No SCSI device detected, server doesnt boot

[Carco]

Hello,

My people work on an old Compaq server, with Windows NT 4.0

Hard disk is partitioned into two parts, one for system files (C drive), and the other is for user files (D drive).

C drive was almost full, doesnt have free space at all !!

The problem started when I gave one of my users an Administrative account, and I asked him to login to the server (for the first time). At that time the system tried to create a new profile for this user, and couldnt' (perhaps because no space available).

The system was hanging, and I restarted it.

After that I get:
Scanning SCSI devices - No SCSI device detected
Press F1 to continue
Press F10 to go to system partition utility manager

And when I press on either of the two buttons, I get a screent that show stuff like:
ET: 1:00:19
AA: Something
>>>
OP: (hangs here)
>>
Other stuff

And this screens run forever, and ET (estimated time) keeps ticking and counting forever
________________________________
Now I'm worried that my users are unable to access their files on D drive, and I'm not experienced with servers, and not sure what to do.
I tried to boot from Windows NT CD, but the system somewhat hangs in the middle.

Please any help is appreciated.

 

[TheLad]

Depending on how your server is configured, the No SCSI Devices detected "error" is normal.

Please tell us more about your server eg. Model, more about the server config such as are the hard disks connected to a RAID controller or built-in SCSI etc...

The more info we have, the better we can help!

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[Carco]

Thank you TheLad for responding,

Actually I provided all the info I know for now,

Tomorrow (i.e. after 12 hours) I will be in the office and be able to tell what's the model... but im sure it's very old..

I'm not sure if I can tell whether or not the SCSI is built-in or connected to RAID..

What I know for now is that the C drive is full, and that the server had not been rebooted for about two years..

I hope I can provide more info tomorrow..

I just downloaded SmartStart, do you think it'd help to use it?
Thank you again.

 

[TheLad]

It is difficult to say without knowing your server model. I presume you have downloaded SmartStart v5.5? This is compatible with the vast majority of older Proliants but it might not be of any help.

It might be worth trying to boot off the SmartStart CD so you can check the boot order. If your disk is on a RAID controller (or PCI SCSI card), make sure this is first in the boot order. Things to check on bootup are whether the disk actually powers up and spins as well. Even though the C: is full, the OS should still try and boot.

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[Carco]

Thank you for these info

Yes I downloaded v5.5

I will update tomorrow with my experiment with everything.. especially figuring out the boot order..

Thanks alot

 

[terry712]

i dont mean to be rude but i would be careful
as you say yourself you're now not sure what yoe doing

smartstart has the ability to wipe your system out.

as the lad says the message can be normal.

the model of server would give us a clue to likely setup - also how many drives does it have - physically. also look at the back of it - does it have any pc cards in it - excluding network cable (this may tell us if it has an array controller)

 

[Carco]

You're not being rude, you're actually being true,

I was so careful to use SmartStart that I stopped using it after it gave me an error (something like a problem report).

My server is Proliant 5500

And yes it has a pc card at the back

I'm sorry for not being able to provide more info, because I'm really not expert in servers.

 

[Carco]

The problem was from something I think it's called
Smart Array Controller or like that..

Some guy spent alot of time trying to fix my server's error, and he asked me for the array controller CD, so I brought it from someone who told me has it..

And the problem is fixed now..

Thanks... I'd love to hear comments from you about this solution and what you think... can smart array controller do something like this? and what is it by the way?

 

[terry712]

smart array controller is the card that runs you disks.

you will see it after the bit that said you had no disks - it will kick in and you should see something like 2 logical disks detected or whatever

it may have lost it's boot order or such like but that's not common. not up on the 5500 - it's an old model and a big beast if i remeber