I thought tonight would be my night to start my migration from my EX475 to my new EX495. Three hours later and still no 495. I thought I would type it up to you guys instead of posting it over at homeservershow.com

I usually power down my main WHS (EX475) when I do a major WHS install or recovery on my network. I did the same tonight. I sat the 495 in it's new spot used my media center server (Win7RC) to do the install. It just happens to sit in the rack beside it. I uninstalled the HP software and connector on the Media Center server.

I fired up the 495 and waited for the lights to appear steadily and then started the software. Everything looked good. The client installed and then handed me off to the server install. Almost immediately I see the error, "an error occured in windows home server setup," on the screen. If you go back it tries again and fails and if you go forward the install cancels. I did both and it gave me the same error.
I restarted the install and it un-installed and re-installed the client and again the install went into the server setup portion. It went a little further this time but gave the same error. It almost seemed as if the disk was bad but I rebooted and tried again. Now, the client will not get past the last portion of the setup which is "configuring computer backup." It gives the error of "backup service may not be running" or something close to that. The install dies right there.

I have the Data Vault x510 in house so I tried it's install disk and it stops at the same point in the client install. I also swapped out the CAT5 cable that came with it to no avail.

I then tried recovery. I wired the server directly to the pc with the supplied CAT5 cable and started recovery. Pushed the button at the correct time and clicked next. The software fires up a freeware TFTP server and does it's thing. It ends up stopping with error 2 and no further explanation. Swapped the CAT5 again to no avail.

Since I have the 510 I tried installing it. Installed perfectly no hiccups and it's in there waiting for me to configure it while I type this out.

I should have tried to install the 510 with the 495's install disk. Looks like I have bad media or a bad 495. If it is just a bad disk I messed around with it so much taht the backup service is hosed on the 495. Looks like a call to HP is in store for me.

Dave

_________________
The Home Server Show Podcast
http://homeservershow.com

Having been there (not with the 490 though), very frustrating indeed. If MS can make Win7 available as an ISO why can't HP do that with these Install, Server Recovery disks? Sure would simplify troubleshooting and updating. I see HP is charging $25 for the 3.0 update for 470 and 480 users, not available until December and I'll be surprised if they meet that time frame. No problem there but it looks like you'll have to order the cd/dvd and have to wait for snail mail. Why not give users the option to d/l the iso and burn. Good luck with the 490. I know I am interested in your opinion. BTW, love the podcasts. Never miss a show.

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but what you are likely to find with the 495 is the back-up service is failing to start and stay running. At least that's what happened to mine after attempting the four Server Restore operations and one Factory Reset. The only difference between you and me is that I got my MSS up and running for a while before all of the problems started appearing. I'll let you read my post on the my 495 going back to HP for the rest of my problems. Try this, upon reaching your install error you should be able to minimize the install window and RDP onto the server. Go to the Services under Administrative Tools. Look for Windows Home Server Back-up Service and I'm betting you'll find it is configured for manual execution (should be automatic I think) and that it is stopped. If you manually try to start it, it will immediately stop before your finger leaves the mouse. Without the Back-up Service running, you can't join any PCs to the server and you are dead in the water. I did NOT call HP on my error. With all of the other problems my 495 was experiencing, my call to HP was for a Return Authorization.

I am not sure if this is a hardware or software problem. My gut tells me it should be software. However, I would not be surprised if there is a hardware problem somewhere, especially with yours being a brand new out-of-the-box server with a disk image identical to every other EX495 out there. Let us know what you hear when you call HP Tech Support.

_________________
X510 w/7 TB (100% WD Green EARS)
Stock Processor, 4 GB Memory Upgrade

Start by installing the WHS toolkit software to see what errors you get.

_________________
HP MediaSmart EX495 E8600 3.2Ghz CPU, 4GB ram, 8TB storage including 3TB drives in pool. WHS with Active Directory, WDS, Media Center Master, Logitech server. Office 2010 server with client add-ins.
Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server.

Not to be a further bearer of bad news but my issue can be viewed here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5582


I as well have seen the "Step 2 of 4" issue. Very frustrating.

After about 4 hours on the phone with the Home Server Team, HP is sending me a new chassis. Unfortunately since the product is so new they do not have a part number yet. They are working on it and assured me it would be figured out this weekend.

More unfortunate is the fact that I bought the 495 at Amazon and HP is not in a position to send be a Brand New unit like they offered for Techvet.

I've had a chance to take a look at it again. Thanks for all your posts. I also read through Land Master's troubles.

I was able to RDP last night but it was so late that I didn't do any troubleshooting. I am able to get in after the install fails and the backup service will not start at all.
I also notice there is no drive D: only a C: drive that is 20 Gig. In the event log it says it cannot find a large enough spot to start the backup service in and it needs 20 gig or larger to do so. I thought that was interesting.

I tried pulling the factory drive out and doing the restore with a blank drive. My TFTP session reports DHCP errors and I do not see two addresses assigned as DHCP. I only see the .37 address and not the .38. I did an ipconfig in the middle of the restore and it was either blank or had a different address altogether.
I was just messing around and did ipconfig /release about 10 times and it actually changed the status in the TFTP manager. Packets were passed but still had errors. It made it to step 3 of 4 this time.

There is a huge issue with recovery here. I'm set to DHCP, released the IP addy, and even disabled the card to clear it up. I can't make it happy and am not looking forward to a marathon call with HP.

I also purchased it from Amazon. I'm going to try some more on the recovery but wanted to update followers. Thanks again for your input.

Dave

_________________
The Home Server Show Podcast
http://homeservershow.com

Quick Update

Changed PC's to a throw-away Acer running Win7 RC and the restore is in process. Original 1.5TB drive is in the EX495.
Seems the recovery process may be a bit choosy with NIC's?

UPDATE: I got a screen saying server is in recovery mode and finally to the screen where I choose format or recover. Whew. This hurdle has been crossed.
Now I hope I can do the install with my cheapo Acer workstation instead of my Media Center server. The MC is a MSI Platinum mobo. P965 using the onboard NIC and running Win7 RC.

Will report back with results.

_________________
The Home Server Show Podcast
http://homeservershow.com

YES..PLEASE report more info.

I tried 4 different boxes. XP/Vista, Workstation/Laptop, ETC. Might try grabbing a box that I know has an on-board NIC. Who knows but either way it is NOT supposed to be this difficult. I am fairly certain there are issues that need to be resolved whether "we" come up with workarounds or not.

I checked into Amazon's return policy and believe they will take it back and ALSO pay the shipping. Unfortunately when I got as far as where you check replace or refund, the replace area stated "shipping 2 to 4 weeks".

I am waiting on a call from HP and when I speak to them will propose that they send me a brand new unit for the same price I paid at Amazon. I will also offer to pay for their extended next day replacement warranty. If this is acceptable to them I will immediately initiate a "refund" with Amazon.

My 0.02

The server recovery completed successfully. The next screen was to click next for reboot, wait up to 5 minutes for "Breathing" aqua and white lights. Then insert the installation disk.

I'm using my cheapo Acer to do the install while I type this.

Just checked on it and it's done!

What do you chalk this up as? Non compatible NIC on the MSI mobo? Bad bits on the hard drive shipped with the 495?

Bigger question is, do you trust this server now?

Off to do updates and install drives. I'm thinking we better do some podcasting on this! Who wants to join?

Dave

_________________
The Home Server Show Podcast
http://homeservershow.com

FWIW, my EX490 seems to be flawless so far. I did have some issues with replacing the stock system drive and doing restore to the new drive, but it was mostly my fault since my PC had a static IP address. Once I fixed that, my recovery went without a hitch. My backups work fine, the sleep mode works like a clock, it runs quieter and cooler than my EX470 - upgraded CPU (E6300) idles at 32C and goes up to 62C under full load, hard drives idle at 26-27C and go up to 31 under load. All in all, I'm very happy with my upgrade so far and hope it stays that way. I hope the problems people are experiencing here are isolated and in my experience, HP will make it right in the end. I guess all I'm trying to say is don't give up on these new models; I have no experience with EX48x series, but coming from EX47x, the EX49x is a huge improvement.

Dave,

Glad to hear that the Server Restore finally worked. I would agree with Land Master that the entire recovery piece should be easier to manage. Given the quirks some of us have found, I think HP might be interested in our observations. I'm not knowledgeable about Podcasting, but I've compiled a list of what has been reported so far along with a rough idea of how often the problems have been reported and my characterization of what the problem looked/looks like. Please feel feel to append, edit, delete as appropriate.

1. Difficult System Restores/Factory Resets
Observed by Multiple Users.
Characterized as a difficulty in establishing a NIC connection for the Restore/Reset and a possible lack of successful hard drive partitioning. Server Recovery/Reset will either not succeed or Back-up service is unable to start.

2. Drive Light Irregularity
Observed by Multiple Users
Characterized as random flashing or outage of one or more drive lights that can usually be corrected by a MSS reboot. HP is supposedly aware of this problem and is working on a fix.

3. Console Errors with the System Status Page
Observed so far by Multiple Users
Characterized by an error on the System Status Screen where the Console reports a connection refusal error at a IP:Port address. Message is fairly long, takes about 1/3 of a screen to display. All other Console functions appear to be normal. System reboot may or may not immediately correct the problem.

4. Remote Access Problems
Observed so far by one known user (Techvet)
Characterized as a message to a Remote Access user after attempting to login. Login Fails and user is told their account is not configured for RA - this despite the fact that the account IS configured for Remote Access. No further data on the problem and no known resolution.

5. Wake From Sleep Error
Observed so far by one known user (Techvet)
Characterized as the MSS waking from sleep and not remembering it's name/IP designation for purposes of Console Connections and RDP (IP ping works). Resolved only by doing a hard manual shutdown. No further data on the exact cause.

Now if one were looking for common threads, you might could make a case that 4 of these point to some sort of a network problem - Nos 1, 3, 4 & 5 all have processes that make a reference to or run through the NIC.

Interesting list of issues. Having read that, I guess my EX490 is not as flawless as I thought it was, because I have experience 2 out of the above issues (well, actually 3, but I chalk up the #1 as the user error in my particular case for having a static IP address on my PC). I've also experience issues #2 and #3; #2 happened once so far, and it was after I removed a system drive, did a restore onto another drive (as a test), and then re-inserted the original system drive back. After I booted up, the system drive light was off, while the second drive light was on. A reboot fixed it and I haven't seen it since. #3 also happened to me a few times, but I was in the middle of switching my server to another UPS when it was happening (had the power switched over to the new UPS while the USB cable was still connected to the old one) and thought it was somehow related; a reboot also fixed it and I haven't seen it since.

@homeservershow:
Hate to revive a dead thread, but I too noticed that after I RDP'd into it, there was a 20GB C: drive; except that on my EX495, the D: drive did show up, but it was unformatted. Tonight, when I get home, I'll format that D: drive, reboot, and see if that solves the problem. I got the red X on my Configuring Computer Backup trying to install through the Windows Home Server Connector software as well (I was just trying to set it up last night) and I've been looking for a solution ever since. Let's hope that does it. If it doesn't work (if for some reason for the WHS to work the partition has to be unformatted ? dunno why that would be) then I can just delete the partition I created, but I think it's at least worth a try, right? I'll let you know.

From what I understand with my experience on the EX470, If you start with a fresh drive, the install will format and install the 20 gig sys drive. Then it reboots to enter the Windows Server 2003 product ID and setup a non password user account. Then reboots. Now you install the connector and it finds the server and runs the setup part that will ask you to create a server name, password,etc. Then when it reboots, it will format the D: partition and copy the basic shares folders from the C: to the D: drive. Then when you use the connector software on the PC to enter the password and things start to happen.

This all happens when you choose a Full Server Recovery also. If you choose a simple recovery whereby the shares exist on the D: partition then when it reboots, it will NOT format the D: because you do not want it to since you DO NOT want to erase your data on the D: drive.

If the second part fails during a Full Server Recovery, the D: drive will not get formated and you will get that Backup Error because the D: drive does not exist.

John.

_________________
HP MediaSmart EX495 E8600 3.2Ghz CPU, 4GB ram, 8TB storage including 3TB drives in pool. WHS with Active Directory, WDS, Media Center Master, Logitech server. Office 2010 server with client add-ins.
Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server.

@homeservershow:

Okay, now I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I pulled the EX495 out of the box it shipped in, booted it up, and that WHS Computer Backup Service was not running. After failed attempts to start that service, I'm working on trying to figure out how to fix it. I was going to run a server restore from the disk, but I inserted the disk into the DVD drive on my computer to find out that it's a blank disk (!) so that's out. The only copy of WHS I have is the one that's installed right now on the EX495. I can't find much help on the issue, so tonight I'm probably going to be on the phone with HP support for a while. It's pretty annoying that a brand new server shipped directly from HP themselves would have a stupid issue like this. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I'm pretty lost. I've never used WHS before, and from what it looks like so far, I'm not so sure it's going to turn out in my favor...