Proliant 6000 newbie - how do I start???

[Nova_4]

I happened into a Compaq Proliant 6000 some time back. First let me say that I am new to this server thing; all help is welcomed.

It is running two 200 chips and 166 megs of ram. It has 12 9.1 ultra wide scsi hard drives. It is a very typical Proliant from what I understand. I can not access the bios to set it to boot to CD so that I can install a new OS from CD. I do not have access to any of the OSs that are currently installed on it either. Since I can not gain access to a current OS I can not install any of the utilities to make the bios accessable. What action do I take next? Would pulling the battery help? If so, it appears to be attached to the motherboard via the piece of metel it is attached to. Does this simple pull straight out? Is there a jumper setting I can change during boot up? Surely there is a way to gain access so that I can wipe the hard drives and install my own OS, isn't there? Is there a book that I can buy and read to educate myself, specificually for the Proliant 6000? Did Compaq provide a 'How to install and use your Proliant 6000 server' handbook? Sorry this is so long, but I have tried everything I can think of without any literature or experience and have had no luck.

Thank you,
Nova

[David_Quist]

Nova,

You will need to use a SmartStart CD to erase and prepare your server for a new OS. The Proliant 6000 has not been supported for some time, but you can download the last 5.x family release here:

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/22678.html

Follow the instructions to make the CD, then boot to it. Once you've setup your new OS, you should upgrade to the latest Proliant Support Pack or drivers for your server model and OS from here:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/index.html

Hope this helps,
Dave