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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:44 pm 
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Hello... I spent the better part of this day trying to get WHS 2011 installed on my EX495.

1) I have followed the guidlines from the "How To" link at http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/04 ... rt-server/.

2) I have followed the instructions on the following link to create the USB Flash Drive install:(http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/04 ... ash-drive/). (The ISO is from the TechNet Plus download.)

3) I have made sure the drive is clean and all the partitions have been removed.

4) My cfg.ini file looks like this:

[WinPE]
InstallSKU=SERVERHOMEPREMIUM
ConfigDisk=1
CheckReqs=0
WindowsPartitionSize=61440

[InitialConfiguration]
AcceptEula=true
ServerName=FLETCHER-HS2011
PlainTextPassword=Passw0rd
PasswordHint=SomePassword
Settings=All

5) I have tried using the USB ports on the front and on the back.

I get the same results all the time:

When I turn on the server with the USB in the port, the Health LED begins to flash BLUE and then after a few seconds it flashes aqua/red. After about 5 minutes or so it goes to a solid red and stays there. I never hear any drive activity.

Any help would be appriciated.

EKFletcher


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:19 pm 
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Take "Processed=true" out, then put the usb key in the lower back usb and try it again.

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HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:33 pm 
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erail wrote:
Take "Processed=true" out, then put the usb key in the lower back usb and try it again.


Thanks, but... I don't have "Processed=true" in there to begin with... :cry: and I have tried it with the USB key in the lower back. :(

Any other thoughts?


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:08 pm 
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Did you check the actual cfi file after the failed install, it should put that statement in there. The first try should be the lower back. It may not like the dash in the server name.

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HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:44 pm 
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erail wrote:
Did you check the actual cfi file after the failed install, it should put that statement in there. The first try should be the lower back. It may not like the dash in the server name.


I'm sorry. I must be confused or really missing something. ](*,) Are you speaking of the "cfg.ini" file? I do not see a "cfi" file or file type in the root of the USB drive. Should there be one? What is it's full name? What else should it contain?

I did check the "cfg.ini" file after the failed install and it had not changed.

I tried changing the server name to FLETCHERHS11 and I still got the same results.

Thanks!


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:20 am 
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Yes, typo should have been cfg.ini. I have found it to be hit and miss using the cfg file. Sometimes it works just fine and others it doesn't. If you can't get it to work from the lower rear usb(which is the only one it will work on) and you don't have a video cable then I have used the process where I install on my desktop using the new drive and when it gets to the first reboot shut the desktop down and take the drive and install it in the MSS to continue the install. That worked for me. I have found that the boot sequence at times can get messed up in the MSS and you need a video cable to see whats going on.

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HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 3:06 pm 
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I guess I will need a video cable. I was able to use my desktop to set it up to the first reboot. I used the USB drive that I had created to do this and I gave me no trouble at all on my desktop. This tells me that the USB drive was set up correctly. When I got to the first reboot I removed the drive that it had started to configure and put it back into the the EX495. It booted up and just started flashing blue on the Health LED... and did nothing else. I let it sit there for over an hour to see if it would ever come up on the network, but no deal.

So, what is the least expensive way to see the video from the EX495? Also, can I use a standard keyboard/mouse USB cable to connect to the EX495?

This is taking a whole lot more effort than I had hoped. :o

Thanks for all your help so far!


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:16 pm 
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I know you can make your own with instructions somewhere in this forum, that's the cheapest. I bought the video only cable that was sold on this forum. Yes, I use just a normal usb keyboard and usb mouse. I also have a gen 3 cable that I used on my EX485. I haven't been awful successful just using the blind method. It has worked sometimes but mostly I have to see the progress and have had to make changes in the bios for boot sequence and shut off the on board flash.

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HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:39 pm 
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One thing I discovered today ...

Upgrade did not work when I used a HDD that was partitioned and formatted (with NTFS). I needed to start with an unformatted and unpartioned drive. After I removed the 'true' line that got put into the config.ini, it went without a problem.

I could not connect at first using RDC, I needed to use the MSTSC /v servername command as specified in seandaniel.com instructions.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:19 pm 
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I have the KVM and I can now see what is going on.

I go into the BIOS (Advanced / USB Configuration) and it tells me the there are no (none) "USB Devices Enabled". How do I enable them? (This seems nutz.)

On that same tab it has the following items set:

Legacy USB Support - Enabled
USB 2.0 Controller Mode - HiSpeed
BIOS EHCI Hand-Off - Enabled

Kevin


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:17 am 
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Update...

I still cannot get the EX495 to see my USB. The BIOS says there are NONE. That is a bummer because if I could then I could get it to boot from it (it has all the install files) and all my issues would be resolved. :-(

I have had some success with using my PC to do the pre-install (up to the first reboot) and then mount the drive in the MSS. It starts up and either bluescreens after going through the rest of the install (this is what happened on one ocassion) or gives me the following message after rebooting while trying to start services (this happened on another ocassion):

"The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click "OK" to restart the computer, and then restart the installation."

ANY help getting this to work would be appriciated.

](*,)

Kevin


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:41 pm 
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I had all the same problems you described when trying to use the unattended install approach - my EX490 simply would not boot off the USB drive no matter what I tried. I also tried the pre-installed approach described in another thread here (pre-installing the WHS 2011 using a different computer until after the installer asks you to enter server name, password, etc., and then transferring the hard drive to the server at that point), but that also didn't work for me and the server simply sat there with blinking blue light and no HD activity. After spending hours trying different approaches, what finally worked for me was a combination of the two methods above. I created the USB drive for unattended installation as described above, put my hard drive in a spare PC I have and let the installation begin on this computer until the very first reboot. At that point I powered down the computer before it had a chance to boot back up, removed the hard drive and transferred it to the EX490. When I powered the EX490 on, I had the blue light blinking and nothing else, but this time I could hear some hard drive activity going on. So I let it sit like this for about 30-40 minutes beginning to think I was wasting time, when to my surprise I noticed a new icon in my Windows Explorer simply called "SERVER". When I clicked on it, it brought up the WHS 2011 connect page, which meant my installation succeeded! All I had to do was RDC into my server and it was all ready to go. Hope this helps.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:28 pm 
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Thanks for the information. I'm glad you got it working but when I did what you described it started blue screening (I have the KVM and can see what the server is doing) and rebooting.

I just spent a few more dollars and bought a SATA DVD drive and male to female cables so that I can plug it into one of the drive ports on the front of the sever where the drives slide in. I hope to be able to boot the install CD and start the install that way. We'll find out when the DVD arrives.

I'll keep you all posted.

Kevin


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:34 am 
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So here’s what finally worked for me…

I was never able to get the EX495 to see my USB drives and boot from them. So I purchased a SATA DVD drive and a male/female cable. I plugged it into one of the free port inside the front where the drives slide into. Once I booted the server and selected that DVD drive (F11) it started the install and everything went fine.

I did need the KVM for this process because flying blind would have been a big pain.

Kevin


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:29 pm 
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Hi I hope it is not to late to jump on this post. I recently purchased and just got WHS 2011 in the mail today and I would like to install it on my EX495. Following this conversation I think this is the way I would like to try and go about it, but I am a little new and was wondering what a "KVM" is?


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