Dell 2850 Raid Driver Windows 2008
HiI have PowerEdge 2850 with RAID 1 that was working correctly with Windows 2008 r2. I changed hard disks to 300GB 15K Fujitsu MBA3300NC SCSI U320 Drive, of course 2 hard disks. I created RAID 1.Now, when I try to install Windows 2008 r2 even Windows 2012, I got error message:'Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an exiting system partition.' I tried to insert the old hard disks, but it is the same issue.I am new to this situation, and I think there is some problem in RAID creation.How to solve this, please. If you did a swap upgrade, i.e, replace disk 1 with bigger drive, rebuild, repeat with disk 2.then you wasted your time. This controller doesn't expose that extra space.The first thing the controller does is resize the larger disk to the one you had before.You.should. have added the 2 new disks, built the RAID1, and then migrated the data from the existing disk via some partition manager by booting to a UNIX USB stick or CD.Going forward is painful.1.
Add a NON-RAID controller to this system.2. Attach the 2 old disks to the non-RAID controller.3.
Attach the 2 larger new disks to the RAID controller.4. Build a fresh new RAID1 with those 2 new disks from the BIOS, let it initialize (takes hours).5. Boot that system to windows (External USB drive, or another scratch drive. Go to runtime.org, download raid reconstructor (free to try, pay if successful)7. Boot system to windows, kick off the raid reconstructor. Have it look at the 2 busted RAID drives on the non-RAID controller, and reconstruct into a virtual RAID1 image. (Takes seconds).8.
If that image looks good, pay them $$. Get key, install key.9. Then do an image backup of the virtual RAID1 array onto the new physical RAID1 on larger disks.10. Shut down box, remove the non-RAID controller & disks, set boot path to boot to the new RAID1.11.
Boot, and as long as you didn't screw something up and wipe the data originally, you should be good. (Then use native windows command to resize the partitions, or create new one with free space.There are other variations on this theme, but it is all going to be about same work.
At first, I'd like to thank all of you.Dear JohnThePro:I've seen this before, and I followed it, but nothing changed. My old HDD are SCSI.Dear ServerWorkscc:Bios and Raid are already updated. The drives are working. Also, I created a new array as I mentioned, and initialed it, but nothing new.Dear dlethe:I am not that expert to work with servers like this one. But, I tried to rebuild them, and I think I stuck in this. It been rebuilding for about 10 hours up to now!!!
Even I reboot the server, and it still giving me rebuilding. I couldn't possibly tell you what is wrong w/o having the equipment in my lab and running some diagnostic tools we developed in-house that relies on information we obtained under non-disclosure (because this is what we do to pay the bills).Dell, HP, and the others who OEM the controllers do not offer tools to get the information to diagnose problems. The reason is political. I can't tell you how many times a manufacturer has said that they don't want to empower end-users with detailed information because that means the users will inevitably misinterpret something; send back perfectly good equipment; give users perception the hardware is problematic.You pretty much get only things that have 100% confidence level, like a disk is offline or a LUN is critical. If you want to know WHY something happens, then you have to pay for an expensive consulting gig, or better be a buying millions of dollars worth of equipment to warrant the engineering time.Sorry, but that is the way it works in the real world;). Make sure that this is the driver you are using:Download and run to extract the files, then put them on a CD or USB key.Boot to your 2008 R2 DVD.Select Repair Your Computer (instead of Install Now).Click on Load Drivers.Browse to your CD/USB to find the drivers to load, then Next.Command Prompt.Type in:diskpart, then Enterlist disk, then Enterselect disk 0 (select the disk that represents your RAID array (probably the big one))cleanexitRestart and attempt the installation again. If that doesn't work, you might try to manually create the partitions (100MB for System Reserved and 16GB for Windows, set to Active), also using diskpart.
Dell Poweredge 2850 Raid Driver Windows Server 2008
Hello all, this is the first time posting so please forgive me if this has been posted here before. I did try to search this issue but zero returns. OK, I have a Dell PowerEdge 2900.
I have just put a fresh install of MS Windows 2008 ENT. I cannot seem to find a driver for the PERC 4/dc SCSI controller I have installed. I have been told the 2003 x64 driver would work so I attempted to install that driver but was unsuccessful. Then I was told by Dell that the driver should be native to the OS. Is the driver native to 2008 Server (or, supposed to be)?
Does anyone have an answer as to where I might retrieve am driver of the controller if not? Anyway, thanks in advance. Hello, I don't have a PowerEdge 2900, but I do have a PowerEdge 2850. I'm also just a regular bloke like yourself that just happened upon your post and after I figured this driver debacle out I registered to hopefully help. The good thing is my PERC card is the same in the PE2850 as it is in your PE2900, as I'm utilizing a PERC 4/DC.
I've also managed to run into the same issue you ran into(?) trying to load Windows 2008 Server Enterprise R2 (support for 32bit processors have been removed in R2. So no more x86 versions. My poor PE2650s never stood a chance with this OS).
I can tell you officially from my experience/research Windows Server Enterprise R2 does not have support built into it for the PERC 4/DC card. However, I was able to download the Windows 2003 x64 driver from support.dell.com and make it work after much trial and error with newer releases of the PERC 4/DC driver that were not accepted by 2k8R2. Here's the link: File name (incase Dell moves it on you guys) is 'perc-w2k3-6.46.3.64-A01.exe', date released 6/9/2005, build version 6.46.3.64, and the Dell revision number is A01. Even though it states the driver is for the LSI Logic PERC 4e/Si it's sort of a mega pack including many other drivers such as the PERC 4/DC. This was much relief because I was thinking I would need to stick with Windows 2008 until I found this driver for Windows 2008 R2.:)What I did was:1) Downloaded the driver and extracted it to a USB drive.2) Booted-up via the Win2k8R2 CD and when it got to the screen where it asked to install to a partition and didn't show me a partition to install Win2k8R2 to I selected the option to load a driver.3) From the load driver option I just browsed to the directory where I extracted the files and selected that directory. If the 'hide devices that are not compatible' option is selected (normally on by default) it will show you the proper driver.4) Select the PERC 4/DC driver and then setup your partitions the way you would like them!From there you should be able to boot into the OS. And really have some fun. Princess cruises.
Now you have the power. I guess the choice is yours to R2 or not to R2. That is the real question.:) Enjoy!Dave. Dave I appreciate your response!
I just received a phone call from Dell regarding the same instruction.some what. I was told that the R2 version was still in a 'trial' phase (I assume working out bugs with various drivers, etc) and did not support that controller, yet. He did state that the driver would be native to the OS (Windows 2008 Ent. Server) and should be install during setup. Again, I have not tested this theory but, thats what I have been told. I will not be able to work on this issue until next week but I will post the outcome when done. Again, thanks for your response!
Official support is what the rep is talking about, and to get a proper solution they would have to develop/test the driver. However, I do know the process above will work as I've booted into the system and went so far to set it up to remote into it for further configuration via RDP. However, if you're looking for something that will work and don't want to wait for Dell to develop/test the solution give it a try.
Just wish someone else would've posted it as it would've saved us a lot of work. However, that's the price you pay for being on the cutting edge.:)Dave.
OK Dave, I ran into some issue after installing Windows 2008 Ent. Server x64 (not R2). Not sure what the problem was but IE was crashing, various errors, unable to install some software. A lil' ticked by this point, I decided to attempt to use your instructions and install the driver during setup of R2 version. Well, it appears to have worked.? My hardware is showing in Device Manager and all 'seems' fine. (with the perc 2003 x64 driver) It will be another day or so before I can begin testing this theory but, for now, my aggravation is gone.
Dell 2850 Server
Hello, I don't have a PowerEdge 2900, but I do have a PowerEdge 2850. I'm also just a regular bloke like yourself that just happened upon your post and after I figured this driver debacle out I registered to hopefully help. The good thing is my PERC card is the same in the PE2850 as it is in your PE2900, as I'm utilizing a PERC 4/DC. I've also managed to run into the same issue you ran into(?) trying to load Windows 2008 Server Enterprise R2 (support for 32bit processors have been removed in R2. So no more x86 versions.
My poor PE2650s never stood a chance with this OS). I can tell you officially from my experience/research Windows Server Enterprise R2 does not have support built into it for the PERC 4/DC card. However, I was able to download the Windows 2003 x64 driver from support.dell.com and make it work after much trial and error with newer releases of the PERC 4/DC driver that were not accepted by 2k8R2. Here's the link: File name (incase Dell moves it on you guys) is 'perc-w2k3-6.46.3.64-A01.exe', date released 6/9/2005, build version 6.46.3.64, and the Dell revision number is A01.
Even though it states the driver is for the LSI Logic PERC 4e/Si it's sort of a mega pack including many other drivers such as the PERC 4/DC. This was much relief because I was thinking I would need to stick with Windows 2008 until I found this driver for Windows 2008 R2.:)What I did was:1) Downloaded the driver and extracted it to a USB drive.2) Booted-up via the Win2k8R2 CD and when it got to the screen where it asked to install to a partition and didn't show me a partition to install Win2k8R2 to I selected the option to load a driver.3) From the load driver option I just browsed to the directory where I extracted the files and selected that directory. If the 'hide devices that are not compatible' option is selected (normally on by default) it will show you the proper driver.4) Select the PERC 4/DC driver and then setup your partitions the way you would like them!From there you should be able to boot into the OS. And really have some fun. Now you have the power. I guess the choice is yours to R2 or not to R2.
That is the real question.:) Enjoy!Dave Thanks and this worked for a Power edge 1800, PERC 4/DC as well.