HP Proliant DL380: Windows Server 2003 OK, Windows Server 2003 R2 hangs

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Today I had to install Windows Server 2003 on a HP Proliant DL380 server.

The customer bought the R2 version, so I tried installing it... but, as soon
as the various drivers loaded and the Windows setup started, it crashed with
a 8E stop message.

I tried installing from a standard Windows Server 2003 SP1 CD-ROM, and
everything went fine.

In order to test this behaviour, I retried some times both installations...
the R2 version hangs everytime (but it installs OK on every other computer,
so the installation media is good), while the SP1 version always installs
fine.

What's happening here?!?


Massimo

Hello Massimo,

To use the R2 features and schema update you have to install 2003 sp1 first.
After that run adprep /forestprep adprep /domainprep from the 2nd (R2) CD
against the schema master and then you can use the R2 functionality.
Or did i misunderstood you about your question?

Best regards

myweb
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.



> Today I had to install Windows Server 2003 on a HP Proliant DL380
> server.
>
> The customer bought the R2 version, so I tried installing it... but,
> as soon as the various drivers loaded and the Windows setup started,
> it crashed with a 8E stop message.
>
> I tried installing from a standard Windows Server 2003 SP1 CD-ROM, and
> everything went fine.
>
> In order to test this behaviour, I retried some times both
> installations... the R2 version hangs everytime (but it installs OK on
> every other computer, so the installation media is good), while the
> SP1 version always installs fine.
>
> What's happening here?!?
>
> Massimo
>

"myweb" <meiweb@gmx.de> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:59710d238a78c9063c940ecfc0@msnews.microsoft.com...

> To use the R2 features and schema update you have to install 2003 sp1
> first. After that run adprep /forestprep adprep /domainprep from the 2nd
> (R2) CD against the schema master and then you can use the R2
> functionality.
> Or did i misunderstood you about your question?

Yes, I'm sorry you misunderstood it completely.

I'm talking about the Windows setup crashing, here. If I launch the Windows
setup from the first CD-ROM of Windows Server 2003 R2, the text-mode portion
of the setup crashes with a blue screen complaining about a 8E stop error.
If I install Windows from a (single) Windows 2003 SP1 CD-ROM, it goes OK.

I think there is some low-level difference (maybe updated drivers?) between
Windows 2003 and Windows 2003 R2, which is causing this crash on HP Proliant
DL380 servers.


Massimo

Hello Massimo,

Maybe your first cd is broken. Anyway, you can also use the other 2003 installation
cd and then the R2 for schema updating and install additional features. Shouldn't
give you any problem. And to prevent driver problems use te Smartstart cd
to install your server(configure array and so on). I do it always on this
way. We have about 20 DL380 in use, all installed first with Smartstart from
HP.

Best regards

myweb
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.



> "myweb" <meiweb@gmx.de> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:59710d238a78c9063c940ecfc0@msnews.microsoft.com...
>> To use the R2 features and schema update you have to install 2003 sp1
>> first. After that run adprep /forestprep adprep /domainprep from the
>> 2nd
>> (R2) CD against the schema master and then you can use the R2
>> functionality.
>> Or did i misunderstood you about your question?
> Yes, I'm sorry you misunderstood it completely.
>
> I'm talking about the Windows setup crashing, here. If I launch the
> Windows setup from the first CD-ROM of Windows Server 2003 R2, the
> text-mode portion of the setup crashes with a blue screen complaining
> about a 8E stop error. If I install Windows from a (single) Windows
> 2003 SP1 CD-ROM, it goes OK.
>
> I think there is some low-level difference (maybe updated drivers?)
> between Windows 2003 and Windows 2003 R2, which is causing this crash
> on HP Proliant DL380 servers.
>
> Massimo
>

Did you F6 and supply any required third party mass storage controller
drivers? You might also give the SmartStart a go.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/s...art/index.html

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Massimo" wrote:
> "myweb" <meiweb@gmx.de> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:59710d238a78c9063c940ecfc0@msnews.microsoft.com...
>
>> To use the R2 features and schema update you have to install 2003 sp1
>> first. After that run adprep /forestprep adprep /domainprep from the 2nd
>> (R2) CD against the schema master and then you can use the R2
>> functionality.
>> Or did i misunderstood you about your question?
>
> Yes, I'm sorry you misunderstood it completely.
>
> I'm talking about the Windows setup crashing, here. If I launch the
> Windows setup from the first CD-ROM of Windows Server 2003 R2, the
> text-mode portion of the setup crashes with a blue screen complaining
> about a 8E stop error. If I install Windows from a (single) Windows 2003
> SP1 CD-ROM, it goes OK.
>
> I think there is some low-level difference (maybe updated drivers?)
> between Windows 2003 and Windows 2003 R2, which is causing this crash on
> HP Proliant DL380 servers.
>
>
> Massimo
>

"myweb" <meiweb@gmx.de> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:59710d238b88c90642a03cdf40@msnews.microsoft.com...

> Maybe your first cd is broken.

Thought about this.
But it installs absolutely fine on other systems!

> Anyway, you can also use the other 2003 installation cd and then
> the R2 for schema updating and install additional features. Shouldn't give
> you any problem.

We actually don't ever need R2, because the machine is a stand-alone web
server; I was just curious about this.

> And to prevent driver problems use te Smartstart cd to install your
> server(configure array and so on). I do it always on this way. We have
> about 20 DL380 in use, all installed first with Smartstart
> from HP.

I don't like using the manufacturer's CD, because they always auto-install
los of things I need to remove when the install is done; in this particular
case, I don't even *have* the CD, because the server came from another
customer, without any add-on.

I thought also about upgrading the server's firmware and using updated SCSI
drivers during the setup, but... the machine doesn't have any floppy drive.
Seems like HP really hates floppies (see my previous post)... maybe someone
should explain to them they're actually *needed* until we get our hands on
Vista.


Massimo

"Dave Patrick" <DSPatrick@nospam.gmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:E8EAA841-0A52-4083-A4CF-99E00B312DCE@microsoft.com...

> Did you F6 and supply any required third party mass storage
> controller drivers?

I'd really like to, but (as usual with HP) there's no floppy drive there :-(


Massimo

What do you mean "as usual"? HP, like Dell and others have gone to a "no
floppy" default for computer configurations. While it may puzzle many of
us to do this with servers, it's really lazy or ignorant customers who
don't pay attention to the configuration details for a critical piece of
hardware like a server...

BTW, a US connected floppy is *really* cheap.....

I still say that installing using a Smart Start CD is a lot more
efficient (even if I have to uninstall some stuff) than spending hours
or even days trying to find and install necessary drivers....

Here's another configuration concern that we all need to consider.....
Virtually every server you configure these days will have a CD-ROM
drive. This used to be what you needed. However, I've started to get
applications (SQL 2005 is one) that are only available on DVD.... From
now on, any server I order will have a CD/DVD drive in it.....

Regards,
Hank Arnold

Massimo wrote:
> "Dave Patrick" <DSPatrick@nospam.gmail.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:E8EAA841-0A52-4083-A4CF-99E00B312DCE@microsoft.com...
>
>> Did you F6 and supply any required third party mass storage
>> controller drivers?
>
> I'd really like to, but (as usual with HP) there's no floppy drive there
> :-(
>
>
> Massimo
>

Sigh...................

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Massimo" wrote:
> I'd really like to, but (as usual with HP) there's no floppy drive there
> :-(
>
>
> Massimo
>

"Hank Arnold" <rasilon@aol.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:eTt7kwIOHHA.5012@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> What do you mean "as usual"? HP, like Dell and others have gone to a "no
> floppy" default for computer configurations. While it may puzzle many of
> us to do this with servers, it's really lazy or ignorant customers who
> don't pay attention to the configuration details for a critical piece of
> hardware like a server...

Lazy and/or ignorant customers are quite a lot these days :-/

> BTW, a US connected floppy is *really* cheap.....

....and it most often just doesn't work during the text-mode setup :-(

> Here's another configuration concern that we all need to consider.....
> Virtually every server you configure these days will have a CD-ROM drive.
> This used to be what you needed. However, I've started to get applications
> (SQL 2005 is one) that are only available on DVD.... From now on, any
> server I order will have a CD/DVD drive in it.....

This can be worked around, as you can always copy the application setup
files via network. But when you still need to install the O.S., there's very
little you can do.


Massimo

"Massimo" wrote:
<snip>

>
> I don't like using the manufacturer's CD, because they always auto-install
> los of things I need to remove when the install is done; in this particular
> case, I don't even *have* the CD, because the server came from another
> customer, without any add-on.

HP SmartStart CD is not exactly hardware specific. If you have another
SmartStart CD from a DL380, it will work on this computer and does not break
the licensing agreement with HP.

>
> I thought also about upgrading the server's firmware and using updated SCSI
> drivers during the setup, but... the machine doesn't have any floppy drive.
> Seems like HP really hates floppies (see my previous post)... maybe someone
> should explain to them they're actually *needed* until we get our hands on
> Vista.
>
>
> Massimo
>
Update the firmware on the server, that's CD based. Download the firmware
CD from HP support. Maybe the BIOS or some other firmware is causing your
error during setup. Did you research the error message to see what might be
causing the stop?

Mike W

"Mike W" <MikeW@discussions.microsoft.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:93169F48-4EA9-42A3-87A3-293E15130FB7@microsoft.com...

>> I thought also about upgrading the server's firmware and using updated
>> SCSI
>> drivers during the setup, but... the machine doesn't have any floppy
>> drive.
>> Seems like HP really hates floppies (see my previous post)... maybe
>> someone
>> should explain to them they're actually *needed* until we get our hands
>> on
>> Vista.
>
> Update the firmware on the server, that's CD based. Download the firmware
> CD from HP support.

Yes, but there wasn't any CD writer there.

> Maybe the BIOS or some other firmware is causing your error during setup.

That's entirely possible, but timing was quite tight, so we just ended up
installing a non-R2 copy of Windows.

I'm still curious about why only the R2 version crashes...


Massimo

It was most likely drivers. As has been mentioned several times, I would use
the CD based Smart Start. If I remember correctly, the SmartStart
installation routine copies the driver files to the local disk for you as
part of the installation. This normally works well. I haven't done a PL
system for several years, but the smart start process did several things
including creating a system utility partition with RAID array management
software and other utilities.
--
Best Wishes,

Jeffery Smith


"Massimo" wrote:

> "Mike W" <MikeW@discussions.microsoft.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:93169F48-4EA9-42A3-87A3-293E15130FB7@microsoft.com...
>
> >> I thought also about upgrading the server's firmware and using updated
> >> SCSI
> >> drivers during the setup, but... the machine doesn't have any floppy
> >> drive.
> >> Seems like HP really hates floppies (see my previous post)... maybe
> >> someone
> >> should explain to them they're actually *needed* until we get our hands
> >> on
> >> Vista.
> >
> > Update the firmware on the server, that's CD based. Download the firmware
> > CD from HP support.
>
> Yes, but there wasn't any CD writer there.
>
> > Maybe the BIOS or some other firmware is causing your error during setup.
>
> That's entirely possible, but timing was quite tight, so we just ended up
> installing a non-R2 copy of Windows.
>
> I'm still curious about why only the R2 version crashes...
>
>
> Massimo
>
>