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#1
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Compaq Proliant 800 PPro sever set up
I inherited a Compaq Proliant 800 Pentium Pro server. Initially it came
with one processor and a 68 pin scsi drive. I added a second processor to it and it ran FreeBSD like a true workhorse for a while. Then the power supply on it died and I had to transfer the drive to another machine while I shopped e-bay for a replacement power supply. I have replaced the power supply and would like to put the machine back into use. I do not have a spare 68 pin SCSI drive and would like to disable the on board SCSI controller. The machine also came with a PCI SCSI controller card by Compaq which is essentially a Adaptec 2940. I have many 50 pin SCSI drives. I would like to use the PCI SCSI controller as my main controller and am having great difficulty. The card is recognized but the drives on it are not so I cannot boot from it. I also tried an IDE drive and I could not get the initial boot to go to the drive. I could also never get the second IDE controller to be recognized on this machine. I know that this newsgroup has some real experts and I was hopeful that someone would be able to point me to some step by step instructions on what software I need to download from Compaq and how to reconfigure this machine correctly. This would save a perfectly functional computer from going to the landfill. TIA |
#2
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Jin Mazumdar wrote: I inherited a Compaq Proliant 800 Pentium Pro server. Initially it came with one processor and a 68 pin scsi drive. I added a second processor to it and it ran FreeBSD like a true workhorse for a while. Then the power supply on it died and I had to transfer the drive to another machine while I shopped e-bay for a replacement power supply. I have replaced the power supply and would like to put the machine back into use. I do not have a spare 68 pin SCSI drive and would like to disable the on board SCSI controller. The machine also came with a PCI SCSI controller card by Compaq which is essentially a Adaptec 2940. I have many 50 pin SCSI drives. I would like to use the PCI SCSI controller as my main controller and am having great difficulty. The card is recognized but the drives on it are not so I cannot boot from it. I also tried an IDE drive and I could not get the initial boot to go to the drive. I could also never get the second IDE controller to be recognized on this machine. I know that this newsgroup has some real experts and I was hopeful that someone would be able to point me to some step by step instructions on what software I need to download from Compaq and how to reconfigure this machine correctly. This would save a perfectly functional computer from going to the landfill. NuTCrAcKeR is the real expert (I am just an engineer who like to muck around with old servers), but in general the place to start with just about any Compaq system is with a SmartStart CD. On my model (5500R) I just booted from the CD and anwered a few questions, and it set up everything perfectly for Windows and Linux. |
#3
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Jin Mazumdar wrote:
I inherited a Compaq Proliant 800 Pentium Pro server. Initially it came with one processor and a 68 pin scsi drive. I added a second processor to it and it ran FreeBSD like a true workhorse for a while. Then the power supply on it died and I had to transfer the drive to another machine while I shopped e-bay for a replacement power supply. I have replaced the power supply and would like to put the machine back into use. I do not have a spare 68 pin SCSI drive and would like to disable the on board SCSI controller. The machine also came with a PCI SCSI controller card by Compaq which is essentially a Adaptec 2940. I have many 50 pin SCSI drives. I would like to use the PCI SCSI controller as my main controller and am having great difficulty. The card is recognized but the drives on it are not so I cannot boot from it. I also tried an IDE drive and I could not get the initial boot to go to the drive. I could also never get the second IDE controller to be recognized on this machine. I know that this newsgroup has some real experts and I was hopeful that someone would be able to point me to some step by step instructions on what software I need to download from Compaq and how to reconfigure this machine correctly. This would save a perfectly functional computer from going to the landfill. NuTCrAcKeR is the real expert (I am just an engineer who like to muck around with old servers), but in general the place to start with just about any Compaq system is with a SmartStart CD. On my model (5500R) I just booted from the CD and anwered a few questions, and it set up everything perfectly for Windows and Linux. Thanks Guy ... you wont get IDE HDD support on that server. It doesnt do Int13 support, just bootable CDROM. As for using that AHA2940 adapter, the system may not see it as a valid boot controller. However, you can download SmartStart 5.50 from he http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/fi...sdownloads.asp Run the System Erase utility first. Then, let the CD setup the system. You will need to get into the SCU (system configuration utility) to update the NVRAM with information about the controller. You *might* then be able to specify your adaptec controller as the FIRST controller. This will make it bootable. If not, use the oboard SCSI header on the system board, and just use a 68pin to 50pin converter. Your drives are likely only 20MB/s drives, so there isnt much value running the 2940 anyway. Let us know if you need more information. - LC |
#4
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Thanks Guy ... you wont get IDE HDD support on that server. It doesnt do Int13 support, just bootable CDROM. As for using that AHA2940 adapter, the system may not see it as a valid boot controller. However, you can download SmartStart 5.50 from he http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/fi...sdownloads.asp Run the System Erase utility first. Then, let the CD setup the system. You will need to get into the SCU (system configuration utility) to update the NVRAM with information about the controller. You *might* then be able to specify your adaptec controller as the FIRST controller. This will make it bootable. If not, use the oboard SCSI header on the system board, and just use a 68pin to 50pin converter. Your drives are likely only 20MB/s drives, so there isnt much value running the 2940 anyway. Let us know if you need more information. - LC Thanks for the info. I will try your suggestion. The only reason for my using the AHA2940 is because I do not have a 68 to 50 pin converter. I think I may be able to get a 4G 68 pin hard drive for about the cost of the adapter. I did try to run the SmartStart CD earlier but it hung after printing 6 (?) lines of dots. I will try to erase the NVRAM and then see if I have any luck with the SmartStart. If not, it looks like my only option is to get a 68 pin drive. I will post my results. |
#5
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Is the SmartStart 5.5 supposed to be a bootable CD? I used the same
process to transfer the ISO image as I did for SmartStart 7.2. The 7.2 boots and tells me it worn't work for my computer whereas the 5.5 does not boot. NuTCrAcKeR wrote: Thanks Guy ... you wont get IDE HDD support on that server. It doesnt do Int13 support, just bootable CDROM. As for using that AHA2940 adapter, the system may not see it as a valid boot controller. However, you can download SmartStart 5.50 from he http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/fi...sdownloads.asp Run the System Erase utility first. Then, let the CD setup the system. You will need to get into the SCU (system configuration utility) to update the NVRAM with information about the controller. You *might* then be able to specify your adaptec controller as the FIRST controller. This will make it bootable. If not, use the oboard SCSI header on the system board, and just use a 68pin to 50pin converter. Your drives are likely only 20MB/s drives, so there isnt much value running the 2940 anyway. Let us know if you need more information. - LC |
#6
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Yes, it is bootable. You have to use a program to make the CD from the image
file as opposed to copying it to a cd. Then insert disk and reboot the machine. "Jin Mazumdar" wrote in message ... Is the SmartStart 5.5 supposed to be a bootable CD? I used the same process to transfer the ISO image as I did for SmartStart 7.2. The 7.2 boots and tells me it worn't work for my computer whereas the 5.5 does not boot. NuTCrAcKeR wrote: Thanks Guy ... you wont get IDE HDD support on that server. It doesnt do Int13 support, just bootable CDROM. As for using that AHA2940 adapter, the system may not see it as a valid boot controller. However, you can download SmartStart 5.50 from he http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/fi...sdownloads.asp Run the System Erase utility first. Then, let the CD setup the system. You will need to get into the SCU (system configuration utility) to update the NVRAM with information about the controller. You *might* then be able to specify your adaptec controller as the FIRST controller. This will make it bootable. If not, use the oboard SCSI header on the system board, and just use a 68pin to 50pin converter. Your drives are likely only 20MB/s drives, so there isnt much value running the 2940 anyway. Let us know if you need more information. - LC |
#7
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he says he did the same thing for 5.50 as he did for 7.2. it sounds like 7.2
worked, as it reported (correctly) that the PL800 is not supported by 7.2. put the CD into another comp, and run the Diskette Builder app. You can make the SystemErase floppy from there. - LC "Phil" wrote in message .. . Yes, it is bootable. You have to use a program to make the CD from the image file as opposed to copying it to a cd. Then insert disk and reboot the machine. "Jin Mazumdar" wrote in message ... Is the SmartStart 5.5 supposed to be a bootable CD? I used the same process to transfer the ISO image as I did for SmartStart 7.2. The 7.2 boots and tells me it worn't work for my computer whereas the 5.5 does not boot. NuTCrAcKeR wrote: Thanks Guy ... you wont get IDE HDD support on that server. It doesnt do Int13 support, just bootable CDROM. As for using that AHA2940 adapter, the system may not see it as a valid boot controller. However, you can download SmartStart 5.50 from he http://h18004.www1.hp.com/support/fi...sdownloads.asp Run the System Erase utility first. Then, let the CD setup the system. You will need to get into the SCU (system configuration utility) to update the NVRAM with information about the controller. You *might* then be able to specify your adaptec controller as the FIRST controller. This will make it bootable. If not, use the oboard SCSI header on the system board, and just use a 68pin to 50pin converter. Your drives are likely only 20MB/s drives, so there isnt much value running the 2940 anyway. Let us know if you need more information. - LC |
#8
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Done that. Ran the System erase. Now what? Do I need to make more
floppies from the Diskette Builder CD? Which one? There are over 20 options. I believe I also have a set of 5 floppies that I got earlier from Compaq's site. I believe they are Compaq System Configuration Utility. Do I run these? -Jin NuTCrAcKeR wrote: he says he did the same thing for 5.50 as he did for 7.2. it sounds like 7.2 worked, as it reported (correctly) that the PL800 is not supported by 7.2. put the CD into another comp, and run the Diskette Builder app. You can make the SystemErase floppy from there. - LC |
#9
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Try booting of the 5.5 CD now. I believe that's why nutcracker wanted you to
erase the system. "Jin Mazumdar" wrote in message ... Done that. Ran the System erase. Now what? Do I need to make more floppies from the Diskette Builder CD? Which one? There are over 20 options. I believe I also have a set of 5 floppies that I got earlier from Compaq's site. I believe they are Compaq System Configuration Utility. Do I run these? -Jin NuTCrAcKeR wrote: he says he did the same thing for 5.50 as he did for 7.2. it sounds like 7.2 worked, as it reported (correctly) that the PL800 is not supported by 7.2. put the CD into another comp, and run the Diskette Builder app. You can make the SystemErase floppy from there. - LC |
#10
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Tried that. It does not recognize the 5.5 CD as a valid medium.
Since I erased the NVR I get NVR errors on boot which is OK. Then it looks for SCSI devices, but does not find any on the second (PCI) controller. This is OK too as it has not been configured as a valid controller. Then it gives an Invalid System Disk error. In other words it does not see the 5.5 CD as a bootable device. -Jin Phil wrote: Try booting of the 5.5 CD now. I believe that's why nutcracker wanted you to erase the system. |
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