Recover Windows 2003 on DL380 g1

[ianw72]

Hi, I'm looking for some help with recovering my DL380 g1 (p17). I've found lots of interesting posts in this forum on installing Windows 2003, but haven't found the answer to my situation.

My system has a Smart Array 221 controller with 4 x 18.2gb drives, configured as a Raid 5 array. There are no hard drives attached to the Internal Raid controller. Windows 2003 was installed several years ago, including the Compaq System Partition. All was working fine, until last night when I decided to change the Real-Time-Clock battery. To remove the battery I had to unplug the Smart Array 221 controller. When I put everything back together, the system would not boot, I would get the "Operating System Not Found" message.

Soon after I realized the problem, there was a message about an unconfigured array, press "F1" or "F10", I don't remember the exact text. With one option it then presented a number of operating system options, I selected a "Windows" option. After several minutes, and many (10?) of the spinning icons, a Command Failure (?) message was displayed. There did not seem to be any drive activity, based on the LEDs, while this transpired, so I'm hoping this was not reformatting my Windows 2003 partition!

I have since created a SmartStart 5.50 CD and using the system configuration utility, set the SmartArray 221 controller as the first boot device. With the boot order set correctly, the system identifies one logical drive on the RAID controller. It displays the "Press F10 to run the System Partition Utilities" message. If "F10" is pressed the utilities run. If "F10" is not pressed, the screen is cleared and the system hangs, it will not even respond to a <CTL><ALT><DEL>.

I have run the diagnostics, which found no errors. I have also run the Array Configuration Utility (ACU) from the CD, this shows the 4 healthy physical drives configured as a single Logical Drive.

The fact that the System Partition is intact, leads me to hope that the Windows 2003 is also intact, but no longer marked as bootable. Does anyone know how to correct this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[burtsbees]

Did you take a snapshot of the way your BIOS was previously set up? You need to set it up the way it was, because by replacing the CMOS battery, you reset everything. Windows is still good (depending on what was pressed during POST)...it really sounds like a BIOS setting...look at the available hard drives. You may want to try to boot to the Windows CD and try a repair...

Burt

 

[ianw72]

Thank you for the encouragement! Taking a snapshot of the BIOS setup would have been a great idea, but ....

I'll look at the hard drive settings, then try booting to the Windows CD.

 

[burtsbees]

Let us know how it goes...

Burt

 

[ianw72]

I didn't find anything in the BIOS drive settings.

I have tried booting to the Windows 2003 CD. I had to press <F10> to run the System Configuration Utilities, then select "other" from the Install Operating System menu, to get the system to boot from the CD. It goes through loading all the drivers, then sits at the "System is starting Windows". Do you know if the SmartArray 221 controller needs a third party driver? I can't remember how I installed 2003, some 5 years ago!

 

[ianw72]

I got past "Setup is Starting Windows" by:
1. Removing a PCI Fax-Modem card
2. Pressing <F7> when Windows Setup prompts "Press <F6> for ..."

So now I can boot to the recovery console - both NTFS partitions on the RAID 5 drive appear to be intact, and I can see my data. I ran "FIXBOOT C:", which rewrote the boot sector, but still the system will not boot. Is FIXMBR safe to run? It gives dire warnings about messing up the partition table!

I know I'm close ....

 

[burtsbees]

Sounds like you have the boot order pointing to the wrong controller. The booter in BIOS needs to point to the RAID controller that you have the RAID 5 set up in (like the ROC).

Burt