Re: Install Problem at GUI Startup

Hi Anna,

Sorry for the delay since the last post.

I have been going round n round with MS support for the last several weeks
and what we came down to is selecting the correct HAL during installation.
SBS 2003 auto selects ACPI Uniprocessor and that does not work with this
M-board and causes the problems outlined.

If I select ACPI Multiprocessor and install only one CPU, the system seems
to install and run fine although only one CPU is installed. Installing a
second CPU causes the repeated reboot problem.

If I select MPS Multiprocessor and install only one CPU, the system seems to
install and run fine. When I install a second CPU the system also seems to
run fine. With this config however, if I go to device manager there is no
"processor" tab showing dual CPU's and task manager does not show dual CPU's.

My question now is which install is the right one for this M-board? What
are the differences between ACPI and MPS? What screen in SBS 2003 shows that
I am running dual CPI's?

Thanks again for the help.

"Anna Clark" wrote:

Hi Denko:

Sorry to be so long responding, I have been away.

It seems that the boot.ini file missing from the root of C may be your
issue. Or at least some of your issue

You can create one, you can copy one from an XP or 2000 workstation/server.
You may have to modify the settings in the boot.ini file to conform to the
drive/partition settings in your server, and if you have scsi raid you may
not have enough information to do this...

On my "play" SBS 2003 R2 server, my boot.ini looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003 for Small
Business Server" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

(the last line is not wrapped in the actual file, there is a space after
Business)

Also, 6001 MB is too small for the C drive. Should be at least double, and
many use 20 GB.

Regards:

Anna

"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4E83BDA2-488A-4EB1-A950-9EAEC7777EA9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Anna,

Sorry for the long interval - I still have not resolved my problem but I
had
to take care of other matters before getting back to this issue. Anyway,
I
did some work in response to your last post.

After completing the install and getting to the "NTLDR Missing" error, I
rebooted from the CDROM and selected the R option. This brought me to the
DOS like screen and I did a MAP command.

What I got was.....

C: NTFS 6001 MB \device\harddisk0\partition1
A: \device\floppy0
D: \device\cdrom0

I also a DIR command of the C:\ root directory and found NTLDR and
NTDETECT.COM files but no BOOT.INI file. I did a DIR command of the
C:\Windows directory and found none of these three files. I seems that
for
some reason the text install in putting the needed files in the wrong
directory or trying to boot from a directory other than the root.

Any ideas on what to try next. Thanks again.


Dennis


"Anna Clark" wrote:

Hi Dennis:

I think we have exhausted the tests of the controller. And I think you
confirmed earlier in this thread that you had the latest bios and
drivers.

I did not check if this mobo was listed for any server os, but even so,
it
should not fall over at this stage.

I think you need to check to see if there is even a C:\ drive that
windows
reconizes, and to that extent, have a look at this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816793/en-us#6

How to troubleshoot the "NTLDR is missing" error message in Windows
Server
2003
View products that this article applies to.
Article ID : 816793


since you said you did not have access to a way to make a boot floppy,
this
article will explain how to use the cd to verify that the files you need
are
or are not on the hard drive. You can check in the recovery console to
see
if there even is a c drive.

In essence, DO boot on the cd, and wait for the Setup is Starting
Windows,
select R, select the copy of windows you wish to repair, put in the
admin
password. If you get this far, there should be a Windows Partition.
When
you issue the MAP command it will tell you which is what, and you can
then
follow the KB article to manuall copy over the files you need to boot.
Also, at this point you "probably" can make a boot floppy.

Anna


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:60F9BCE1-FDE0-44F2-BDA0-2D2EB721EAFA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anna:

My steps are exactly as you've outlined except that after the "pass on
boot
from cd" I get the Ntldr missing error message. I've done this
install
from
both my CD and the DVD with the same result.

Yes, I am using the non promise controller exactly as you suggest.

Any other ideas?

Dennis

"Anna Clark" wrote:

Hi Dennis:

I just tested this, Intel mobo, P5 3 GHz, 1 GB RAM. Installing R2
from
DVD,
but after seeing it again, I remember that it "always" does this, so
CD
should be the same:

Boot from CD
Press F6 (or not)
Setup is loading files
Setup is starting Windows (still in text mode)
Enter to install
F8 to Agree to License
Delete old partitions, if any
create new partitions
fomat NTFS (very important)
setup is coping files (still in text mode, yellow progress bar)
please wait while Windows initializes your Windows configuration
REBOOT with a 15 second countdown and a red progress bar.
pass on boot from cd
grey gui with bullets on left, info on right.

If any of this is not what your seeing, then you may be rebooting
before
all
is copied over.

Have you tried the plain jane non promise ide controller? Put the
HDD
master on the first ide1 controller, put the cd as master on ide2
controller.

Regards

Anna


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7FD7B21B-A14C-45A3-AA51-0E07217CDFAB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Anna:

Thanks for your reply.

The motherboard has two IDE controllers (one using the VIA chipset
and
one
using the Promise chip) - a total of eight IDE devices can be
connected.
In
the BIOS I have the "Onboard Promise Device" disabled. I am
definitely
using
the the VIA controller. BIOS allows me to select the boot HDD as
either
0,
1, 2, or 3. I have been booting from HDD-0 but I tried the other
three
and
got boot disk failure messages for each since none of the other
three
are
present. Booting from HDD-0 gives me the "NTLDR is missing"
message
so I
am
sure the BIOS is attempting to boot from the installed HDD.

I have been looking at mostly hardware issues. A question that
comes
to
mind is when install switches from text to GUI setup, should the
system
reboot or should the display just change from text to GUI? Is it
possible
that something is causing the reboot before all the necessary
files
are
loaded to the HDD?

Dennis


"Anna Clark" wrote:

Hi Dennis:

If you are not using the Promise in RAID mode, the raid drivers
will
go
unused.

Looking at the MSI web site, it shows three versions of a board
called
6321,
none of which are Pro-AIR. But all three have standard, non
promise,
non
raid controllers in addition to the promise raid controller.

Is there any chance you are set in the bios to boot from the
wrong
controller? And have you tried the non raid controller,
instead?

In both cases you would want to be sure that the bios was set to
boot
from
the controller to which the hdd was actually attached.

Regards:

Anna


"denko" <denko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1CB99927-0DC0-4F84-B70A-0B3E72DA41F2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well this has certainly been a monumental effort today. FYI
my
motherboard
is a MSI 694 Pro-AIR (#MS-6321). This board includes dual
PIII
processors,
is populated with 1 GB of RAM, and has an onboard Promise RAID
controller
(RAID 0 or RAID 1).

Since my last post I have done the following.....

1) I went to the MSI site and downloaded the latest BIOS
(dated
11/22/01)
and latest Promise Driver (dated 9/29/00). I checked and the
motherboard
already has the latest BIOS installed. The Promise RAID
controller is
and
has been disabled in BIOS setup.

2) I did a new clean install and selected F6 at the prompt
for
RAID
drivers. When is was time to install these drivers, I used
the
ones
from
the
MSI web site. Setup gave me the the option of installing
either
a
WinNT
version or a WIN 2000 version. Windows also said that the
drivers
I
was
installing were older than ones that can with Windows but I
chose
to
install
the manufacturer's anyway. I went thru this install twice
selecting
one
option each time. In each case I had the same result as
before.

3) I installed a new (sealed in the box) 60 GB HDD and had
the
same
result.
.

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