SATA RAID Controller not recognized in smartstart

[Benjamin Woolley]

Hello-

I am setting up a new Proliant ML 310 and it has an embedded SATA RAID controller. I have succesfully created the mirrored set, but when I start to use SamrtStep to install the OS, it does not see the array. I think I need to download the driver for the controller, but not having a floppy drive in the server, can anyone tell me how to get the driver into the system? Thanks for your help.

[Piers Newman]

I have exactly the same problem, didn't you manage to sort it? Or can anyone else shed light on how to do this?

thanks

[El.Magnifico]

You're right, you need to install the driver of the RAID controller.

If you don't have a floppy drive in the server you have 2 options:

Connect a USB-Floppydrive if available or use virtual media on iLO2 board to connect the floppy drive or an image file virtualy to the server.
But I'm afraid you need iLO2 advanced pack to do so (I never used iLO2 just iLO) but there is a free trial which should be sufficient to install the needed driver:
http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/iloadv2/index.html

BTW: As long as MS only supports floppy to install controller drivers there is no use to build Servers (or workstations) without a floppy drive. Just my 2 cent.

HTH

Michael

[El.Magnifico]

I'm not sure but shouldn't installation by smart start provide all necessary drivers?

Maybe you could give this a try.

Michael

[Piers Newman]

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Yesterday I disabled the raid controler, then used smartstep (ver 7.40) to install the OS. Got that all patched up etc, then restarted the raid controler in the os and made a mirror pair using the os drive as the original.

Once that had finished I rebooted and I get the loading windows server 2003 screen, success I thought. No it does that for 5 seconds then reboots with no error message etc...

I am not exactly sure which drivers I should use for the raid controler it isn't clear to me which I should use. I tried using the windows based array setup, but that denied that I had any raid controler (probably as I had it turned off in bios so I could boot....)

As to the floppy suggestion it's amazing that they are still needed, but you are quiet right. I pressume USB is the only option as I can't see a floppy controler, although the bios claims one is enabled. Looks like I should pick up a usb one then :)

[El.Magnifico]

Hi.

Some informations to the controllers and its drivers:

The windows array configuration utility only supports SCSI-arrays as far as I know.

The driver you installed under the OS is a kernel mode driver and therefor not able to act as driver for a bootdevice. You need a legacy driver to do so because it must be loaded before the OS starts to load.

The virtual floppy conected by iLO (2) does nothing than virtually connect an USB floppy which is the reason this only works on servers where USB floppy is supported.

Here:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/storage/us/locate/69_6120.html

you can find the drivers and also the controller manager for Win2003.

But anyway you will have no chance to install the RAID driver after installing windows and get the server to boot from from the array.

[Kurt Eberspacher]

I ran into this same problem a month or so ago.
After talking to HP Support I was told the SmartStart 7.40 doesn't work for these Servers.
To get this to work we had to create the array and then do a manual install of the OS, using a USB floppy drive, doing an F6 and installing the drivers for the RAID Controller. The drivers for the controller are located here:

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/23534.html.

My problem now is that we deploy servers and are unable to take an image of these systems for deployment, because the chipset is not supported in the application we use (Ghost).

Hope this helps, it was many hours of frustration for us here.

[Kedd Guyton]

Kurt:

Take a look at Ghost32.exe under WinPE (Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment) or BartPE. You could add the necessary SATA RAID and/or NIC drivers required by the system.

[Kurt Eberspacher]

Kedd:

I appreciate the suggestion. Unfortunately I am installing Windows Server 2000 on these servers for now and not Server 2003 or Xp Sp2. It doesn't appear that it works on Server 2000. If you have any other ideas it would be greatly appreciated.

[Kedd Guyton]

Kurt:

That's correct. To generate WinPE or BartPE you will need at least one copy of Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP.

[Tarek Kawach]

Just to confirm:

What Kurt Eberspacher said is all true, smartstart dosenot work for this server.

and you can follow his instructions.

if you don't have external usb floppy; you now use usb key.

- here is the link you will need
HP Drive key utility:
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/23062.html

you will need a 1.44 floppy, workstation, and usb key that is empty.

- Good luck.

[SSTL Group]

I have this issue with a DL320G4. I have a USB floppy drive and the SATA RAID driver available but get a problem when installing 2K3.

I can boot of 2K3 CD fine and select F6 and then install the driver from the USB floppy. However, after the partitioning stage and checking of the install partition, it starts to copy the files it needs and asks for the SATA RAID driver to be inserted. The floppy is still attached and the disk in the drive, but it no longer recognises the USB device and I can go no further.

I updated the system ROM and even tried using the USB driver for older windows versions but to no avail.

[Troy Beckett]

Ben - did you ever find a workaround for this problem? I am experiencing the same exact issue and would love to hear if you found the fix/workaround to this problem.


Thanks in advance

[Troy Beckett]

My last response was actually directed at SSTL Group - I am not sure how to contact them directly but they are experiencing the exact same problem I am having.

SSTL Group wrote "I can boot of 2K3 CD fine and select F6 and then install the driver from the USB floppy. However, after the partitioning stage and checking of the install partition, it starts to copy the files it needs and asks for the SATA RAID driver to be inserted. The floppy is still attached and the disk in the drive, but it no longer recognises the USB device and I can go no further."

Anyone got any clues on this one?

[Winner V]

Please see the forum,
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1056407

this will explain the solution, I faced the same problem with one of my client...

Although SmartStart is not supported, install Windows using it with the SATA RAID disabled in RBSU. After Windows completion, enable SATA RAID and then enter ARRAY CONFIGURATION F8 and do as mentioned in the above forum.