I am moving this thread from Networking and Remote access because my networking problem has more or less been solved but now I have created an install problem.
If you want to figure out how I got to where I am you can look at the last handfull of post from here http://www.homeserverland.com/forums/f/110/p/202/6817.aspx#6817
Basically here is where I am: I have a Promise SATA hard drive controller that WHS install DVD prompts me and tells me it can't find any drives to install WHS onto> do you want to add a drive> I say yes>pop out WHS install DVD and pop in a CD that contains controller driver> browse to driver folder it installs driver>then says WHS setup wizard>pop out controller driver CD and pop WHS DVD back in> start following prompts> copies files for a while 30 min or more, looks like its going great> finishes copying files and says it needs to reboot OS> it reboots and my bios kicks in and says "hit any key to boot from CD", I do nothing so it will boot (I guess from the drive)> I get the windows blue screen setup which ultimately results in an error with the "blue screen of death".
This is probably a stretch but does Microsoft I have some kind of funky installation policy if you are trying to reinstall WHS onto a machine it was already installed on; I bought the OEM builder pack WHS about a year ago, does this have anything to do with it? The only other thing I can think of is maybe it doesn't like something about my hard drive controller driver even though I am pretty sure its the same one I used last time.
My rather simple networking problem has grown into a huge problem. I desperately need to get my WHS back up and running, its the backbone of my entire setup.
thanks
Hi Ben,
Rest assured, there is no funky installation policy, so please dont worry. Are you sure you are providing "Windows Server 2003" drivers to the installation process and not some "Windows XP / Vista drivers" for your disk controller ?
In addition please carefully check your BIOS, and set your disk controller mode to either " Legacy IDE" or "Native IDE", don't worry this does not mean your disk is reduced to IDE speeds - it defines the language and instruction sets used to communicate.
For example, typically represented by a combination of the following:
Please see if that helps, if it doesn't take note where exactly it hangs - the WHS setup goes through various phases; if possible take a photo of around about the time it crashes.
Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server
Hello Alexander,
Well to be honest I am not certain of anything right now so I will provide a few links and you can tell me what you think:
Promise SATA hard drive controller Compatability List: http://www.promise.com/upload/Support/Compatibility/SATA300%20TX2Plus_TX4%20Compatibility%20List%20V1.3%20-20080314.pdf (page 9 shows Windows Server 2003 - besides controller card was working before so I am sure the card is fine)
So now that I am confident the card is good, now to verify the driver, see here: http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?category=all&os=100&productId=139 , I have been using the SATA 300TX2plus/TX4 Windows Driver (1st one on the list) which matches my card.
Now as far as my Bios settings, I am not sure where to "set your disk controller mode to either Legacy IDE or Native IDE", please see two pictures below of my BIOS menu choices.
Note: sorry image quality is poor but hard to upload 1 picture showing 2 screen shots and stay under 64KB, hope you can still read the choices.
Hang in there. The disk stuff in the bios could be under Drive Configuration, if not it would not suprise me as DELL is known to lock the BIOS configuration down to minimal settings.
Can you take a photo just before and when it crashes during the setup? That would help us understand what is going on?
Hello Kirk,
Ok, I have attempted to capture every screen so if this forum will let me I am going to post the screen shots through the process. I realize some are probably not needed but in an effort to be thorough I am including everyone of them
First Screen as its booting from WHS Install DVD
This is the screen where I remove the WHS DVD and insert the CD with the SATA hard drive controller card.
This is where I browse for the driver locacted on the CD
This is the screen where I switch back from driver CD to WHS install DVD
Not this is where I think something screwy is going on, dialogue box below says "copying files". As soon as this finishes copying files the indicator (red words with green dots on the left) advances to "Installing windows", a few dialogue boxes flash on the screen very quickly and I can't make them out; it gives me the impression that I am suppose to choose something however I am unable to since it happens so quickly.
It now advances but notice it still says "Preparing installation". This dialogue says "setup will complete in approximately 51 minutes" and the status bar says "copying installation files"
Now this dialogue has advanced to installing Windows and the status bar say "Rebooting the OS"
Setup is starting windows.......well wait.....wait...wait....
Sorry....but No....a huge poop on your day!
So that is probably more than you wanted to know but hopefully it will at least document the steps and you guys will know how to fix, lets hope so!
thanks for your continued support, you all are truly amazing and I can't thank you enough.
Please tell me that you have first backed up your important data away off your WHS?
The Windows Home Setup process is split into different phases, for the first phase you are correctly using the graphical user interface to specify your disk controller driver. This gets you to the second phase where you must once again supply the required storage drivers otherwise it crashes like you see in your photos. I would bet that this is what's going on...
Now, take a look at this photo you made earlier, notice it says press F2 to run ASR,... (ignore the F2) but around the same time, when this second phase starts on the bottom it will briefly say something like: "Press F6 to load additional storage device drivers" , at this point you must once again specify your storage drivers, so make sure you are pressing F6. This one is a little bit more challenging as it is in text mode, so make sure you are able to swap CD's out carefully or put the drivers onto a floppy disk.
That should do it, but if it still is giving you a hard time? I would do a quick format on all those drives just to make sure the setup is not caching anything onto them.
Alexander,
fortunately yes I backed up my data otherwise you would be hearing a grown man crying. Ok, so I tried your directions and I can't seem to get the install to look for the drivers any other place other than A: I don't have any way to get the driver onto a floppy disk not to mention the fact I don't even have a disk. Now my server actually does still have a floppy drive but I can't imagine with today's technology I am stuck because of a floppy disk. What is it about my setup that is causing this kind of troubles? The use of a hard drive controller card isn't that unique is it?
I tried to read through all the replies on this post and your original post in Networking. I'm unclear as to what type of drive you are using for your system/OS drive. Is it an IDE drive connected directly to the motherboard, or a SATA drive connected directly to your Promise controller?
Based on the error you get when it begins to load the OS, I think you are trying to boot from your SATA drive connected to the Promise card. If you still have an IDE drive in the computer that is at least 80gb, I'd recommend installing the OS on that drive. Once you get to the desktop, you can configure the Promise drives and add the SATA drives to your pool.
In your bios, look over those top three categories carefully (Drive configuration, Hard Drive Sequence, and Boot Sequence). If you are installing to the IDE drive, make sure that is above the Promise/SCSI drives in the boot sequence. It sounds like your computer doesn't have any native SATA ports, so the bios probably doesn't make any mention of SATA vs ATA/IDE mode. If it did support SATA, you'd want to change the drive type to ATA/IDE for the install. Then you can change it back once you figure out how to apply the SATA drivers in windows.
One last thing. If IDE is going to be your boot/OS drive, then open up your computer and pull out the Promise card. Do the install and get to the desktop. Then connect the Promise card w/no drives attached. configure the drivers (verify boot order shows promise at the bottom of the sequence). Then you can add the SATA drives to your pool. Keep it simple. By reducing your computer to the bare essential hardware, you can isolate where your problem lies.
I have seen this problem with WHS. I found the cause be a BIOS setting for either RAID or AHCI. WHS apparently does not support hardware RAID. I tried to setup WHS for hardware RAID 5 using an ASUS motherboard configured with an Intel RAID controller and the controller disk driver. The RAID controller did its thing correctly, and WHS initially installed the driver using the F6 option at install. But nothing worked after that installing WHS. so I went back to straight IDE settings in the BIOS. Then and only then would WHS install without the BSOD. Hope this helps. I have WHS running with four WD Cavier Black 1TB drives and it seems stable with no issues using MS SW RAID for data redundacy.
First to answer greeky's response: I currently have two 500GB WD Caviar Green SATA drives connected via my Promise controller card. You are correct my MB does not support SATA and thus the reason for the card. When I first built my WHS a year ago I was considering installing the WHS OS onto and old 80GB IDE drive but folks talked me out of utilizing an old drive in a server. I purchased the WD drives brand new a year ago so I simply installed and loaded the the OS on one of the drives. I had this working before so I should be able to get this working again but I must be missing something. Towards the top of this thread you will see two images that show all of the options that I have in the bios, will be more than happy to adjust but I have been unable to find any options associated with "drive configeration".
Now, I have actually managed to create a floppy disk with the Promise drivers but I am disappointed to report that still didn't work (see Alexander's response). I am currently in the process of running a "kill disk" utility to wipe the drives completely clean just to make certain there is nothing being stored in cach.
Once the utility finishes (takes forever) I will be ready to attempt reinstallation but I hate to go through the same steps again expecting different results; definition of insanity
Now if I am able to find a used 80 GB IDE drive (may have one in another machine) what are the thoughts of installing the OS on a used drive? This drive is probably 5 years old; seems like a bad idea to me. I don't want to do it just to make the install easier, I will put the work in now for a better solution down the road.
Maybe a stupid question but it seems as though many are recommending changes to my bios setting that the Dell bios isn't allowing, is there anyway to change/upgrade the bios and if so should this be done? Is this risky?
Some thoughts:
A bios upgrade is very simple and easy for Dell. Just go to http://support.dell.com and go to the Drivers link. You should be running the latest bios.
You do not need to do an entire kill disk run. Just deleting the active partition is enough. Kill disk probably deletes the partition in the first minute of running, so you might save a little time and end that now.
If you got it working previously without an IDE drive, I think you should get it to work... eventually. You will need that floppy with the drivers (not in a folder if I recall correctly - just in the root of the floppy).
In the bios, I would set the IDE drives (master/slave) to OFF. You will see your Promise card in the boot sequence section of your bios. It may say SCSI device. Put that one just below the cdrom drive in boot sequence.
Have you gone into the Promise bios? I had a Promise card ages ago and most cards are configurable with their own bios. Right after it displays the SATA drive info, press the proper key command. If you don't know it, go to Promise.com, lookup your model and read the manual. You may need to select/flag the first drive as "bootable".
Last, stop installing WHS over and over again to solve this boot issue and do a quick XP install. It's going to be a lot quicker to troubleshoot that way. XP installs very similar to the way the Server2003 portion of WHS installs. So pop in your XP CD, press F6 in the first few mins and see if you can't get that floppy w/drivers working. If I were you, I'd let my test install of XP complete. Then go to the device manager and make sure you know what all the devices are and experiment with the drivers. While you're at it, install the latest Dell bios upgrade.
Once you have that settled, delete the XP install/partition and go do your WHS install.
Hello All,
Got busy and was unable to get back to this problem. Well I am glad to report that I am back up and running.....thank God! I ended up having to go out and buy a package of brand new floppy disk ($9.00 can't believe it) and I really can't believe they still sell them. Anyway, I had to create a floppy disk with my hard drive controller drivers on it because you all were right, when it rebooted it needed the driver disk again.
Now I have learned a lot on this ordeal, and that is I want to have off-site backups so I guess I am going to check into online backups. I see there are a few add-ins but after all the headaches I had with one add-in I am not overly excited to add too much software to my server. Anyway, I can't thank you all enough for all your assistance; I couldn't have done it without your help.
So glad it work out for you. I've personally have had a similar issue and it was very frustrating .