Old Netserver LD Pro Boot Problems

[kevin warner_1]

We have an LD Pro Pentium 200 running WinNT4. We've determined that the floppy controller on the hard drive has gone bad (tried three drives and two cables). Tried installing RAM, got an error indicating that the RAM was a Non-HP DIMM and to change the amount of memory in the CMOS settings. Couldn't find memory setting in CMOS setup. Booted past error into Windows, but RAID service (mraidnt) failed to start. Took out memory to see if it made a difference, still got error on boot. HP documentation points me to an HP diagnostic diskette that I can boot off of to troubleshoot, but the A:\ drive doesn't work. Put the memory back in, booted past the error into Windows, once again RAID failed to start. Nothing important on the RAID array, since the server is old it's being used in a secondary role. Decided Iit would work without the RAID disks, put the server back in the closet, tried to boot, and it didn't boot at all. Now it won't boot. Amber lights, seemingly hard drive error indicators, come on solid on front panel of server. System powers up, but no signal gets to the monitor. Checked all connections, swapped SCSI cables to boot drive. Everything looks like it should be OK. Even the user's guide doesn't tell me what the lights mean. Can't seem to find that info anywhere. Also can't find any troubleshooting info that doesn't require a floppy. Any help would be appreciated. I know the obvious answer would be to get a new server, but for the purpose this one serves, the cost can't be justified.

[Chris Blumenshine]

Your answer to the floppy problem is the Navigator CD. From the G.01.65 cd you can:
1. Boot to it
2. Run ECU (cmos config)
3. Run Diag Assistant.
4. Run Netraid Assistant.

I recommend you contact Paramount Computer Corp. in your search for a Navigator, as HP does not sell them anymore. You can get contact information from their web site: www.pmount.com

[kevin warner_1]

Chris, thank you for the input. I guess I forgot to mention that absolutely nothing comes up on the monitor when I attempt to boot. The light on the monitor stays amber (never turns green). I tried putting in the Navigator CD, and when I started up the computer, the CD player light came on for about 2 seconds, but the CD never tried to read. I tried rebooting and holding down the "C" key while powering up, but that didn't work either.

[Chris Blumenshine]

If no video, and you know that your monitor is indeed working, then you'll want to start by clearing the cmos. The switch is #3 labeled "Config Valid."
The service manual for the LD Pro is here (see page 29):
http://netserver.hp.com/docs/download.asp?file=volume2_v2.pdf
If you still have no video with this switch off, then strip the server down... Take out all the PCI cards, minimum memory, 1 cpu, only the keyboard and monitor plugged in. Once video returns, then turn switch back on. You'll need to use the ECU on the nav-cd to save the settings again.