Hi guys
I need some help with my home PC, I've made some changes recently and am now out of my depth and want to consult some knowledgeable people before progressing. The short of it is I have a HP ProLiant Microserver that I've installed WS2K8R2 on, and I've installed the AD role but having problems with it booting since doing that. I'd like to get it booting again and then into the state I need it.
So, the state was with my 2 home PC's:
HP ProLiant Microserver
250gb SATA system drive (with Windows 7)
2x 3Tb SATA data drives
2x 500gb SATA data drives
Shuttle SH67H7
128gb SSD system drive (with Windows 7)
1Tb SATA data drive
Bluray writer
My initial motivation for change was to have 2 more 3Tb data drives in the Microserver, and also have a level of redundancy using RAID. I decided to go for Windows Server 2008 R2 with RAID-5. So, after moving data around all over the place and swapping drives left right and centre, I ended up with a server with WS2K8R2 on, and 4x 3Tb drives. I configured them in RAID and ended up with a nice 8.1Tb partition ready to use.
The problem I had at this point was that every time I tried to copy files from the Shuttle to the Microserver, it kept asking for credentials, and I thought it would be far easier if I had a single user across both machines. It would also make sense to have an account for the wife, and maybe a couple for the kids in a few years. So, I decided to add the Active Directory role to the server, to go down this path. Unfortunately I have very little experience in setting up domains etc so this was a bit of a punt, but I thought i'd go for it. In hindsight, this is probably massive overkill, but I thought I'd try anyway!!
Once this was installed, I set up a forest and then it asked me to reboot, here is where the problems began. Windows no longer booted up, it just sat for ages on the screen with the Knight Rider style green bar and 'Microsoft Corporation', it would eventually get to a blank black screen with a mouse pointer, and nothing else. I turned it off, unplugged all 4 RAID disks and tried again, still no luck. In the end I went into the Windows Recovery Environment and ran the memory check - no problems, then ended up going to the command prompt. At this point I realised that the only 2 disks that it thought were available were D: and X: - odd as the OS was on C: before.
I tried following the changes here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947288
But it made no difference, and going back into the WindowsRE I found that the registry had reverted to how it was before anyway.
Another search led me to this forum where I found this thread:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/237848-45-changed-drive-letters-computer-boot
I tried the changes suggested by the user ingrave which involved setting a different partition active, but now where I reboot the computer gives me the message
I can't seem to get into WindowsRE anymore, so I am stuck. This is where I currently am and not sure where to go next. I thought before I make it worse I'd ask for help!!
Here are the options that I think I have:
1. Find a way to fix the issues with the bootdisk and get the system up and running again. This would be the best result although whether I should have AD on the machine or not I don't know.
2. Reformat the boot drive and install WS2K8R2 again. I don't mind doing this as there is nothing on the drive that I specifically need, it's all but a new install. My concern here is that I'd lose the data on the RAID, as I don't know if it's tied in to Windows or not. If I could get to that data, I have enough drives to move it off, I could start again with the whole lot.
There may be other options but I've not really thought hard enough yet. If anyone has any suggestions then I'd love to hear them. Happy to provide more information if I've missed anything.
Thanks in advance!!!
I need some help with my home PC, I've made some changes recently and am now out of my depth and want to consult some knowledgeable people before progressing. The short of it is I have a HP ProLiant Microserver that I've installed WS2K8R2 on, and I've installed the AD role but having problems with it booting since doing that. I'd like to get it booting again and then into the state I need it.
So, the state was with my 2 home PC's:
HP ProLiant Microserver
250gb SATA system drive (with Windows 7)
2x 3Tb SATA data drives
2x 500gb SATA data drives
Shuttle SH67H7
128gb SSD system drive (with Windows 7)
1Tb SATA data drive
Bluray writer
My initial motivation for change was to have 2 more 3Tb data drives in the Microserver, and also have a level of redundancy using RAID. I decided to go for Windows Server 2008 R2 with RAID-5. So, after moving data around all over the place and swapping drives left right and centre, I ended up with a server with WS2K8R2 on, and 4x 3Tb drives. I configured them in RAID and ended up with a nice 8.1Tb partition ready to use.
The problem I had at this point was that every time I tried to copy files from the Shuttle to the Microserver, it kept asking for credentials, and I thought it would be far easier if I had a single user across both machines. It would also make sense to have an account for the wife, and maybe a couple for the kids in a few years. So, I decided to add the Active Directory role to the server, to go down this path. Unfortunately I have very little experience in setting up domains etc so this was a bit of a punt, but I thought i'd go for it. In hindsight, this is probably massive overkill, but I thought I'd try anyway!!
Once this was installed, I set up a forest and then it asked me to reboot, here is where the problems began. Windows no longer booted up, it just sat for ages on the screen with the Knight Rider style green bar and 'Microsoft Corporation', it would eventually get to a blank black screen with a mouse pointer, and nothing else. I turned it off, unplugged all 4 RAID disks and tried again, still no luck. In the end I went into the Windows Recovery Environment and ran the memory check - no problems, then ended up going to the command prompt. At this point I realised that the only 2 disks that it thought were available were D: and X: - odd as the OS was on C: before.
I tried following the changes here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947288
But it made no difference, and going back into the WindowsRE I found that the registry had reverted to how it was before anyway.
Another search led me to this forum where I found this thread:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/237848-45-changed-drive-letters-computer-boot
I tried the changes suggested by the user ingrave which involved setting a different partition active, but now where I reboot the computer gives me the message
BOOTMGR missing press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart
I can't seem to get into WindowsRE anymore, so I am stuck. This is where I currently am and not sure where to go next. I thought before I make it worse I'd ask for help!!
Here are the options that I think I have:
1. Find a way to fix the issues with the bootdisk and get the system up and running again. This would be the best result although whether I should have AD on the machine or not I don't know.
2. Reformat the boot drive and install WS2K8R2 again. I don't mind doing this as there is nothing on the drive that I specifically need, it's all but a new install. My concern here is that I'd lose the data on the RAID, as I don't know if it's tied in to Windows or not. If I could get to that data, I have enough drives to move it off, I could start again with the whole lot.
There may be other options but I've not really thought hard enough yet. If anyone has any suggestions then I'd love to hear them. Happy to provide more information if I've missed anything.
Thanks in advance!!!