We have a Dell server computer but we want to make it into a personal use computer. I’m trying to install XP on to it and eliminate Server 2003. There are two hard drives in this computer. Server 2003 is installed over the 12 GB hard drive and then the other hard drive is an 80 GB. For some reason, after the OS is loaded up it reads the 80 GB hard drive but when I go to format it, it says it is being used. I want to use the larger hard drive as the main hard drive and “try” to keep the smaller hard drive as the slave without formatting as there is a program I don’t want to lose, although it isn’t the end of the world if I do. I’ve tried to right click D: (80 GB) to format, I’ve also tried disk part.
After those options failed, I just booted up from the XP cd but it didn’t read the larger hard drive at all as it wasn’t listed in the options to install, format, or partition over. So then I opened the computer up and made it into the master hard drive through cable selct, I also tried it by putting the jumper in the master on the large drive and the smaller using slave. This caused the computer to beep very loud after starting it. I also just unplugged the smaller hard drive altogether but it still beeped loud. The beeping worried me and I immediately turned off the computer without going to the XP setup.
I was going to take the larger hard drive and format it in another computer but I have a feeling it still wouldn’t be picked up by XP setup in the Dell server computer.
Does anyone know what is going on?
Also, is the bios replaceable with something else as I believe that is why it is beeping… I’m guessing the bios is made for servers…
So yes they are SCSI although I know nothing about SCSI and it’s purpose…
I also thought 12 GB seemed funny but I only pulled out one hard drive. I pulled the other out and it was an identical drive. For some reason though, the OS list the maximum capacity as 12 GB. Maybe the 12 GB is a partition of the one hard drive and the other is failed altogether.
I’m going to put it back together originally and double check though.
Could you give me a little more information about what drivers I would need for SCSI hard drives and maybe tell me if I could some how load them up with the XP install…
Also, do SCSI hard drives use the same cable as IDE because the cables look the same as regular hard drive cables…
Well now I can’t even get in to the OS and that annoying beep won’t stop. I believe it is from a driver issue with the keyboard because the keyboard quits working after I get past the bios and onto the “Press CTRL ALT Delete” screen. I have no idea how to get to safe mode from the bios.
I Googled that model number; it’s actually an IDE drive, not SCSI. It’s plain ol’ ATA too, as far as I can tell.
If the keyboard stops working, and with the mention of mysterious startup beeps, I’d suspect a motherboard problem-- the keyboard plugs into USB or PS/2 which is managed by the motherboard. Is there any text on the screen while it beeps?
I looked the model number up as well and I just read something about using SCSI technology although that doesn’t mean anything, I just assumed…
I’m looking into the beeping issue now although it isn’t your usually computer beeping, it is very loud and it a system that Dell uses for it’s server series. I’m pretty sure it is a driver issue as I don’t have the keyboard we were using at first and yes the original keyboard was PS2 and the one I have now is USB. I know once I get to the CMD Prompt in windows, I can enter a command to turn it off…
Right now, I am trying get my other computer to read the 2 hard drives because the bios on the server is not your average with all types of utilities and what not.
I’m guessing maybe it is possible that two hard drives were sharing the same drive letter which probably just confused the crap out of me. Although if that was the case for E:, then C: should have listed 24 GB and not just 12 GB… It’s probably just irrelevant now…
Now I need to figure out why the server is not reading the hard drives using the XP setup disc but my other computer is.
Looks like those two drives were setup in a RAID 1 configuration, and were mirrored.
The array had 4 partitions. XP won’t be able to use them as an array without an alternate driver, so you may as well just use them as two drives.
Sounds like an older machine, but the beep on boot is worrying. If you press the <pause> key on the keyboard while it’s booting, then jot down the brand and version of the BIOS, you should be able to google a list of beep codes. It might even be something as simple as the keyboard and mouse plugged into the wrong ports.
What I’d do next is to download a copy of GPartEd LiveCD, burn the iso file to a cd, boot from that and use the tool to examine the disk partitions. If necessary, delete all the partitions on all the drives, then recreate and format some empty NTFS partitions, then reboot from the Windows XP install CD and it should be able to install more smoothly.