Help Required - ML530 933 - Boot from CD?

[tomomark]

Hi All,

I have just purchased this second hand Compaq computer and unless i am missing something, which i hope you can point out, im assuming it DOA.

Its a ML530 933, with 4x 9.1 Gb hDD install in SCSI bays 0,1,2,3

It has compaq smart array 3200.

I cant seem to get this computer to boot from CD to install an OS, i cant figure out how to get into the BIOS (P19)...

The array controller detects that disks are present, however possibily in the wrong order, but i cant boot from the SmartStart CD to do anything about it.

Please help

Mark

 

[blister911]

What version of SmartStart are you using? I'm thinking that you need 5.50.

Does the array controller show during POST, and if so does it show any logical drives?

Another thing you may want to check is to confirm that the CD drive is connected to the system board and not to the 3200.

Have you tried booting from a floppy (like Win98 boot floppy w/ cdrom support) to make sure the CD drive is working?

 

[tomomark]

Hi,

CD rom and FDD are both connected to system board, however will not boot from either. And appears to be no way to access a bios or boot devices options screen.

If HDDs are in slots 0,1,2&3 it shows 1 logical drive, if returned to how i received server, HDDs in slots 0,1,2&5 0 logical drives are found

Starting to get to me now! lol

 

[TheLad]

The F10 "Bios" partition is only available if the server has had SmartStart installed on it. The SmartStart partition is actually a 20Mb (ish) partition on the configured hard disks. If the partition is available, you will be prompted to press F10 at the end of Post boot just before the OS would kick in.

The position of the drives is important so keep them in 0,1,2 & 3. Once you can boot off SmartStart (v5.50 as mentioned), you can reconfigure the Array config in the Array Configuration Utility (ACU).

Does the server even attempt to boot from either CD or FDD? Can you test your CD or FDD on a device which you know definitely works?

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[tomomark]

Hi,

I have swap tested both the FDD and CD drives, so there working...:S

What happens, is this..

Identifies both processors,
initilizing 3200 array
locates drives

press f1 to continue
press 10 for partition options

both go to, invalid system disk message...

 

[blister911]

Typically the system won't ask for user input (F1/F10) unless there is an error. Does the POST initialize any memory? How many power supplies are in the server? Does it have drive cage "B" installed?

 

[tomomark]

1.5 Gb mem, 1 psu installed and only cage a...

I have managed to get the machine to boot from FDD now by removing the 3200 array card, starting the machine without the card and then re-installing it...strange!

however still no joy with cd drive, even tho i have swap tested it and the cable to be fine

 

[blister911]

Glad to hear you have made some progress. I think at think at this point, since the floppy drive is working, you should consider making sure all the firmware/bois is up-to-date.

 

[TheLad]

It may also be worth getting a system erase floppy created from the Smartstart CD and running that to ensure you can start completely from scratch.

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