suggested disabling hot plug memory reservation. Again, I will try this, but it should not be necessary.

Any better ideas?
Is this still a known problem, with certain releases of CPU? Any compatibility issues, such as with iLO or network switches? (Note: there is no additional hardware, e.g. no PCI cards)

Thanks for any advice,
Barnaby

[KarloChacon]

hi

I recommend you to install the whole firmware package in that way be completely sure that not only BIOS is up to date

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=316529&prodNameId=3288130&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-a0cacdec34c24b288772ed3d88


also try clear NVRAM


regards

[BarnabyArnott]

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion to use the SmartStart CD.

To update on today's efforts:
-Disabling hyperthreading didn't help
-Disabling Hot Plug resourcing didn't help

The final workaround was to remove proc 2 (+ power board)

The system is running fine and installing W2K3 no probs now with only 1 physical proc installed.

However, we've decided to abandon this server as it is not under warranty.
We'll rebuild a new server instead.

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully this thread will help someone else.
Signing off....