BIOS Access on Proliant 1600 P08

[John Mercer]

i have recently aquired a Proliant 1600 (P08) server, but it tells me upon start up that the system management bios utilities are no longer installed on the ?second partition?
I assume, like other compaq products, your BIOS software is kept on a hidden partition on the main system harddrive...
Can anyone tell me how to put this back so i can access the bios? I need to so i can make the machine boot of a CD and install 2003 Server Enterprise Edition on it - I hope someone can either point me at a link to download the program to create BIOS disks, or send me the program itself.

Thanks for all your Help.

Mr Mercer

[Andrew Bauer]

You need the smartstart 5.5 CD. Get a zipped iso here:

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

FYI: newer versions of Smartstart will not work.

Also, you do not necessarily have to install the software to the hard disk. I simply boot from the smartstart CD rather than run it from the hard disk.

[CA1252184]

I had a similar problem installing linux and I figured it out. The solution was to change some jumpers on the motherboard to force cdrom boot and after installation change them back. I can't find my manual and I don't remember which jumpers to change. If some one has a manual let us know which ones to change.