IDE Hard Drive On a Netserver LC 2

[Brian Guilbault]

I have read a few posts in these forums about difficulties with IDE boot devices in HP SCSI servers, but have not seen a clear answer on IDE devices in general.

I am trying to add an IDE drive to my very old Netserver LC 2. I have tried every possible combination of jumper settings and cable positions as well as 4 drives of different brands and size, and the server simply reboots in between NT's blue boot screen and the Windows UI with the login screen. This is when using the on-board IDE controller.

I am not trying to use this device as a boot device, only a termporary location for overflow data until a replacement server can be ordered and installed. Is this impossible without an add-on PCI controller? I have tried one PCI controller and it will not detect the IDE drive attached to it, but I haven't dug into that issue yet - it could be a problem with the controller itself.

Any help is appreciated. I would hate to lose my holiday long weekend because of a $40 bargain bin IDE hard drive...

[Terri Harris]

As you are probably aware, HP does not support IDE hard drives on the HP Netservers. Some customers have gotten IDE drives to work, but there are apparently real problems with trying to get IDE and SCSI drives to work together. I have not seen a posted solution for this.

[Brian Guilbault]

Thank you for the reply. I ended up solving this problem a comletely different way, though it did require quite a bit more work on my part. What was bothering me is that I have an identical LC II server in another location that is working with an additional IDE drive connected to the CDROM controller using the original ribbon cable. It worked the first try with no problems. This other server will have nothing to do with an IDE drive for some reason.

I understand why there might be boot issues with IDE/SCSI combinations, but all I wanted to do was add storage space without spending a fortune on out-of-production drives. I even tried using an old ISA IDE hard drive controller card with no luck.

[Brian Peters_4]

I am not aware of reason why the of IDE drive is causing NT to crash. Have you tried safe mode? I am not sure if you try the secondary IDE controller, and the Hdd as master. Have you tried the hdd without the IDE CD-ROM connected?

Other than that, an IDE controller card maybe your best option.