Alright I have sorted through the forums, trying to find a post to troubleshoot what I am running into but seem to have struck out..

Have had my EX485 for about 2.5 years now and loved it.. It appears my system drive has crashed out.. This is where I stand currently..

Several client W7 64x machines
MSS server
DIR655 router

If I boot it with all four drives loaded (1 750gb system drive, then 3 2tb Hitachi drives) I can see the server from my router DHCP table, so I know its pulling IP..

I have tried removing the data drives and just loading with the system drive in the chassis, but I get a series of 3 red lights, and 2 blue, then repeats..

If I load the 3 data drives and no system drive it goes through the initialization process, then the middle health light goes out and the two other lights are solid.

I have tried replacing the system drive with a brand new 2tb Hitachi drive, but when I attempt to run the recovery/reload software, it doesn't recognize the MSS on the network.. I have tried disabling firewalls on the client machines, (both my laptop and desktop and it still doesn't work)

Any suggestions, or assistance would greatly be appreciated.. I have a bunch of pics and mp3s on the drive (which I dont have a recent backup of, but I do have most) then the rest of the drives are used to house my MyMovies database for my 3 kids DVDs.

I have tried pulling the drives to see if I can access the MSS data from my desktop.. Once I place the drives in a USB caddy and I connect, Windows 7 tells me that I must initialize the drives before they can be utilized. If I do this will it wipe the existing data from the drives?

Any help would be appreciated.. like I said, set this up about 2-3 years ago and it has worked great.. Just been too damn busy with 3 kids activities to play with it much since then.. and now it has taken a dump..

I did look into ordering a VGA/PS2 support cable so I can get into this thing as well, but was looking to try to get this fixed, back online before waiting for the cable to arrive.

Thanks again!
-Tim

You don't describe the server or LED behavior when you boot it normally, other than to say it shows up in your routers clients table. I'm guessing you can't connect via the Console or RDP. Most likely you have a failed/failing system drive. You can see if you can access it shortly after booting and try to install the Home Server SMART Add-In.

You can view the error codes here: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/wiki/in ... rror_Codes

I'd suggest sticking the system drive in your PC and try to run a chkdsk on it. Yes, initializing the disk will erase it, don't do that. If this doesn't work, Server Recovery is your best bet and there are numerous discussions on that in the forums here.

Worst case, here's the best guide to recover your data: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w ... 573697777f

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2 aqua white, 3 red - This is the code that I am getting when the system drive is loaded in the MSS.

I am unable to get into the dashboard access the drive at all.. Fans are spinning up, and I can see the NIC activity according the the LED and checking my router it is pulling IP.

That help?

Ok, after messing with it more tonight, I was able to put the new system drive in, and start the restore process.. It recognizes the server and the drive, and starts to do the restore process, but then comes up with "you cannot complete the installation process from this version of windows" or something to that affect. being that I have all x64 systems running Win7.. is there any other way to get my MSS EX485 restored without finding an old XP machine to load it from?

Thanks,

-Tim

I keep an old netbook (win xp) with an external dvd drive around just for this purpose. I'm not sure on your version of server, but on most it is better to connect directly PC to Server with cat5 cable.
I have had no luck with recoveries, so if you have data that you can't lose, might want to grab it now before it's gone.

_________________
EX470 5-3-08 CPU/RAM/BIOS/New Power Supply-For sale!
X510 3-15-11 CPU/RAM -Active.
X710 2-15-13 DIY Test 2012E.
X510 3-20-13 CPU.
X510 4-25-13 from parts.
EX490 5-12-13 used.

Since messing with this last week, I ordered the VOV VGA/PS2 debugging board. I was able to go in and see that my system battery was dead so I replaced it, as well as the SMI was set to load first.

I loaded my OS WHS v1 onto a thumb drive and attempted to load as well as WHS 2011 and seem to get to the same point then I get this message.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong? Suggestions or recommendations?

Thanks guys.. I have been digging through all of the past forums, and trying to troubleshoot it.. but I have run into this wall now..

-Tim

At this point, I would be looking to pull what data you can before it's gone.

Going forward, once you have your data backed up, I would suggest getting better drives (non seagate) at least for the system drive and have 1 (2TB preferred) as a non pooled drive to backup your shares.

I found out the hard way as many others have, the server alone is not enough, you still have to have non pooled backups.
Also, You have to have a win xp 32 bit pc to reload the server. Not sure if vista 32 bit will work. Win764 bit was not out when the servers first came out.
Goodluck

_________________
EX470 5-3-08 CPU/RAM/BIOS/New Power Supply-For sale!
X510 3-15-11 CPU/RAM -Active.
X710 2-15-13 DIY Test 2012E.
X510 3-20-13 CPU.
X510 4-25-13 from parts.
EX490 5-12-13 used.

I was able to pull the drives and recover the data that was on my (3) 2tb drives. At this point I am just trying to get the system rebooted and to recognize the new 2tb drive that I purchased to use as a system drive.

My goal at this point is to fill each of the internal drive trays with a Hitachi 2tb drive, for a total storage of 8tb.

The problem that I am running into currently is attempting to load either WHS v1 or WHS 2011 and getting the above error message when attempting to load either OS. I am sure that I have something screwed up in the bios or settings.

I guess this is where the debugging board is a bad thing. I don't have one so can't say much, does the bios have a default settings option? If so I would go for that and try to load the whs1 with a winxp 32 bit pc connected directly to it with cat5.
As it loads and stops and loads and stops, give it plenty of time to copy data, myself, I give it 5 mins before going on to the next thing.
Goodluck, maybe someone with a debugging board can suggest more.
PS, like your choice of harddrives

_________________
EX470 5-3-08 CPU/RAM/BIOS/New Power Supply-For sale!
X510 3-15-11 CPU/RAM -Active.
X710 2-15-13 DIY Test 2012E.
X510 3-20-13 CPU.
X510 4-25-13 from parts.
EX490 5-12-13 used.

Have put the debugging board aside and I am trying to get the system to restore v1 WHS.. I am able to get it to boot and start the restore process, but then when it gets to the point of "Resetting server and loading software" it comes back up and states that it cannot locate the server on the network. I have went into the router dashboard and tried copying the name exactly as its listed there and it still will not locate the server on the network to complete the loading of the software process.

Any suggestions? Thanks again!

-tim