Pentium Pro Proc Board Docs

[John Hiemenz]

Here's the email I got from Compaq support related to this issue:
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Upgrading to the 6/200 Flex SMP board requires three PAL chips to be changed on the
system board. These chips work only with the 6/200 board so if you change back to
your other processor board the old chips must be reinserted.The spares kit is part
number 222968-001. The odd numbered ROM goes in U35 and the even numbered one in
U36. The third chip goes in slot U300. Check the following link for spare part
prices and availability:

http://sparesstore.compaq.com/sparesstore/default.asp?mscssid=W9BQTND49V1B9L6EQLJ3PTQEPAV1BGHE

After changing the chips and the board you will need to run the System Configuration
Utility. You can download this and run it from floppy if you don't have a floppy
version already. It is available at:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/13227.html

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So, the Proliant 1500 supports all processors in the Pentium range with the E12 BIOS. If you get a PentiumPro board for it, you need to have the E27 BIOS. If you have E27 BIOS, the Pentium boards won't work, and if you have the E12 BIOS, the PentiumPro board won't work.

My problem now is that after purchasing and upgrading the PAL set so I have E27 BIOS, The system seems to be unable to use the floppy drive at all.

Everything else seems to work fine, If I could get RedHat 8.0 to install to my Smart-2/P array setup, I think I'd be happy again. My SCO OpenServer CD doesn't boot on this system, but the RedHat 8.0 does. I can't boot from floppy or read any floppy I try.

My next adventure will be to return to the E12 BIOS, install my dual P166 board, install my OS (since I should be able to boot from floppy again), then go back to the E27 BIOS, install PPro board and see if I can still boot.

[John Hiemenz]

Oh yeah.. the next email I got after telling them the floppy drive no longer functions:
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At present there are no upgrade options available for PL1500 server. Processor
P5/166 MHz Dual Processor board is not supported therefore we suggest you to install
the original P5/75 Processor Board part # 169092-001 back in the system to make it
to work. After you have made the change, run the system configuration utility - F10
or you could run it from SCU diskettes or SmartStart cd. Once this utility is run,
it will reboot again then see if you experience any such error's. Since this is a
retired server any other upgrade options are not supported at this time. If you can
get it to work it's fine. For further support with P166 Mhz dual processor board it
will be a fee base issue.
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Talk about someone not reading my email before replying and hitting send.

I was just sent an email to fill out a survey related to my experience with HP support .. Hmmm...