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BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

 
jessamyn
New Member

BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

I have an old netserver 5/133 LC that came to me in a non-functioning state [used to be running redhat 6.2 but the master boot record seems to be corrupted -- it gets halfway through the LILO process, leaving me with only LI] but used to be running fine.

The boot sequence contains this error message

EISA Config NVRam Bad -- Run Configuration Utility

as well as a warning that there is a drive larger than 1 GB with incorrect partitioning.

So, I went to upgrade the BIOS, formatted and created a BIOS disk [from here: http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/swindex.pl?p=hpnetserve5436&l=en&c=BIOS ] and tried to boot it up. The system ran through its checks, and then gave me a "starting MS_DOS..." message and then hung. Won't go futher.

I have been unable to access the BIOS [Phoenix] through any of the standard key commands [f1, f2, Ctrl-Alt-S, Ctrl-Alt-Ins, esc] and unable to even boot the machine into DOS from a standard DOS boot disk. I have been able to boot it from a BSD boot disk and various Linux boots disks and CDs but the install hangs when it tried to write to the hard drives - because of the weird partitioning - hence the BIOS upgrade.

So, my question is, is there a next step to getting this thing running? I am impartial to starter OS, since once I get one OS running I can get Linux on it eventually. However, I would love to get something running on it.
6 REPLIES 6
harry d brown jr
Honored Contributor

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

You will probably need your HP navigator cd. have you tried to reinstall RH6.2??

live free or die
harry
Live Free or Die
jessamyn
New Member

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

thanks. next question then... my netserver did not come with a navigator CD, and from checking the archives, it doesn't seem like there is a current one for the 5/133 LC.

http://netserver.hp.com/support/compatibility/nav_cd/prTo99srvs.asp

will a different navigator CD work? or do I have to find someone's old copy?
Helen French
Honored Contributor

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

Hi,

Normally the supported systems will be written on top of the Navigator CD.

Check this out for more information about Nav CDs:

http://netserver.hp.com/support/compatibility/nav_cd/navigator.asp

HTH,
Shiju
Life is a promise, fulfill it!
Marco Hogeveen
Honored Contributor

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

What you need is the EISA configuration utility.
You can download it from http://www.hp.com/cposupport/servers/software/lcecu.exe.html .
It will create a bootable diskette that will allow you to configure the server and get rid of the error message.
If booting from floppy doesn't work, try clearing CMOS first.

Marco
jessamyn
New Member

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

I can't boot from either the BIOS disk or the ECU disk. In both cases, it runs through the setup, displays the BIOS settings, says "Starting MS-DOS..." and then hangs and no longer tries to access my floppy drive.

I do not have a navigator CD. When I went to the link you provided, I did not see any CDs that seemed to cover my model [netserver 5/133 LC], even when checking the archives. Is there another place to look for legacy software other than the navigator CD area?
James_59
Occasional Advisor

Re: BIOS upgrade for netserver 5/133 question

Try stripping it down (remove all PCI/EISA cards, excess RAM) and clearing CMOS again. then try booting to floppy.

Once that is done (if it works) then add components back until you get a hang when booting to the ECU. (you have to boot to the ECU after any hardware change)

If it will not boot to floppy or hangs in a stripped down state after clearing CMOS, it is broken. Try any combo of 2 SIMMS that match to ensure the RAM is not the culprit. Otherwise you may need a processor or system baord. Eliminate a bad floppy drive or floppy disk before going too far...