Server 2008 wont boot. Storage driver issues
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Saturday, December 08, 2012 8:09 PM
I am posting this question to the forum in an attempt to help another party with a major issue.
If it matters, this is an HP Proliant ML350 G5 server. It is running 32 bit server 2008. Apparently, there was the hp IPMI and baseboard drivers in device manager that were having issues. This server has some sort of raid setup but I have not seen the system yet to know how it is configured. Anyway, he decided to disable the devices in device manager and thought that when he restarted, windows would re-find the devices and re-install the drivers. Now however, the server will not boot even in safe mode. It starts to boot, gets the windows screen scrolling along and hangs. I am asking for any suggestions short of total re-installation.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
All Replies
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Saturday, December 08, 2012 8:48 PM
You might ask them over here about hardware issue.
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/bd-p/itrc-264
If you deciede to reinstall the operating system you should boot from the SmartStart to prepare server for operating system installation.
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. -
Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:04 PM
Thanks Dave,
As I understand it, the hardware is functioning fine. The issue resides in the guy disabling what I believe was the storage controller in device mgr and now the system won't boot. Chicken and the egg thing, it can't boot to find the driver to make it boot. My question really is I guess, is there an "out of band" type of solution that may let me re-enable the device in server 2008 so the drive will reboot? Kind of like the old windows repair but I know server 2008 does not have this. Otherwise, maybe a registry setting if I could get to the registry etc. Anything short of reloading the system would be really really helpful.
I appreciate your assistance.
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Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:24 PM
None that I'm aware of. What errors are present?
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. -
Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:32 PMI don't believe any errors pop up. Just when the server tried to boot, you get the microsoft boot screen and it sits there. it is some kind of raid setup running off their embedded raid controller (probably mirroring but not sure) so I am assuming when windows is trying to boot, it can't identify what the controller is, what the drive geometry is, etc and won't finish booting. I haven't even seen this server yet. I said I would go there tomorrow am and help them if possible. I was trying to get as much ammo as possible before going. I know they sure don't want to reload the system..
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Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:40 PM
I doubt if there's much choice but to clean install it. With HP you need to boot from smartstart. If you just try booting the 08 media it will most likely not load or have knowledge of the raid controller driver. While your at it might just as well load the latest ROM (system) bios and have on hand also the latest HP PSP (proliant support pack) for ML350 G5
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.- Marked As Answer by LarrystROC Saturday, December 08, 2012 11:16 PM
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Saturday, December 08, 2012 11:16 PM
Thank you Dave,
I was afraid of this. Looks like it is going to be a long day tomorrow. I am sure they will learn a lesson from this one...
Larry
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Sunday, December 09, 2012 12:15 AM
You're welcome. Sorry to be bearer of bad news.
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. -
Sunday, December 09, 2012 3:04 PM
boot the server 2008 dvd and use a repair install which should allow the disk controller to be repaired
if it does not work, you're stuck to a fresh install
Windows MVP, XP, Vista, 7 and 8. More people have climbed Everest than having 3 MVP's on the wall.
Hardcore Games, Legendary is the only Way to Play
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Monday, December 10, 2012 1:56 AM
DAve,
As a follow up, here is what happened....
I may have mentioned that I was helping someone with this problem. I saw the server today for the first time. Sure enough, the server wouldn't finish booting. Windows logo on the screen with the little scrolling dots going back and forth. They had been doing "backups" to home use type usb hard drives using some backup app on the server that they downloaded. I assumed they were just backing data but when I took one of the usb drives to a desktop computer and plugged it in, there was actually a whole copy of the boot drive on this backup drive. I booted the server with the server 2008 cd, went to repair and command prompt. I xcopied the windows folder from the usb hard drive to the server boot drive. Voila!. It took forever for the copy but it worked. Restarted the server and the setting that had disabled the storage controller driver in windows had been reset. It reverted to the date of the backup and everything functions. WHEW! Used the xcopy with the /s switch along with the ones to copy hidden files and not to stop on errors. There were some files that would not be overwritten on the server drive, access denied so I had to be able to continue over them. /s is for subdirectory copies too.
Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your help and let you know that we were able to avoid a total reinstall. Now, we are going to suggest things to them to better protect themselves in the future.
- Marked As Answer by K_evin ZhuMicrosoft Contingent Staff, Moderator Monday, December 10, 2012 8:41 AM
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Monday, December 10, 2012 2:00 AM
i use a small disk for the system on my server and huge disks for backup targets, this way its somewhat less likely to be a problem.
been thinking of finally getting a ssd for the server boot as they are now rather inexpensive
i use disk cloning to backup my server, clonezilla is a handy usb stick tool
Windows MVP, XP, Vista, 7 and 8. More people have climbed Everest than having 3 MVP's on the wall.
Hardcore Games, Legendary is the only Way to Play
Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews
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Monday, December 10, 2012 3:14 AM
Sounds good. Glad to hear its sorted.
Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.
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