I am trying to install whs 2011 on my ex485 and somehow it doesnt boot the usb drive, i have been following these instructions but no go

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/04 ... rt-server/

any help would be appreciated

Check some of install topics in the General forum, the process is effectively the same for all servers so troubleshooting steps for another model should help you. Here's a place to start: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=11023

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Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

Another easiest way to install WHS on EX485, and I've tried it myself with my EX470, is to start the installation from another computer. Meaning, you take the system drive out of the server, put it in another computer with screen, keyboard and mouse. You start WHS setup from there and when it get to the first reboot, you shut the computer off and take the hard drive back into the sever and let finish the installation.

Claude

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Microsoft MVP 2010 - Windows Home Server
Acer H341 - 1X WD5000AAKS - 3X WD10EACS - 1X WD5000AAKB External - Geek Squad 875VA 525w UPS on WHS controlled by GridJunction Add-in - WHS BDBB - WHIIST - SBS Fax Server - D-Link DIR-655

i have tried this but when i put in the ex485 it doesnt continue the installation, do you mind sharing your cfg.ini file? there are different versions out there for vail and i am wonder if it is that

I just built an EX487 with WHS 2011 last week. I bought the EX487 used, without any hard drives, so I was certainly starting fresh. Here are some things for you to consider. Get one wrong and you won't get a successful build.

• Are you putting the thumb drive in the back of the server, in the bottom USB port? This is mandatory. No other USB ports will work.
• Did you use the Windows 7 DVD USB tool to transfer the WHS 2011 DVD to the flash drive? (See step 2: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/04 ... ash-drive/)
• cfg.ini items:
  
  • Does the machine name you gave have 15 characters or less, and consist of letters, numbers and dashes only? No spaces or special characters are allowed.
  • Was your plaintext password 8 characters or more, and consist of letters and numbers only? (Sure Windows allows special characters, but I figured for a "blind" install, it's best to keep it simple.)
  • I've attached my cfg.ini file for you to view.
• Was the bottom hard drive in the server completely, 100% empty, totally devoid of partitions? This is mandatory. If the disk has partitions the process will fail.
• Was the hard drive you intended to use to install WHS 2011 inserted in the bottom slot? This is also mandatory.

Here's what I did to keep things as simple as possible. I figured the more I tried to do in one step, the more likely I wind up with an epic fail.

• Remove all hard disks from the server, if any are there, except the bottom one.
• Delete all partitions from the bottom disk--the one you intend to use as the system disk. (This needs to be done in another PC.) In my case, I was starting with a brand new disk, but I still checked to be sure it didn't have any partitions.
• Create the thumb drive using the Windows 7 USB Download Tool and the WHS 2011 ISO file.
• Copy the cfg.ini file to the root folder of the thumb drive.
• Insert the thumb drive into the bottom USB slot on the back of the Server.
• Make sure there are no other hard drives installed in the server (these are variables that add to complexity).
• Make sure there are no other devices attached to the server such as eSATA disks, port multipliers or USB disks (again, these are variables that add complexity).

After powering on the EX487, after it POSTed, I saw the USB flash drive flicker wildly as it booted to WinPE to perform phase 1 of the install. I just walked away and worked on other stuff and came back about an hour later and it was done. Tried to hit the server via remote desktop and was able to log in, load the Dashboard, change the password to something more complex, etc. I added the remaining 3 internal hard drives and an eSATA disk at this time, installed the Intel storage driver, etc.

NOTE: The attached file is named cfg.ini.txt -- the forum wouldn't allow an INI extension.

Matt

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Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

yes i have dont that except the password with more than 8 characters, mine had 7 but either way it wouldnt boot from the usb drive, the usb drive doesnt blink like data was being read from it.

i tried doing have the installation on another computer, the initial part before the first reboot and stuck it on the ex485 but i dont know if it doing go forward or if it got stuck on some step which the cfg didnt do but thanks for all the advice will try with your cfg and see how it goes....

one quick question how were your leds reacting on these several steps? i have been reading about the ex495 but i was wondering is the ex485 might be different for some reason


once again thanks

Just as the guide says, the first part has an alternating blue/red light, and the second part has a blinking blue light. Unfortunately, until you install the LED driver for WHS 2011 (http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/06 ... rver-2011/) the blinking blue light is going to be what you see perpetually.

In other words, without a monitor you won't have any visual cue that the process is finished. Honestly, I just put my ear by the server and listened for disk activity...lots of disk I/O was a strong indication the installation was still underway. After an hour I navigated to http://server/connect and a page came up...you can also try RDPing into the server.

I don't know if a password less than 8 characters would work...in my past experiences with Windows Server 2008 R2, it complains if the Administrator PW doesn't meet its complexity requirements. Generally its minimum complexity requirements are at least 8 characters and 3 of 4 character classes (lowercase, uppercase, numerals and special characters). The sample password I gave you in the cfg.ini file should definitely satisfy that.

From the article it seems the 49x and 48x should behave alike, whereas the 47x users had some additional considerations with the older hardware.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

When the first part of the setup has finished, you put the drive back in your server. You don't need to attach the USB key to the server.

Claude

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Microsoft MVP 2010 - Windows Home Server
Acer H341 - 1X WD5000AAKS - 3X WD10EACS - 1X WD5000AAKB External - Geek Squad 875VA 525w UPS on WHS controlled by GridJunction Add-in - WHS BDBB - WHIIST - SBS Fax Server - D-Link DIR-655

If you use the cfg.ini file attached here, you will need to delete the line PROCESS=TRUE or it will never install. WHS 2011 creates that line during the process in order to prevent the boot from USB key when the server is rebooted after the first part of the installation.

Claude

_________________
Microsoft MVP 2010 - Windows Home Server
Acer H341 - 1X WD5000AAKS - 3X WD10EACS - 1X WD5000AAKB External - Geek Squad 875VA 525w UPS on WHS controlled by GridJunction Add-in - WHS BDBB - WHIIST - SBS Fax Server - D-Link DIR-655

for some reason its not booting the drive and i cant figure out why and i really didnt want to waste $65 for a cable which i am only going to use once.

It doesnt boot from the usb drive, tried installing through first setup on another computer and once it restarts i turn off the computer and put the drive back into the ex485 but it just doesnt boot from it, left it for an hour an nothing doesnt advance from that stage, nothing pops up on the network

I attempted doing the full installation on another computer to see if there were any problems with the cfg file but the installation went through without 1 single input from me

anyone have any ideas?could it have anything to be with the bios ide/ahci configuration?

What I would do is buy a cable to see what's going on. You will use it more than once because if you ever have to restore you will need it then. What I suspect is happening is you have a machine that is booting smi flash and not the hard drive. I suspect the boot sequence is messed up on the machine which appears to happen frequently on the EX485/7.

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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

there is no any other way? how would you fix that issue?

Its a little late in the game for me here but have you verified if the USB Flash Drive is bootable in another computer? If it is bootable then when you have it installed in your EX485 and attempt to boot with it what is the status of your Health LED? Is it blinking a recovery mode blink code? If this is occuring then your EX485 is for some reason booting into its recovery mode and not off the Bootable USB Flash Drive.

As for installing a DEBUG Cable to your EX485 I recommend this for all HP MSS users as it opens up a new world of troubleshooting possibilities and options making working with any unit much easier. While blind installs are in expensive and often work there are times when things just do not go right and the DEBUG Cable will pay for itself in time savings.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

yes, its blinking blue the status led, with both items, the usb drive and the hard drive. I have tried the usb drive on another computer and it booted perfectly. For some reason i cant get it to boot off anything

With WHS2011 on any MSS the Health Light will blink blue even if it fully boots up and the drive lights will not function. This is because there is no LED Support in WHS2011 for the HP MSS. However back to what I was refering to is to look at the health LED to see if it were displaying the recovery blink code because if the server see's no bootable devices it will boot from the SMI Device on the motherboard. So what your seeing is different than what I thought might be the case. Your system drive probably is booting WHS2011 but without seeing whats going on its hard to tell what its doing which more than justifies installing a DEBUG Cable.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8