XP install on gives "no drives present" error.

H

Heliocentrical

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Messages
2,852
Hello everyone. I am running W2K Pro on a Compaq Proliant ML330 Server and have decided that its time to upgrade to WinXP Pro. I thought this would be as easy as booting the system with the install disk but that was not the case. The setup process runs until it reaches the point where it needs to identify the drive where the OS is to be installed. At that point it says "no drives present". "press F3 to reboot". My current OS installed with no problem. Does anyone know why XP refuses to work?

Aratech

Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Compaq Proliant ML330 Server
Kingston 512 MB ECC RAM
(2) 9.1 GIG SCSI Hard Drives
 
You probably have to hit F6 to load SCSI drivers for the SCSI controller.
 
djnes said:
You probably have to hit F6 to load SCSI drivers for the SCSI controller.
Click to expand...

Seconded. Win2k probably happened to have the right built-in driver for your SCSI controller. A bit odd that XP wouldn't but there are limits to what MS can include, they can't do all bajillion of the drivers out there.
 
That makes sense. I assumed XP would also include the drivers. Now the only issue is to find the driver itself. I sure hope HP still supports these servers.
 
Aratech said:
That makes sense. I assumed XP would also include the drivers. Now the only issue is to find the driver itself. I sure hope HP still supports these servers.
Click to expand...
We do....check our site...should have downloads. If not, search for the exact controller.
 
It should be okay in here. Anytime you have a problem, just look through the available forums to see if any are better suited for your problem.
 
Okay. I searched and found the support page for the Proliant ML330. Here is what I dont understand. Do I need the 32bit SCSI controller driver or do I need the Proliant drive array driver? It shows those two options. Another issue is that there are no drivers for WinXP for either of these two driver options. I wonder if the driver for Server 2003 will work....
 
Honestly it wont hurt if you use the wrong drivers,it'lll just say "Could not find" so trying both shouldnt be hard,you could try to slipstream a CD with your drivers tho,but you'll have to google it. Basically you make the windows 2000 cd itself install an dlook for the drivers. Very nifty.
 
So what you're saying is that the driver that is currently being used under Win2K should also work for XP? Then I should be able to find the driver in the in the hardware list under system properties. I guess that would be the same as downloading it from the list I already found on HP.com. That would be great. I will try it when I get home from work and let everyone know what happened. Thanks.
 
<rant>

Why does windows XP/2000/2003 require a floppy drive for load drivers, who the **** still uses floppy drives?

If Longhorn is the same I'm gonna buy a rifle!!!

</rant>

Edit: :rolleyes:
 
Wiseguy2001 said:
<rant>

Why does windows XP/2000/2003 require a floppy drive for load drivers, who the **** still uses floppy drives?

If Longhorn is the same I'm gonna buy a riffle!!!

</rant>
Click to expand...

As in a riffle ticket? :p
 
Wiseguy2001 said:
<rant>

Why does windows XP/2000/2003 require a floppy drive for load drivers, who the **** still uses floppy drives?

If Longhorn is the same I'm gonna buy a riffle!!!

</rant>
Click to expand...

Actually, I'd be willing to bet the majority of us still are using them.
 
Okay, To whoever was following me on the XP scsi install problem. I went to HP.com and downloaded the 3 drivers they had available. I put each one on a floppy and began the XP install.When prompted to press F6 I did so. A screen comes up that asks me to insert the disk that contains the driver I want to install. It then scans the disk,locates and installs the driver and gives a message saying that the scsi controller has been recognized. The installation proceeds to the point where it says "Press enter to install Windows XP". When I press enter I get the same error message as before. "No drives present". I am completely out of ideas. I tried every driver and install method. It will allow a Win2K install without a hitch. I even tried an XP upgrade from Win2k instead of a fresh install. Same problem. I also tried 2 versions of XP. I used XP Pro then I tried XP Pro w\SP1. Nothing. :confused:
 
You want to know why floppies are the only supported thing for F6 in Xp, I'll tell ya. ;)

It's one of the few devices every BIOS supports, since at that stage of the game, setup depends on the bios for the floppy. I agree it's archaic, but unfortunatly since when XP shipped in 2001, every machine had a floppy it didn't matter much. Now we're into 2005, and not many machines ship with a floppy anymore.
 
Aratech said:
Okay, To whoever was following me on the XP scsi install problem. I went to HP.com and downloaded the 3 drivers they had available. I put each one on a floppy and began the XP install.When prompted to press F6 I did so. A screen comes up that asks me to insert the disk that contains the driver I want to install. It then scans the disk,locates and installs the driver and gives a message saying that the scsi controller has been recognized. The installation proceeds to the point where it says "Press enter to install Windows XP". When I press enter I get the same error message as before. "No drives present". I am completely out of ideas. I tried every driver and install method. It will allow a Win2K install without a hitch. I even tried an XP upgrade from Win2k instead of a fresh install. Same problem. I also tried 2 versions of XP. I used XP Pro then I tried XP Pro w\SP1. Nothing. :confused:
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, you ended up using the Win2k drivers? If there are no XP drivers, I'd use the 2k3 ones actually. Some 2k drivers work, but 2k3 is closer to XP then 2k. There is always a possibility that you are up the creek and there are no drivers period. Post everything you can about the harddrive controller and lets see if we can track down some better drivers. I'm assuming there have been a few different controllers used in the ML330's (could be wrong) so post what the controllers say while booting to make sure we get the right model numbers, etc.
 
OldPueblo said:
Just to clarify, you ended up using the Win2k drivers? If there are no XP drivers, I'd use the 2k3 ones actually. Some 2k drivers work, but 2k3 is closer to XP then 2k. There is always a possibility that you are up the creek and there are no drivers period. Post everything you can about the harddrive controller and lets see if we can track down some better drivers. I'm assuming there have been a few different controllers used in the ML330's (could be wrong) so post what the controllers say while booting to make sure we get the right model numbers, etc.
Click to expand...

The server has 2 cards plugged into slots labeled 64 bit PCI. The first one is a Compaq/HP ProLiant 32-Bit SCSI Controller & the second one is a Compaq/HP ProLiant Drive Array. Now here is what I discovered. The system ran perfectly under Win2K with the SCSI drives connected to the first card. The same wasn't true for XP. I noticed that the second card (Compaq/HP drive array) also had an SCSI connector. This one wasn't in use. I figured it couldn't hurt to try this one instead of the other one. After making the changes, I booted the system with The XP cd in the cdrom drive. I received an error message saying the Raid was either not configured properly or connected & a blue prompt at the bottom of the screen with the message F1 Boot. I pressed F1 & the system booted from the install disk, saw both hardrives and began installing without a problem. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad that it's working but I would like to understand what happened. What are the purposes of the 2 different cards? Do they both do the same thing? They both have an SCSI connector but I get a "Raid not configured or no drives present" message when I use the 2nd card instead of the 1st one. Why the raid error message? The install sees them as 2 individual drives. I guess I just install the OS on one and use the other as storage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top