Dell PowerEdge 2400 drivers

Hi. I just bought a Dell PowerEdge 2400 for $150 in a bankruptcy sale
here in the U.S. The bankruptcy trustee told me that it was a "stock"
server w/no add-ons. The server has one 533 MHz PIII CPU w/room for
another CPU, and has 256 MBs of ECC SDRAM. It also has 3 SCSI HDs and
a RAID key installed. The NOS is Windows 2000 Server.

What the trustee did *not* have, however, was the admin password (or
any other password for that matter).

A friend is using his ERD Commander from work to build me a
"locksmith" boot CD so that I can find out what admin password was
being used and boot the machine. However, he needs to know what other
drivers to add to the CD to make it bootable for the system as
configured.

I looked at Dell's PowerEdge 2400 support site and didn't find it all
that useful. The specifications said that 2400s have both Adaptec
7880 and 7890 integrated controllers on the MB. Does that mean it
needs both set of drivers to boot? I looked on Adaptec's Web site and
didn't find a listing for those controllers. Do they go by any other
name, model, or other designation?

Is there anyone out there familiar enough with PowerEdge 2400s to tell
me whether 2400s need any other drivers or files besides the Adaptec
driver(s) to boot using a bootable CD? Specifics would be great,
especially where to get the drivers.

Initially, I thought about wiping all the HDs and installing a more
up-to-date NOS from scratch but the server didn't come with a
PowerEdge 2400 CD (or CDs) for reinstalling the NOS or the system
manager and any other PowerEdge 2400-specific software from Dell. My
thinking was to preserve all of the server-speciific software and Dell
server management tools by discovering the admin password, booting
into the machine, and then upgrading to Windows Server 2003, since I'm
not sure that Server 2003 would properly identify the PowerEdge 2400
hardware during the installation routine when installing from scratch
(or configure itself properly for the hardware even if it detected
it).

Finally, the server is pretty noisy. The trustee warned me about that
before I bought it. I'd like to replace both of the 120mm fans inside
the server with newer (and hopefully quieter) fans. Do I have to buy
replacement fans from Dell (in other words are server fans specific to
the server manufacturer?) or can I buy replacement fans from any
manufacturer? Any recommendations on which brand of fan to buy and
how much a good replacement fan should cost?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Dell servers come with a server companion CD which contains the RAID / SCSI
drivers. It will then prompt you for your Windows CD during installation.

I'm suprised someone would sell you a server without wiping the contents
from it.

LightLady110 wrote in message
...
Hi. I just bought a Dell PowerEdge 2400 for $150 in a bankruptcy sale
here in the U.S. The bankruptcy trustee told me that it was a "stock"
server w/no add-ons. The server has one 533 MHz PIII CPU w/room for
another CPU, and has 256 MBs of ECC SDRAM. It also has 3 SCSI HDs and
a RAID key installed. The NOS is Windows 2000 Server.

What the trustee did *not* have, however, was the admin password (or
any other password for that matter).

A friend is using his ERD Commander from work to build me a
"locksmith" boot CD so that I can find out what admin password was
being used and boot the machine. However, he needs to know what other
drivers to add to the CD to make it bootable for the system as
configured.

I looked at Dell's PowerEdge 2400 support site and didn't find it all
that useful. The specifications said that 2400s have both Adaptec
7880 and 7890 integrated controllers on the MB. Does that mean it
needs both set of drivers to boot? I looked on Adaptec's Web site and
didn't find a listing for those controllers. Do they go by any other
name, model, or other designation?

Is there anyone out there familiar enough with PowerEdge 2400s to tell
me whether 2400s need any other drivers or files besides the Adaptec
driver(s) to boot using a bootable CD? Specifics would be great,
especially where to get the drivers.

Initially, I thought about wiping all the HDs and installing a more
up-to-date NOS from scratch but the server didn't come with a
PowerEdge 2400 CD (or CDs) for reinstalling the NOS or the system
manager and any other PowerEdge 2400-specific software from Dell. My
thinking was to preserve all of the server-speciific software and Dell
server management tools by discovering the admin password, booting
into the machine, and then upgrading to Windows Server 2003, since I'm
not sure that Server 2003 would properly identify the PowerEdge 2400
hardware during the installation routine when installing from scratch
(or configure itself properly for the hardware even if it detected
it).

Finally, the server is pretty noisy. The trustee warned me about that
before I bought it. I'd like to replace both of the 120mm fans inside
the server with newer (and hopefully quieter) fans. Do I have to buy
replacement fans from Dell (in other words are server fans specific to
the server manufacturer?) or can I buy replacement fans from any
manufacturer? Any recommendations on which brand of fan to buy and
how much a good replacement fan should cost?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Complete Dell poweredge docs are available here;
http://support.dell.com/support/syst...2&~ subcat=89
Drivers are available here;
http://support.dell.com/support/down...=19&l=en&s=dhs

"Black Adder" wrote in message
...
Dell servers come with a server companion CD which contains the RAID /
SCSI drivers. It will then prompt you for your Windows CD during
installation.

I'm suprised someone would sell you a server without wiping the
contents from it.

LightLady110 wrote in message
...
Hi. I just bought a Dell PowerEdge 2400 for $150 in a bankruptcy
sale
here in the U.S. The bankruptcy trustee told me that it was a
"stock"
server w/no add-ons. The server has one 533 MHz PIII CPU w/room for
another CPU, and has 256 MBs of ECC SDRAM. It also has 3 SCSI HDs
and
a RAID key installed. The NOS is Windows 2000 Server.

What the trustee did *not* have, however, was the admin password (or
any other password for that matter).

A friend is using his ERD Commander from work to build me a
"locksmith" boot CD so that I can find out what admin password was
being used and boot the machine. However, he needs to know what
other
drivers to add to the CD to make it bootable for the system as
configured.

I looked at Dell's PowerEdge 2400 support site and didn't find it all
that useful. The specifications said that 2400s have both Adaptec
7880 and 7890 integrated controllers on the MB. Does that mean it
needs both set of drivers to boot? I looked on Adaptec's Web site
and
didn't find a listing for those controllers. Do they go by any other
name, model, or other designation?

Is there anyone out there familiar enough with PowerEdge 2400s to
tell
me whether 2400s need any other drivers or files besides the Adaptec
driver(s) to boot using a bootable CD? Specifics would be great,
especially where to get the drivers.

Initially, I thought about wiping all the HDs and installing a more
up-to-date NOS from scratch but the server didn't come with a
PowerEdge 2400 CD (or CDs) for reinstalling the NOS or the system
manager and any other PowerEdge 2400-specific software from Dell. My
thinking was to preserve all of the server-speciific software and
Dell
server management tools by discovering the admin password, booting
into the machine, and then upgrading to Windows Server 2003, since
I'm
not sure that Server 2003 would properly identify the PowerEdge 2400
hardware during the installation routine when installing from scratch
(or configure itself properly for the hardware even if it detected
it).

Finally, the server is pretty noisy. The trustee warned me about
that
before I bought it. I'd like to replace both of the 120mm fans
inside
the server with newer (and hopefully quieter) fans. Do I have to buy
replacement fans from Dell (in other words are server fans specific
to
the server manufacturer?) or can I buy replacement fans from any
manufacturer? Any recommendations on which brand of fan to buy and
how much a good replacement fan should cost?

Any help would be most appreciated.

I was also surprised. Of course, the company is bankrupt so its
employees and corporate officers didn't care. But if there is
customers info on the HDs, then that's a real shame. Fortunately, I'm
not interested in that; I'm only interested in getting a true server
up and running so I can further my fledgling IT career by working on a
server box rather than working with a desktop box with an NOS
installed on it.


On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:16:38 +1000, "Black Adder"
wrote:

Dell servers come with a server companion CD which contains the RAID / SCSI
drivers. It will then prompt you for your Windows CD during installation.

I'm suprised someone would sell you a server without wiping the contents
from it.

LightLady110 wrote in message
.. .
Hi. I just bought a Dell PowerEdge 2400 for $150 in a bankruptcy sale
here in the U.S. The bankruptcy trustee told me that it was a "stock"
server w/no add-ons. The server has one 533 MHz PIII CPU w/room for
another CPU, and has 256 MBs of ECC SDRAM. It also has 3 SCSI HDs and
a RAID key installed. The NOS is Windows 2000 Server.

What the trustee did *not* have, however, was the admin password (or
any other password for that matter).

A friend is using his ERD Commander from work to build me a
"locksmith" boot CD so that I can find out what admin password was
being used and boot the machine. However, he needs to know what other
drivers to add to the CD to make it bootable for the system as
configured.

I looked at Dell's PowerEdge 2400 support site and didn't find it all
that useful. The specifications said that 2400s have both Adaptec
7880 and 7890 integrated controllers on the MB. Does that mean it
needs both set of drivers to boot? I looked on Adaptec's Web site and
didn't find a listing for those controllers. Do they go by any other
name, model, or other designation?

Is there anyone out there familiar enough with PowerEdge 2400s to tell
me whether 2400s need any other drivers or files besides the Adaptec
driver(s) to boot using a bootable CD? Specifics would be great,
especially where to get the drivers.

Initially, I thought about wiping all the HDs and installing a more
up-to-date NOS from scratch but the server didn't come with a
PowerEdge 2400 CD (or CDs) for reinstalling the NOS or the system
manager and any other PowerEdge 2400-specific software from Dell. My
thinking was to preserve all of the server-speciific software and Dell
server management tools by discovering the admin password, booting
into the machine, and then upgrading to Windows Server 2003, since I'm
not sure that Server 2003 would properly identify the PowerEdge 2400
hardware during the installation routine when installing from scratch
(or configure itself properly for the hardware even if it detected
it).

Finally, the server is pretty noisy. The trustee warned me about that
before I bought it. I'd like to replace both of the 120mm fans inside
the server with newer (and hopefully quieter) fans. Do I have to buy
replacement fans from Dell (in other words are server fans specific to
the server manufacturer?) or can I buy replacement fans from any
manufacturer? Any recommendations on which brand of fan to buy and
how much a good replacement fan should cost?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks for the links. I guess I'm a step or two behind that point.
I'm not sure which drivers to tell my friend to include on the
bootable locksmith CD he's trying to burn for me.



On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 10:04:56 -0500, "Pen" wrote:

Complete Dell poweredge docs are available here;
http://support.dell.com/support/syst...2&~ subcat=89
Drivers are available here;
http://support.dell.com/support/down...=19&l=en&s=dhs

"Black Adder" wrote in message
...
Dell servers come with a server companion CD which contains the RAID /
SCSI drivers. It will then prompt you for your Windows CD during
installation.

I'm suprised someone would sell you a server without wiping the
contents from it.

LightLady110 wrote in message
...
Hi. I just bought a Dell PowerEdge 2400 for $150 in a bankruptcy
sale
here in the U.S. The bankruptcy trustee told me that it was a
"stock"
server w/no add-ons. The server has one 533 MHz PIII CPU w/room for
another CPU, and has 256 MBs of ECC SDRAM. It also has 3 SCSI HDs
and
a RAID key installed. The NOS is Windows 2000 Server.

What the trustee did *not* have, however, was the admin password (or
any other password for that matter).

A friend is using his ERD Commander from work to build me a
"locksmith" boot CD so that I can find out what admin password was
being used and boot the machine. However, he needs to know what
other
drivers to add to the CD to make it bootable for the system as
configured.

I looked at Dell's PowerEdge 2400 support site and didn't find it all
that useful. The specifications said that 2400s have both Adaptec
7880 and 7890 integrated controllers on the MB. Does that mean it
needs both set of drivers to boot? I looked on Adaptec's Web site
and
didn't find a listing for those controllers. Do they go by any other
name, model, or other designation?

Is there anyone out there familiar enough with PowerEdge 2400s to
tell
me whether 2400s need any other drivers or files besides the Adaptec
driver(s) to boot using a bootable CD? Specifics would be great,
especially where to get the drivers.

Initially, I thought about wiping all the HDs and installing a more
up-to-date NOS from scratch but the server didn't come with a
PowerEdge 2400 CD (or CDs) for reinstalling the NOS or the system
manager and any other PowerEdge 2400-specific software from Dell. My
thinking was to preserve all of the server-speciific software and
Dell
server management tools by discovering the admin password, booting
into the machine, and then upgrading to Windows Server 2003, since
I'm
not sure that Server 2003 would properly identify the PowerEdge 2400
hardware during the installation routine when installing from scratch
(or configure itself properly for the hardware even if it detected
it).

Finally, the server is pretty noisy. The trustee warned me about
that
before I bought it. I'd like to replace both of the 120mm fans
inside
the server with newer (and hopefully quieter) fans. Do I have to buy
replacement fans from Dell (in other words are server fans specific
to
the server manufacturer?) or can I buy replacement fans from any
manufacturer? Any recommendations on which brand of fan to buy and
how much a good replacement fan should cost?

Any help would be most appreciated.