Trouble installing any operating system on my server computer.?

Question

Trouble installing any operating system on my server computer.?

Answer 1

Whoa, that is been a protracted time in view that I even have performed this and viewed that bootup technique. If I undergo in ideas properly, you have a 2d or separate SCSI cd to apply throughout your deploy. curiously you're utilising the incorrect driving force? This area, to me, is the place your issue is: Adaptec AIC07880 extremely/extremely W BIOS v a million.24 dell05 try a distinctive one. i assume you need to incredibly have a undesirable tension too??

Answer 2

In a Phoenix bios, select boot from CD by going to where it now says C-then-A, the plus or minus keys let you cycle through the various combinations



this sounds like a not very new server you are trying to make into a home PC?

does it have ANY system on it now?



You cannot installl an PS from floppies, the days of floppy-sized OSs area gone... but you can use an MSDos floppy to start the machine (or even an old Win98 startup disk) to give you CD support to let you install an OS from there.



don't reset the bios, just go through and set whatever you can to AUTO, so it will correctly detect what you have.





this is a bit tricky but...install a web browser into a folder and burn it to a CD.....a small one like FIrefox better than IE.

then download this, install to a folder and also burn it to the CD



http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html



this is a browser based analyser that will tell you all serials, product keys, part numbers, chipsets etc in your computer. Then you (and maybe we here) know what machine you are dealing with, and can look up Dell site for details.



you could make a bootable CD if your burner software lets you and do it from that.



answer us plse with more details what OS you thinking of?

Answer 3

Yes, restoring your PC's BIOS can help installing an OS. You may also want to double-check on the BOOT DEVICE PRIORITY if CD ROM is selected as the main option...... However, this issue can also be caused by a bad CD/installer.....just an idea,,,,, ;)

Answer 4

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* My Responses will be here because i ran out of characters* in question *

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I was wondering if i could unplug the hard drive and see if it picks up the CD drive then plug the hard drive somewhere along the process. or if i could get a program on a floppy that can tell the bios to boot from CD



I think that there is a driver issue with the CD Drive.

I remember going on the bios and it saying somthing to the effect of primary somthing, then the choice [install device] ill have to update this tommorow with all the missing information.



would it be better to just scrap the motherboard and put in another one or try to buy scsi hard drives and other needed devices. I figure keep it because it can support multipal hard drives. the cable that came with it has 6 slots.



as im pretty sure you are aware i have little knoledge in this subject matter, i know just enough about computers not to mess with certain things and how to install most systems but i need a CD drive to do that. I have never done it with a floppy.



It is probably a very old computer



I was trying to get it to be my backup computer incase of hard drive faliure and i was trying to start a network... ill be back on ask when i decide to do that too because i have no idea.

anyways

It has no operating system on it

when it goes through normal boot it says *operating system not found*



AS to what operating system...

I have the Ultimate boot disk for windows (CD)

Windows XP Service Pack 1 (CD)

Windows Vista (DVD) - Computer probably wont support anyway

Knoppix 5.0 (CD)

Ubuntu (CD)



the processor is: Pentium pro 200





My standard boot dialog without anything done (no floppy, no boot disk)



Phoenix Bios 4.05 version A02



copyright 1996 dell computer corporation

all rights reserved



Dell System PowerEdge 2100/200



EISA configuration error - Run configuration utility

0000640k system RAM passed

0064512K Extended RAM passed

0256k cashe SRAM passed



Adaptec AIC07880 ultra/ultra W BIOS v 1.24 dell05



press for SCSISelect (tm) utility



Scsi ID:Lun Number #:# 0:0 - Seagate st34371w - Drive c: (80h)



#*# then it takes a while and says#*#



Timed-out Inquiry



no scsi boot device found



scsi bios not installed



f1 to resume f2 to setup



#*# if i resume it will go to operating system not found#*#



Other things i found



in bios



Diskette Drive A [ 1.44 floppy]

Diskette Drive B [Not Installed]



in SCSISelect utility



Host adapter Scsi id -7

scsi parity check - enabled

host adapter scsi termination - low on/high on





boot target id - 0

boot lun number - 0



Bios support for bootable CD-ROM - enabled





I think the problem is that i can boot from CD but my bios for some reason does not have the drivers on account of the Diskette drive b [Not Installed]



Is there any way i can install a driver from a floppy in bios?

Answer 5

Hold off on resetting the BIOS, especially if you don't completely understand the hardware configuration of the computer yet. It is possible there is an update for your BIOS but it may be difficult to find without knowing the computer or motherboard model for certain.



Definitely try disconnecting the hard disk, but if the BIOS doesn't include the CD drive in the boot order options it may just not support booting from CD.



It's not totally clear from your question, but it sounds like you can definitely boot from a floppy. In that case, I would recommend Smart Boot Manager (see sources), which is a free disk image that you can copy to a blank floppy disk. You can boot from the floppy and it will allow you to then boot a CD, even if your BIOS doesn't directly support booting from a CD. This should allow you to install any OS that comes on a bootable CD.