Proliant ML 350 G4 test project

[Baalinor]

Johan, is it possible to place a DVD drive in this machine? I have 2 available.  Also, I cannot get the machine to accept any type of instalation option.  I have Server 2008 on a USB drive and cannot get an option to install an OS, nor can I get an option to install any drivers or update the firmware. I have not even been able to access a command line to try anything.

There were 2 logical drives on one of the serves and I deleted and recreated them, and I actuall only used 3 of the 4 for the one logical drive thinking that if I had an extra drive it might accept an OS but no luck.

I took some pictures but cannot get them off of my phone, I guess I need to e-mail them, LOL will do that tomorrow at work if it is slow and post them tomorrow.

So how exactly would I update the drivers  and possibly flash the BIOS?

Thanks for any help

[Johan Guldmyr]

"So how exactly would I update the drivers  and possibly flash the BIOS?"

The drivers are installed with the OS. To update the drivers are different between the OS. But with both 2k8 and 2k3 you can choose to load extra drivers during startup of the installation.

Flashing BIOS is done by booting on the smartstar CD.

[waaronb]

See my post above with links to the Smartstart and Firmware CDs.

If your server doesn't have a CD/DVD drive built in, you can either create a bootable USB flash drive with one of them, or I always used to keep a USB CD drive handy for things like that since not all of the servers come with a CD/DVD drive.

This is an old server and might not have full HP support for Server 2008 drivers so you may be at the mercy of whatever driver support comes with Server 2008 itself in some cases.

All I know is, if you're having trouble installing Windows on this server, you might want to practice installing Windows onto some easier systems first. If you have no experience installing it at all, trying to install a newer OS on an older Proliant with limited driver support and old hardware might be too much to start out with.

[Baalinor]

Waaronb,   I will admit I have limited experience with servers, I have however built several PCs for myself and never had a problem installing the client version of any Windows OS from Win 95 up. (Sorry I just aged myself) I have built a VM for the class I am taking with Server 2008 R2 and had no problems with that. I think the issue here might be when you mentioned a "Bootable" USB drive. I  think you may have hit the jackpot because I am not able to boot to anythin.  I downloaded both of your links the other night but have not had a chance to try use them.  I have Server 2008 on a USB drive, but not on a disk. I have a DVD drive in my PC I plan on taking out and puting into the Propiant Server. I will burn the OS to a DVD disk and try that.

HOw would I make a "bootable" file on a USB drive? It is probably something that is simple, however, I am not sure what steps I need to take to make one. Building a VM is quite easy, the OS installed aids in this, however, there is nothing on this machine and it fails to boot to any disk, so the key is just that, I need a bootable disk. If I burn the OS from my USB drive to a DVD disk, with that be automatically bootable? It would also be helpfull if you could provide a  link with instructions on making a bootable file on a USB drive.

I actually went to Microsoft's help site and tried to find a tutorial to make a bootable disk, however all I could find was making repair disks after the OS was already installed.  I need to make a fresh bootable disk.

Thank you for yor help

[Baalinor]

Johan, I got some images posted on Imgur, I think this woued be the link, http://imgur.com/a/n3ZZH#0 Though if not, my user name is Baalinor. 

I have done a few things over the past few weeks, but still no luck. I burned the IOS to a disk last night, tried using my DVD drive in the server but it recognizes taht it is there and  it powers up but it will not bppt from it. the only option in set up is boot from CD, no DVD.  If i had an IDE D VD drive would that  work because I am using a SATA drive and it says it is there, but it willnot even try and boot from it.

I also tried to boot from the NIC with the disk in the  drive of the computer I am using c onnected to  my network. I obviously am not doing things right.

Suggestions? Comments? Flames? Instruction?  Anything to help me get this thing working, LOL.

Thanks for any help.

[Johan Guldmyr]

BIOS is D19 02/15/2006. D19 is the ML350 G4p.

Perhaps the drivers you found were for the ML350 G4 and you need the ones for G4p.

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=3279709&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_3303ebe1dd234e1797ae1d0fc8%257CswEnvOID%253D%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D5%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignet...

There is a newer BIOS update for ML350 G4p (D19) BIOS that contains this fix: "Added support for Microsoft Windows 2008. This version of the System ROM is necessary to successfully install Microsoft Windows 2008 due to a previous issue that can cause server hang during the OS installation."

So next step: Boot on the Firmware Maintenance CD and upgrade everything. Booting from this CD was also previously suggested without any response from you. 

[Baalinor]

Thank yo for yor help Johan,  and yes, I do remember the sugestion for the maintenance CD,  however, I do not have one, and will look for it on the HP web site tonight when I get off of work. 

I actually have bo th servers, the G4 and the G4P, so it is obvious that I got the pictures confused,  however, I think if I get the G4P running the steps will be si milar withthe G4, just the proper drivers and firmware updates.

I assume that if I get the repair cd, it wi ll boot itself and intallation will be simple?  I ask this because I do not know.

Thank you for your help.

Baalinor

[waaronb]

Yeah, please try booting from the Firmware CD (10.10 was the last Firmware update CD that HP made before they switched to the SPP DVDs).

If you don't have a CD/DVD drive, there are some tutorials out there on the internet about how to burn an ISO image onto a USB drive to make it bootable.  I can't remember the steps off hand though... it's been a long time.  I think the HP drive key utility was capable of doing that, or if you have Linux installed anywhere there was some built-in utility that was capable of it.

[Baalinor]

Ok I downloaded the files you attached, the smart start and firmware, if I butn these to a disk, all I have is a DVD drive, right now  the server wil not boot the 08 disk I made, will it boot the firmware? or will it ignore it because  it is a dvd? Cannot try to night, I have a final tomorrow evening. I may try it tomorrow if the final is not too long.  We will have to wait and see what happens, Thanks for the help.

[waaronb]

Yeah, you need to make sure the system is setup to boot off the DVD drive.

Is this the internal DVD or CD drive that came with the system, or is this an external USB drive?  The BIOS settings will let you configure the boot order... I think I saw in the screenshots you sent earlier that it's set to boot off a USB key first, then CD ROM, then the hard drive.

If you weren't even able to boot the Windows Server 2008 CD, it may have been burned incorrectly?  Was this a downloaded ISO file from Microsoft, or a retail /MSDN copy?  Try booting it on another system that you know works correctly just to make sure (you could also use some advanced tools to see if the CD is setup to be bootable).  UltraISO, ISOBuster, or something like that can tell if it has boot info or not.

Not all ISO burning programs will write the boot info to the disc.  I always used to use Nero but I haven't had to burn a disc in years so I'm out of practice.