Re: Dell SBS 2003 Standard Installation

The reason Dell gave me for not supporting it is that "a small business does
not need rack-mount servers" and therefore it is unsupported. I could barley
believe I heard them correctly.

Gregg Hill




"Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]" <kweilbacMVP@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Oz4HxM$vGHA.3264@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Unfortunately, the Dell's startup software does NOT include supporting the
SBS2003 setup CD. Saying that, I moved over a site in May, 2005 to a Dell
PE2850, and it has run flawlessly.

As far as downloading the drivers, it the company you are using does not
lnow SBS, then stop and get someone else. That's ridiculous (or absurd,
stupid, or any other negative word you can think of) that they would
complain about downloading some drivers. It doesn't take 4 hours to do it.

The only drivers they should need are for your Raid and SCSI adaptorss.
You download them, put them on a floppy disk and when you install CD1 you
press F6 at the appropriate time and insert your floppy disks.Now, here's
a gotcha --- the 2850 doesn't come with a floppy drive, so you go down to
your local Compusa/Best Nuy and get yourself an external USB floppy drive.

And, if you intend on keeping this company to do the install, ask if they
have any successful SBS 2003 sites. If they say no, then you insist that
they install tyhe software three times, and provide you documentation as
to what they do and why.

--
Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
"The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"


"Tim Mills" <Mills@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:unuImw%23vGHA.4872@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just trying to wrap my head around something...

We currently have a brand new Dell PE2850 server that is having SBS2003
Standard installed on it. The company that is installing it is having
some "unexpected" problems.

*WE* discovered that Dell doesn't support this operating system on this
machine, therefore it doesn't have an entry in the installation list on
the "QUICK START" CD. My understanding is that this CD with pre-install
all the drivers for the system before the Windows installation starts.

The company is now saying that they are having to download *every* driver
the the Dell website since it didn't come with the WIN SBS 2003 drivers.
They have already spent four hours doing the generic installation and are
not finished the core operating system.

So my questions are as follows:

Win2003 drivers are all they need, correct? I wasn't aware that there are
specific SBS 2003 drivers.

Shouldn't they be able to use the "QUICK START" CD as the source for the
drivers instead of downloading every driver from the Dell site?

How long on average does it take to install SBS 2003 standard? I
understand that the size/type of the drives/RAID system will make a
difference but I am thinking that, aside from the hard drive formatting,
1 hour to 1.5 hours should be in the ballpark for the core operating
system stuff. After that maybe an additional 1 hour to 1.5 hours for
driver/Windows updates.
Once everything is current, installation of exchange, etc would be next
at maybe a couple of hours. So by my calculations 5 hours total plus
whatever time to format hard drive/RAID. Sound reasonable?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Fresh Install went Wonderfully
    ... Dell diagnostics can be accessed from your Dell utilities CD if you need to ... Internet connection working so you can download additional drivers. ... Chose the main partition to install Windows on. ... Now I plan on doing fresh install on my other laptop. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: Dell SBS 2003 Standard Installation
    ... Your Dell rep sounds like the rest...no real-world experience. ... Wait, we small business are allowed to have UPS units, aren't we? ... As far as downloading the drivers, it the company you are using does not ... put them on a floppy disk and when you install CD1 you ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: KB885918 (SBS 2003 SP1) horror story
    ... www.smallbizserver.net click on service packs and read the SBS sp1 links and make sure that Dell Open mange is on the right one and the bios is up to date. ... Dell support doesn't have a clue and unfortunately you are a ping pong right now.....hang in there. ... I am trying to install the SP1...so I have followed the instructions from ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: NO SOUND WITHOUT HEADPHONES
    ... Did Dell have you look for any event errors in Event Viewer for any possible cause/solution? ... Did Dell have you remove any/all related audio devices in Safe Mode> Device Manager, reboot and have windows reinstall the drivers? ... If there are updated drivers available download and install them per their instructions which should also be available either with the update package or a separate file on the same page. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Inspiron 1150 reinstallation CD problems
    ... The Dell "reinstallation' CD is nothing more than the usual garden variety ... Windows install CD with a couple of very small Dell-specific changes to allow ... That is where the Drivers CD comes in. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)