Netserver E60 won't boot from W2K boot floppy.

[delta_1]

Hi;
I am trying to install W2K on HP E60 Netserver and have created boot floppies to start the w2k install.
But somehow it won't boot. However, it boots fine from the BIOS upgrade disk. Boot order is set to flexible disk , cdrom, then Hard drive.
Not sure what the issue is here?
Anyone has seen this before?

[Terri Harris]

How did you create the 2000 boot floppies?

Will the 2000 Disk # 1 boot from any other computer?

[amhakassa]

Hi Delta,

I know it is too late but If you still have the rpoblem:
If ACPI is enabled you have to disable it from the BIOS as follows :

1. Reboot the Netserver, when the prompt to press F2 banners, press F11 instead for Advanced Setup.
2. Arrow over to the Configuration Tab.
3. Arrow down to Advanced and press the Enter key.
4. Select Operating System and press the Enter key.
5. Arrow down to Configuration of Embedded I/O and press the Enter Key.
6. Select [Allow PnP OS].
7. Save and Exit.

Regards
Amha Kassa

[Terri Harris]

Why would you need to disable ACPI?

[amhakassa]

Hi Terry,

It is because I got theis I let the CU know

Problem installing win2k on E60 servers
1. Windows 2000 server install will fail after driver loading step .

2. prompt blinks and will no longer proceed with win2k setup.

3. Using the boot diskettes (4 floppies) , the process stops after the 4th disk.

Cause: ACPI is enabled

Resolution: disable ACPI and installation process works fine.

Thanks
Amha Kassa

[PDarmanin]

hi there,
i am having the same problem as described above thus i changed the setting to disable the ACPI from the advance bios options (F11) but still got errors while installing win2k. is there a way to fully disable the onboard scsi? doing this i will install an other scsi controller to work with.

thanks

pierre

[Terri Harris]

Pierre,

1. Be sure System BIOS is current at 4.06.26PN, if not update from here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?locale=en_US&pnameOID=18330&taskId=135&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=45937〈=en&cc=us

2. You need the HP E60 W2000 driver disks, which are available off the same web page above (select Microsoft Windows 2000 link)

3. When 2000 Setup first launches, press to prevent W2000 from loading ACPI.

Let me know if this resolves the problem - 2000 Server & 2000 Advanced Server is supported by HP on the Netserver E60.

[PDarmanin]

Hi Terry,

the Bios of the server is 4.06.26PN and the firmware of the adaptec AIC_7895 is v2.11.HP.

i have tried to install Win2k using the navigator cd and till there every thing was fine. once the server restart to install the rest of the win2k the system hangs reporting to press F7 instead of F6 to bypass the ACPI driver. i done that too and the os keeps on installing fine.

after coping the windows files the server reboots and the system will hang again reporing "hardware malfunction, system halted" which i could not move any forward from there.

i think that all the problems are related to the SCSI Controller, so i was thinking to disable fully the onboard controller and use an other controller. thus i tried to disable the SCSI controller but only succeded to disable the bios and scanning of the buses. is there another way to disable the SCSI controller fully.

thanks

Pierre

[Terri Harris]

There is no option to disable the integrated SCSI on the Netserver E60. Why do you feel the problem is with the SCSI controller?

1. Are there any errors during POST?

2. What drive(s) are installed? If you have the HP part number, please include this.

3. Use the Ctrl-A (Adaptec SCSI utility) option during POST to view your hard drives. Are all drives being seen? Can you successfully run a Verify on the drives?

4. Use a DOS boot disk, boot from this and run FDISK. Create a small bootable DOS partition (50MB is plenty). Will the server then boot from this partition? If so, the SCSI controller and drive is probably ok.

[PDarmanin]

Hi again Terry,

I am not having any post errors but on installation of windows the system is hanging. I have tried once again to install the win2000 server but instead of using the navigator cd I booted on the windows 2000 server cd. I pressed F7 before it starts loading the drivers to disable the APCI driver and it worked fine. It copied the files needed and rebooted.

I started the setup of windows i.e. installed drivers, selecting the license mode, selecting what windows components to install, setting the date but just when it was going to install the network the system hanged giving blue screen "hardware Malfunction" call your hardware vendor for support; the system has halted.

This is where every time it is stopping. I don't know what might be wrong.

Any ideas?

thanks

Pierre

[Terri Harris]

Try to install a different operating system, such as DOS or NT Server 4.0. We need to determine if this is really a hardware or software problem. If you still have problems I need the server configuration:
1. What memory is installed
2. What hard drives.
3. If any PCI cards are installed
4. Can you access Ctr-A and run a VERIFY on the hard drives?
The fact that you can boot from the BIOS update diskette but not the Windows 2000 diskette appears to point to a software problem. So we need to try a different OS to see what happens.

Might try clearing CMOS - then see if server will boot from the Windows 2000 Disk # 1(only Disk 1 is bootable). But again, if this does not work need to try DOS or other OS.

To clear the CMOS configuration.
a. Turn the server off and unplug it. Take the case off.
b. Locate the set of system switches on the motherboard.
c. Move Switch #4 CLEAR CONFIG to the opposite position.
d. Power up the server. You will see a configuration error. The server will stop at this error.
e. Turn the server off, unplug it. Move Switch #4 back to the original position.
f. Power up the server. The BIOS program must be run to reconfigure the server (F2 for BIOS setup, then F9 for factory defaults, F10 to save & exit).

[PDarmanin]

thanks Terri for your reply,

i will try to clear the cmos and to install NT4 tommorrow. i let u know of any results.

thanks a Lot,

Pierre

[PDarmanin]

Hi Terri,
i have found the problem. it was one of the 3 ram modules there where installed in the server. i tried to install red hat and it failed causing dump so i tried to install using different ram configurations until it worked.
the funniest thing is that the server was working fine on win NT and never reported errors from the HP Diagnostic. but any way thanks for your help.

Pierre