Proliant 3000

[LaMike]

All,

Problem 1 - I have a Proliant 3000R that I received that had two 4.3 GB drives in the internal drive cage connected to SCSI port 1. I removed all the drives, installed larger drives and connected the drive cage connector to a Smart Array 3200 controller. The system on bootup checks the controller and indicates there are no drives found in the internal enclosure even though the lights on the drives do light when powering up. I have done the obvious; checked cables, reseated connectors, reseated drives, etc. Any ideas?

Problem 2 - Same system as above. On bootup, after checking the controllers, bios, etc., the screens show the message "F1 to continue or F10 for Systems Utilities" or something close to that. Is there any way to make the system continue automatically unless interupted? The desire is that the system will boot all the way into Windows 2000 without operator intervention.

[Mark Morgan]

You need Compaq SmartStart to set up the raid controller.
SmartStart 5 or earlier is suited to your server.

URL / http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/22678.html

This is the 5.5 version. Once downloaded burn to a cd. This is a bootable cd with menu.

Good Luck

[LaMike]

I have used SmartStart to configure two additional controllers with various configurations. The problem as described in Problem #1 is that the internal cage is not seeing the drives. Also, for problem #2, I can't believe that Compaq intended for human intervention on every boot to answer the F1 or F10 question. If anyone has a clue please reply.

[kcpant]

Hi,

For problem-2, probably before this "f1 or f10..." message, the system flashing any error message. You may have to check that error message and resolve the same first.

Problem-1, As the server is significantly old, may be it's bios not able to recognize the new disks you are connecting. make sure the system supports the disks you have connected.

[Stephen Kebbell]

Hi,

the message that the internal controller cannot see any drives is normal. The disks are no longer connected the the onboard controller, you connected them to the Smart Array Controller! The SA-Controller does not report how many physical disks it sees during POST, only logical drives, which you have not configured yet. You should try a system erase to completely wipe the server, then boot from SmartStart 5.5. From there you can run Array Configuration Utility (part of the SmartStart process) to configure your disks.
Get system erase here:
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17918.html
This will create a bootable floppy to wipe the server.

The F1/F10 message is probably because you have no drive array configured yet (POST error 1785). Most POST errors will cause the server to display the F1/F10 prompt. If you fix the error, the prompt goes away.

Regards,
Stephen

[LaMike]

I no longer get any POST errors on startup yet I still get the press F1 to Continue or F10 for System Utilities message. Any more ideas. As I stated earlier, it is hard for me to believe that Compaq intended for someone to have to intervene to re-boot their servers.

[Mark Morgan]

Hello LaMike,

Yes it is hard to believe. But imagine someone going in the server area and taking out something.

The SmartStart CD has a hardware detect.
It would be best to run the system erase first. Reboot and run the hardware detect. Reboot and run the array utility.

After all of these the utility will ask which OS you wish to install. Choose the this and it will reboot to install.

Grab something to snack on and drink or watch TV!

Once running you will enjoy this system.
Good Luck
Mark