1U server, no floppy, no CDROM, how to install OS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim_Mac
  • Start date Start date
T

Tim_Mac

hi,
i have just got a dell PE750 1U server, and i thought i could just
temporarily plug in an ATAPI dvd-drive to install windows and then
remove it.
the problem is the motherboard doesn't have any 4-pin molex plugs. it
only has SATA power cables, and one small plug which looks like it's
for a floppy drive. it does have an IDE socket, and i tried plugging
the DVD drive into that, and drawing power for the drive from a spare
molex on another computer (turned on), but the motherboard won't
recognise the drive.

i have an external USB floppy, but i can't get it to boot, i've tried
everything in the bios, removing IRQ conflicts etc, changing boot order
etc. i have a network installation ready to go for windows server
2003, but i need the floppy to get that working.

what can i do? is there an adapter i can get to convert the floppy
drive power supply to a molex? i'm not sure if that power supply is
for slimline DVD or floppy drive or both. i'm prepared to buy an
external dvd drive, but i think i might run into the same boot problems
as i have with the floppy drive. also i've tried booting from a
bootable USB flash drive but that won't work either!

thanks for any tips
tim
 
Previously Tim_Mac said:
hi,
i have just got a dell PE750 1U server, and i thought i could just
temporarily plug in an ATAPI dvd-drive to install windows and then
remove it.
the problem is the motherboard doesn't have any 4-pin molex plugs. it
only has SATA power cables, and one small plug which looks like it's
for a floppy drive. it does have an IDE socket, and i tried plugging
the DVD drive into that, and drawing power for the drive from a spare
molex on another computer (turned on), but the motherboard won't
recognise the drive.
Click to expand...
i have an external USB floppy, but i can't get it to boot, i've tried
everything in the bios, removing IRQ conflicts etc, changing boot order
etc. i have a network installation ready to go for windows server
2003, but i need the floppy to get that working.
Click to expand...
what can i do? is there an adapter i can get to convert the floppy
drive power supply to a molex? i'm not sure if that power supply is
for slimline DVD or floppy drive or both. i'm prepared to buy an
external dvd drive, but i think i might run into the same boot problems
as i have with the floppy drive. also i've tried booting from a
bootable USB flash drive but that won't work either!
Click to expand...
thanks for any tips
tim
Click to expand...

You _can_ power the CDROM/DVD drive from a separate PSU. If that does
not work (as you observed), the IDE socket is non-functional anyways.

The other option is to remove the HDD and install on an other machine.
A pity, under Linux that would be the easiest option. But MS'es
"wannabe-ware" causes serious trouble with this approach or does not
work at all. (How are the jokers at MS think you should go about
restoring a backup to a different machine? Keep an identical one
around?? And after the primary one breaks, get yet another identical
one? What if the initial hardware choice was bad? Reinstall everything?
Amateurs!)

I would contact Dell support and if they do not help you try to return
the system for something more reasonable from a different vendor.

Arno
 
hi,
i have just got a dell PE750 1U server, and i thought i could just
temporarily plug in an ATAPI dvd-drive to install windows and then
remove it.
the problem is the motherboard doesn't have any 4-pin molex plugs. it
only has SATA power cables, and one small plug which looks like it's
for a floppy drive. it does have an IDE socket, and i tried plugging
the DVD drive into that, and drawing power for the drive from a spare
molex on another computer (turned on), but the motherboard won't
recognise the drive.

i have an external USB floppy, but i can't get it to boot, i've tried
everything in the bios, removing IRQ conflicts etc, changing boot order
etc. i have a network installation ready to go for windows server
2003, but i need the floppy to get that working.

what can i do? is there an adapter i can get to convert the floppy
drive power supply to a molex? i'm not sure if that power supply is
for slimline DVD or floppy drive or both. i'm prepared to buy an
external dvd drive, but i think i might run into the same boot problems
as i have with the floppy drive. also i've tried booting from a
bootable USB flash drive but that won't work either!

thanks for any tips
tim
Click to expand...

Enable and use PXE.
 
You _can_ power the CDROM/DVD drive from a separate PSU. If that does
not work (as you observed), the IDE socket is non-functional anyways.

The other option is to remove the HDD and install on an other machine.
A pity, under Linux that would be the easiest option. But MS'es
"wannabe-ware" causes serious trouble with this approach or does not
work at all. (How are the jokers at MS think you should go about
restoring a backup to a different machine? Keep an identical one
around?? And after the primary one breaks, get yet another identical
one? What if the initial hardware choice was bad? Reinstall everything?
Amateurs!)

I would contact Dell support and if they do not help you try to return
the system for something more reasonable from a different vendor.

Arno
Click to expand...


IMO you could put the disk into second machine as a secondary drive
and make a small (few GB) first partition as FAT32, large enough to
xcopy the essential distro CDs and install bootable DOS in that
partition. You might also have to put the DELL cds there so you have
the special drivers. Not too bad as a plan, IMO.

(FreeDOS will probably work fine http://www.freedos.org/) Windows/98
would work, too.

Put the disk back into your 1U box and power it up. You should be
able to install Windows in the rest of the disk and still get at the
distro files and drivers if you ever need to.

TIP: once you get your system up and running you meed to think through
your crash recovery plans. This sounds like a disaster waithing to
happen.

Does DELL list this box as being compatible with Windows Server? I
assume yes. Call them and ask what the official installation method
is.

Microsoft has lots of bare-iron-ober-a-lan rollout tools. I assume
setup for your server is a piece of cake for someone with the right MS
training and infrastructure. You might redirect this query to
one of the usenet groups that discusses deployment.
 
hi al,
thanks for the tips. i have an unattended network install ready to go,
but i need to boot into the 1U server with a floppy or cd to get it
working :) catch22.
i'll plod on and see what can be done.
thanks
tim
 
hi al,
thanks for the tips. i have an unattended network install ready to go,
but i need to boot into the 1U server with a floppy or cd to get it
working :) catch22.
i'll plod on and see what can be done.
thanks
tim
Click to expand...

Set up PXE server and boot PE 750 from there.
 
Tim_Mac said:
hi al,
thanks for the tips. i have an unattended network install ready to go,
but i need to boot into the 1U server with a floppy or cd to get it
working :) catch22.
i'll plod on and see what can be done.
Click to expand...

Most servers (in fact most machines of any kind) can boot from the LAN if
you have a boot server set up.
 
i have just got a dell PE750 1U server, and i thought i could just
temporarily plug in an ATAPI dvd-drive to install windows and then
remove it.
the problem is the motherboard doesn't have any 4-pin molex plugs. it
only has SATA power cables, and one small plug which looks like it's
for a floppy drive. it does have an IDE socket, and i tried plugging
the DVD drive into that, and drawing power for the drive from a spare
molex on another computer (turned on), but the motherboard won't
recognise the drive.
Click to expand...

Tell the BIOS to "enable" the IDE port.
If it set to 'NONE', then it will ignore anything connected to the IDE
port.
 
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