System Partition Compaq ML370.

Thank you for your reply,

No I did not created a DOS partition, how can I run Fdisk? Using a DOS formated system Disquete and booting from it? Thank you for your reply,
No I did not created a DOS partition, how can I run Fdisk? Using a DOS formated system Disquete and booting from it?

Have created a DOS disk, does the boot, however can't see the disk Array. How can I set it up so it does reconize the Array?



Once again, thank you for all the help. Have created a DOS disk, does the boot, however can't see the disk Array. How can I set it up so it does reconize the Array?

Once again, thank you for all the help.

Working around with this possibilities, found out that DOS does find at least (what I believe to be) one of the disks in the Array, it states that there’s a fixed disk with 4080 Mbytes, can’t say for sure as all disks are 18,2GB each. I do know that if I unplug the Array DOS can’t find any fixed disks, so again I’m in the dark :)

In any case I tried to make a partition (Primary Partition) with 32Mbytes it accepts but when trying to exit Fdisk the system freezes, actually it freezes from the very moment I hit enter to set such partition. Working around with this possibilities, found out that DOS does find at least (what I believe to be) one of the disks in the Array, it states that there’s a fixed disk with 4080 Mbytes, can’t say for sure as all disks are 18,2GB each. I do know that if I unplug the Array DOS can’t find any fixed disks, so again I’m in the dark :)
In any case I tried to make a partition (Primary Partition) with 32Mbytes it accepts but when trying to exit Fdisk the system freezes, actually it freezes from the very moment I hit enter to set such partition.

Just a last update, I was not waiting long enought for Fdisk to exit, it all works as I've stated above, however when it re-boots there's no Partion on, Partition is created and set active, re-boot and its gone. Also tried to add a logical drive, it works fine, exit Fdisk and its all gone, no Partition and no Logical drive after re-boot. Just a last update, I was not waiting long enought for Fdisk to exit, it all works as I've stated above, however when it re-boots there's no Partion on, Partition is created and set active, re-boot and its gone. Also tried to add a logical drive, it works fine, exit Fdisk and its all gone, no Partition and no Logical drive after re-boot.

Using RAID 5 with one Spare. The Array Remains intact at all times. Using RAID 5 with one Spare. The Array Remains intact at all times.

Using configuration thru firmware SmartStart does recognize the Array, allow's me to do everything with it, reconfig and all, however if I configure it and/or change anything that requires saving, it will just stay there with status "Saving" for hours, I waited once from one day to the next... never saves the Array using this method.

I'm using Ultra3 Scsi 6 disks 18,2Gb each, one as spare on 431 Array. Using configuration thru firmware SmartStart does recognize the Array, allow's me to do everything with it, reconfig and all, however if I configure it and/or change anything that requires saving, it will just stay there with status "Saving" for hours, I waited once from one day to the next... never saves the Array using this method.
I'm using Ultra3 Scsi 6 disks 18,2Gb each, one as spare on 431 Array.

That is what I did, however as you may check on my Original post, when SmartStart gets to load the Partition Utility it gives the mentioned error message, what I did from the start was to configure the Array, reboot, use SmartStart, chose assited intallation process, checks Array, no changes to the Array, hit continue, reboot, while getting to the Partition Utility the Error Message pops up. That is what I did, however as you may check on my Original post, when SmartStart gets to load the Partition Utility it gives the mentioned error message, what I did from the start was to configure the Array, reboot, use SmartStart, chose assited intallation process, checks Array, no changes to the Array, hit continue, reboot, while getting to the Partition Utility the Error Message pops up.

I've used your premium assistance plan on 04-30-2009, was assisted by "graemevm".

My question is, how can I get back in contact with "graemevm" ? Since the problem was not resolved I was told that we could comunicate by using this site, however I've not received any addicional information.



Thank you. I've used your premium assistance plan on 04-30-2009, was assisted by "graemevm".
My question is, how can I get back in contact with "graemevm" ? Since the problem was not resolved I was told that we could comunicate by using this site, however I've not received any addicional information.

Thank you.

Thank you for your reply, yes the hard disks are all Original Compaq disks and all of the same size 18.2GB. I've even tried to use just one HDD just to check if any of the disks were damaged, I've tried all of them (one by one) and its always the same result, the system hangs when it comes to partition the drive and/or array (if I use more than one disk). The strange thing is that all disk show up in the array configuration, they all pass the tests and they are all identified when doing the configuration process, its frustrating that the system freezes up at the setup partition time. At some point I thought I could have been doing something wrong (still want to think that may be the problem) however I have done this procedure way back when I got the server in 2000 and I did not had this problem Thank you for your reply, yes the hard disks are all Original Compaq disks and all of the same size 18.2GB. I've even tried to use just one HDD just to check if any of the disks were damaged, I've tried all of them (one by one) and its always the same result, the system hangs when it comes to partition the drive and/or array (if I use more than one disk). The strange thing is that all disk show up in the array configuration, they all pass the tests and they are all identified when doing the configuration process, its frustrating that the system freezes up at the setup partition time. At some point I thought I could have been doing something wrong (still want to think that may be the problem) however I have done this procedure way back when I got the server in 2000 and I did not had this problem

I'm not sure if it is still an option, but the firmware also used to have an option for a destructive surface test on all disks in the array. If it is still there, you may want to run that on the array. Since the partition info doesn't survive after a reboot, the first sector of the first had drive in the array may have a physical defect the the array is not detecting during the configuration process. The surface test should recognize the bad sector and mark it as such. I think this is what the original error message was driving at (tho it didn't really express it very clearly). I'm not sure if it is still an option, but the firmware also used to have an option for a destructive surface test on all disks in the array. If it is still there, you may want to run that on the array. Since the partition info doesn't survive after a reboot, the first sector of the first had drive in the array may have a physical defect the the array is not detecting during the configuration process. The surface test should recognize the bad sector and mark it as such. I think this is what the original error message was driving at (tho it didn't really express it very clearly).

Since it recognizes the firmware configured array, just don't make any modifications to it via the software. You should be able to akip any kind of reconfiguration thru SmartStart and just proceed to partitioning, formatting and installing your OS. Since it recognizes the firmware configured array, just don't make any modifications to it via the software. You should be able to akip any kind of reconfiguration thru SmartStart and just proceed to partitioning, formatting and installing your OS.

With the array configured thru the firmware, does your SmartStart disk recognize the configured array at all? When I was using this stuff, SmartStart was only at version 3.1 or so and I'm not sure how much they have changed it since then. With an array of 8 18GB disks (7 active, 1 spare) it would take a couple of minutes to verify its status before proceeding and that was with Ultra-Wide SCSI. It should be much faster if you are using a more modern interface. With the array configured thru the firmware, does your SmartStart disk recognize the configured array at all? When I was using this stuff, SmartStart was only at version 3.1 or so and I'm not sure how much they have changed it since then. With an array of 8 18GB disks (7 active, 1 spare) it would take a couple of minutes to verify its status before proceeding and that was with Ultra-Wide SCSI. It should be much faster if you are using a more modern interface.

What RAID level are you using with the configuration of the disks? If you have it set up for RAID 5, you should just see one huge drive and any drives configured as spares won't be seen by the OS. DOS can only utilize drives up to 4GB due to the limitations of the FAT filesystem. I don't understand why the partition is not surviving a reboot though. Is the array information remaining intact after a reboot or do you have to continueally re-establish the array configuration? What RAID level are you using with the configuration of the disks? If you have it set up for RAID 5, you should just see one huge drive and any drives configured as spares won't be seen by the OS. DOS can only utilize drives up to 4GB due to the limitations of the FAT filesystem. I don't understand why the partition is not surviving a reboot though. Is the array information remaining intact after a reboot or do you have to continueally re-establish the array configuration?