EISA config utility hangs on my NetServer 5/133 LC

[Manuel Allaert]

Hi,

I have a NetServer 5/133 LC
with PhoenixBIOS 4.04.31 PD
I tried to install Windows 98, but at the end got a error message that it could not write to floppy drive C: !!!
So I replaced to SCSI hard disk with an old IDE 1.3 GB set as master.
Now, I need to update the BIOS configuration, so I downloaded the EISA config utility for LC/LF, creating 2 diskettes of ECU version G.00.10

When I boot with diskette 1, I get the HP-logo showing ECU F.00.10 (haha) and then Welcome screen of the System Administration Manager asking me to press Enter to continue to the next screen. So far so good.

When i hit Enter. The screen is cleared and displays 5 ASCII characters at the top left, with the blinking cursor behind it and then hangs. Cycling power is the only way to revive the system.

SAM.EXE is not damaged, because it runs alright on another non-HP system, showing empty config info of course (no Phoenix BIOS).

Do I need another version of ECU?
If so, where can I obtain it?

[Marco Hogeveen]

Manuel,

You can download the latest ECU from :http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/swindex.pl?p=hpnetserve5436&l=en&c=BIOS

Please try it and post another message if it didn??t work.
..it??s also nice to know if it did work!

Marco.

[Manuel Allaert]

The link you provided me does point to the same
ECU I did download earlier and this is the
one used when encountering the problem.

BTW, the website mentions a file size of 666.82 KB but IE 5 reports in fact 0.99 MB.
The file lcecu.exe is indeed 1041992 bytes.

The SAM.EXE on diskette 1 hangs my NetServer.
Is there another version?
The NetServer Diagnostics Assistant on the orginal diskette shipped with the server
does run OK and reports no problems.

I'm now trying to install Windows 98 to another SCSI disk to see if Windoxs 98 will install to this disk.

I will let you know
Manu

[Greg Carlson]

Hello,

First try clearing the CMOS on the system board. Turn switch 3 off, power up server until message that you cleared the config. Then power off the server, turn switch 3 back on. Then download the ECU for LC Plus at: http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/swindex.pl?p=hpnetserve19597&l=en&c=BIOS
* You need to save these files to your hard drive and then run the executable to extract them to diskette. You need ECU Version 1.72 for the LC Plus. *

After extracting the files boot to the BIOS Flash 4.04.32PD to flash BIOS even if you are at the latest BIOS. Then Boot to the ECU diskette.

Hope this helps.
Greg

[Manuel Allaert]

Dear Greg,

I have succesfully updated to Phoenix BIOS 4.04.32 and ECU H.00.04 (EISA Config Util).

ECU runs alright. I defined my IDE drive
a Seagate ST31621A as type 'User' and gave up
3146 cyl, 16 hds and 63 sectors.
BIOS shows 1548 MB which corresponds with
the 1620 MB on the of Seagate label if you
take into account that Seagate uses 1024 Byte per kB (Optimists :-) )

When booting, the BIOS report a disk failure when detecting this IDE drive.
Greg, you told Corey Wilson that IDE hard disks are not supported on the LC.

So I've tried again with a SCSI hard disk.
Prepared a Win98 boot disk with ASPI7DOS.SYS for access to my SCSI CDROM and HD.
I did format drive C: completely.
Setup copies all files with no problem,
then reboots from HD OK, but gave a failure that it could not write to floppy drive C:

Then I modfied the config.sys/autoexec.bat on the HD to add ASPI7DOS.SYS etc for support.
After a reboot, the PC continues setup of Win98 but hangs in the last fase: settings of hardware and PnP devices...

Still not giving up.
Any help is apprectiated,
Manu

[Marino Meloni_1 · Accepted solution]

hi
I am afraid that win98 is not supported, this server didn't support plug and play and have an EISA bus.
You have to try install NT4
In the hp site you will found all drivers for your system
http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/swindex.pl?p=hpnetserve19597&l=en&c=Drivers

bye

marino

[Manuel Allaert]

OK, I managed to install NT4 on it.
I did not need the driver diskette as the Adaptec AIC-7770 was recognized by my NT4 SP1 CD.

However, I still have one minor problem.
I managed to install the Trident 9000 video driver from the NT4 SP1 CD, to get 256 colors (at 640x480) but after upgrading to SP4 or even SP6, the system switched back to plain VGA (16 colors) and refused to accept the Trident driver from then on.

I could not find any updated driver on the web, just found more people that search for the same! Do you know a solution?

Regards,
Manu

[Marino Meloni_1]

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x876850011d20d6118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

http://isupport2.hp.com/Solution.asp?id=4c70c337-c4a9-11d4-beae-0090277257e4

http://isupport2.hp.com/Solution.asp?id=e30030f0-7923-11d4-bea8-0090277257e4

here is some links

[mercy j.m.]

Sorry to come so late but I had a similar problem and somewhat solved it alone 8-(

W98 install hangs on my machine because of the EISA bus not being properly identified (it tells that). The AIC-777x driver is seemingly on the EISA bus and does not then work properly. After a few installs including W95 that installs properly, I found a trick to install W98. After yhe first reboot when it tries to install the pnp stuff, when it hangs, I rebooted in safe mode and disabled the AIC driver. I left the aspi7dos.sys and aspicd.sys in config.sys and managed to install properly the rest of the OS. The reason I went through that trouble is the need for the hardware access to the PC and the need for USB devices. I do have a question for experts out there. Is there a way to get around the EISA not being reported properly in the W98 setup ? (setup says that the bios reports the EISA bus as 2 different types ?). Hope it helps someone else. Thanks.