Hard disk drive not detected during installing windows server 2003

1) is it an old server, perhaps the DVD drive needs cleaning 2) Perhaps the Windows DVD needs cleaning, check for scratches. 3) is the Windows DVD an original? if it is a copy or download, maybe the DVD is not bootable or the image is damaged 4) is the installed Drive definitely a DVD, the drives in that server were optional so are you sure it is not just a CD drive that is installed.

How about downloading or creating a bootable USB image and try booting from that. Look online, Win2003 Server USB images may be available for download

For the ISO - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21700

Burn it to a DVD or use "Rufus" for a flash drive. Make sure you have a good key code.

download dell server assistant onto a cd... youll get a menu, follow the menu. you also need the server 2003 installation cd

First - re-seat the harddisk and reboot the computer. If this does not work then reboot and go to theBIOS configuration to see if the BIOS detects the hard drive. If it doesn'tdetect the hard drive then it could be faulty. Next - to determine if thehard drive is faulty, remove the hard drive and insert it into an USB hard drive adapter and connect it to a workingcomputer's USB port. If this computer cannot see itas an external hard drive and you cannot open the various folders and files,this confirms the hard drive is faulty. The hard drive needs to bereplaces in the laptop and Windows installed and the laptop's device driversand your programs etc to get a functioning laptop again.

ok you will need to get the windows 2003 drivers for your raid controller and put them on a floppy disk. when you first boot off the cd you will see a prompt to press f6 if you need to install any additional drivers. insert the floppy disk and select which driver you wish to load.
you should be able to see the hard drives now to partition/format.

try another windows xp disk or burn another copy of the disk you have. it's also possible that there's a problem with the optical drive that you're using.

During setup you must specify any raid drivers that are required. Have the raid controller driver on floppy and insert when prompted.

You have to have raid drivers on a floppy,

I know with xp it asks you to press F6 for third party driver during installation...

Hi tham01,

First off, if the server has raid already setup, you will need to go into lsi logic to format the drives so you can install XP. Once the drives have been initiated from the server bios, just place XP in the CDROM, and shouldn't have a problem loading on the 2600 POWEREDGE SERVER. If your trying to install it with the Dell quick install disk, you can't!!! Install it on it's own without the Dell Disk.

Good Luck!

Mark

Hi, I found this thread interesting. Will try it out today.

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?prodSeriesId=3799613&prodTypeId=18964&threadId=1285096&admit=109447626+1237817674797+28353475

It says that the right driver is not in the support CD!! As per the link, the problem was solved for him once he used a USB Floppy drive (Windows compatible).