Windows 2003 R2 x64 and PERC 5i

[David del Campo]

Hi all,

I have a Dell PowerEdge 2950 server with a LSI PERC 5i RAID card. Since it does not have a floppy drive and I want to install Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 on it, I would like to create an ISO for the first CD of the OS with the drivers for the RAID card integrated. The problem is that I can't.

I have a folder with the contents of the first CD of Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 (essentially Windows Server 2003 SP1 x64) and the drivers that came with the Dell Resource CD (I know these work since I have used them in a similar machine; this one has a floppy drive). I use nLite 1.4.1 to add the drivers (text-mode) and create a bootable ISO; both happen successfully. I then boot from the CD burned out of the ISO and everything goes fine (I do NOT press F6 to load extra RAID drivers since they should now be integrated in the CD) until I get to the "Welcome to Setup" window; when I press ENTER to start the installation, I get the "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer" error and have to abort. I have already configured the RAID, I know the drivers I use are the right ones since they work in other PERC 5i machines. I have tried running nLite in a Windows XP Professional and a Windows Server 2003 x64, but both ISOs have the same result.

What am I doing wrong? Has anyone found a problem with the integration of PERC 5i RAID drivers into Windows 2003 x64?

Thank you for your help.

[JoseQ]

I'm having the exact same issue with a PowerEdge 2950 Series III and a PERC6i controller...

I was able to get the standard 32 bit version of Windows 2003 to include the PERC6i drivers, but I'm having no luck with the x64 version (yes, I'm using the x64 drivers for the PERC6i). I've probably burned about 10 coasters already trying to use the text-mode driver, PnP driver, different versions of the drivers, and everything I can throw at it, it just won't see the drives.

Anybody had any luck with this?

JoseQ

[jwolberg]

Did anyone ever figure this out? I'm having the exact same problem.

[BikinDutchman]

Two questions:

-Can you upload your Last session.ini, dosnet.inf and txtsetup.sif?

-Did you try a WinNT32 installation with OEM customization?

Edited July 8, 2008 by BikinDutchman

[jwolberg]

Fixed, sorry about that.

Two are attached. TXTSETUP.SIF would not go in a codebox and it's too large to upload so you can download it here

A few things to note:

1. The above info is from an existing Windows 2003 Enterprise 32bit SlipStream that one of our employees already did ( but it did not include PERC drivers ). I added the PERC drivers to it ( to no avail ). I wanted to try it in case it was a 64bit thing. This also did not work.

2. I'm not sure what a WINNT32 installation is?

LAST_SESSION.INI

DOSNET.INF

Edited July 8, 2008 by jwolberg

[BikinDutchman]

jwolberg,

Please edit your post to remove all file content and put them in a code box or better upload.

[jwolberg]

Post edited

Thanks!

[BikinDutchman]

Good I will have a look.

WinNT32 unattended installations can be started from any 32/64 bits Win OS, typically WinPE 2.0.

Google is your friend here.

Edited July 8, 2008 by BikinDutchman

[jwolberg]

It's for a personal home server I have running

Edited July 8, 2008 by jwolberg