Install problem - Redhat 3 ES & New HP DL140's

[unix_admin at tessco.com]

HP support has updated firmware available that solves the problem. 
The current URL (as of 4/29/2004) is : 
 
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/101_5771.html 
 
The system bios update and the cdrom driver update are required to solve this 
problem. 
 
I had to create a bootable USB flashdisk using a USB floppy (from a Sony Vaio) 
and a Win98 recovery boot floppy.  
 
Turn off the DL140 
Insert the flashdisk in one USB port on the DL140. 
Insert the bootable Win98 floppy into the floppy drive and plug it into another 
USB port on the DL140. 
Turn on the DL140 
If prompted, select to boot DOS w/o CD-ROM support 
Format the flashdisk : format b: 
Put the boot files and command interpreter on the flashdisk : sys b: 
Turn off the DL140 
Remove the USB floppy drive 
On another computer that can access the USB flashdrive and read the zip files: 
Extract the update files onto the flashdrive 
Put the flashdrive back into the DL140 
Turn the DL140 on. 
Follow the installation instructions for the updates. 
In this case is was to run BIOSF.bat and CD224V99.exe 


Way back on 14 Jan 2004 Travman said:

Looking for a bit of advice, as I haven't run into install glitches like this since probably 5 years ago, so I'm a little bit rusty on diagnosing installs. Anyways, HP/Compaq just came out with some new DL140 servers, basically some nice, inexpensive boxes that in theory should be nice for some single task clustering type work. Anyways, HP supports these new boxes on Redhat 2.1 ES ( no official support on 3 yet ).


Anyways, I've been able to install 2.1 on the machine without a problem. I've also managed to install RedHat 9 without a glitch. However, in trying to install ES 3, I continually run across a problem where the machine will lock up in the install process at the "/sbin/loader" part of the installation. The cursor freezes and a system notification light will turn on. (Basically, according to HP documentation, the light indicates a hardware problem). I initially, as the light indicated a hardware problem, contacted HP to see if there is a problem with the mainboard, or something else. They replaced that yet the problem persisted.

So, I tried fiddling in the BIOS to see if there were any possible settings that may cause a problem, but there is not much to set. I also tried booting the install with the flags of "ide=nodma" and the noprobe option, both to no avail. Of interesting note, I found in RedHat 9, I was able to reproduce the red light error by inserting a cdrom while I was in X Windows.

So the question is, am I stuck installing RedHat 2.1 ES on these machines? Is this purely a driver problem? Is there anything I can do to narrow down and find out specifically what is happening to cause this error to occur? I would really like to use RedHat ES 3 instead of 2.1, especially as we'll need to get a copy for each machine. While I think 2.1 will still be getting updates for some time forward, I'd rather be able to start with 3.0 instead of having to plan a quick upgrade path in the near future.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks,

Travis