27 replies to this topic

[doc]

Build is coming along now...all the major components are in and it fires up!

MB, PSU, the SSDs in the ICY DOCK enclosure and some of the storage drives are in but not hooked up yet as I am yet to put in the Highpoint Raid card.

I chose the option of putting the SSDs in the ICY DOCK and into an external SATA dock attached to my Win 7 Desktop.
Downloaded the JMicron Raid software and setup the mirror on these drives no problem. The software is very easy to follow.

The SSDs are Crucial M4's and I wondered if they would have the Firmware fix applied to them when I ordered them - ANSWER ---> NO.
There was a brightly coloured label inserted into the packaging sending me to the website to grab the new firmware and instructions.

So I decided this would be the first thing to do once the server was powered up.
Only issue was you cannot apply the firmware with the SSDs sitting in the ICY DOCK so out they came and attached one at a time to SATA port 0 on the MB.
The bootable ISO recognised each one in turn then and applied the updated firmware.

So they are back in the ICY DOCK but I am yet to see tonight if this has destroyed the Raid mirror or not.
Should be looking at the WHS install tonight.

Don't have pics with me so can post later.

[doc]

WHS 2011 install done! Mostly went well, with a few small hiccups along the way...

Firstly, the Crucial SSDs still had the Raid 1 Mirror in place after updating the firmware, that was good
Secondly, I was using the unattended install process with the cfg.ini file on a USB stick due to the size of the SSD.

In the initial stages of the WHS install, after booting from the install DVD, and after the 'Windows is loading files...' process, I received the following:

Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device connected
to your computer.

This error can be caused by unplugging a removable storage device such as an external USB drive while the device is in use, or by faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that is failing.

Make sure any removable storage is properly connected and then restart your computer.


File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe

Status: 0xc00000e9

Info: An unexpected i/o error has occurred

I firstly moved the USB stick from a front port to a rear port, thinking I may have the Front USB header not connected properly but still same error.
I then re-seated the SATA cables on the DVD drive and the ICY DOCK, although these drives showed up in the BIOS no problems.

This time the error was gone.

Install then proceeded without my interaction as intended until a new error stopped it:

"Errors occurred during installation" A network device driver was not found. Install the appropriate drivers for your network device."

There were two options on the dialog 'Install network drivers...' and 'Restart'

So I grabbed the Gigabyte drivers disk and dropped it in, however I then found neither my USB mouse or USB keyboard were working.

I chose then to restart via the reset switch and booted into Safe Mode. I now had a keyboard working and managed to get the Gigabyte drivers setup opened, however the application kept complaining with errors about 'Open Handles'.
I moved to Windows Device Manager, and manually installed the Network Card drivers from the Gigabyte disk.
While in Device Manager, it was evident why no keyboard and mouse as the USB controller also did not have drivers.
So for now, I managed to ferret out a PS/2 k/b and mouse in the cupboard and fortunately the Gigabyte board supported these.

A restart and the WHS install continued.
Completed the install.
Then immediately used the Gigabyte disk to install all drivers.

Next step will be to install the Highpoint card over the weekend and setup the storage arrays.

[ikon]

Wow, you had quite the adventure. But, you also demonstrated what a little perseverance can do. I often tell today's kids that they give up too easily

[doc]

Wow, you had quite the adventure. But, you also demonstrated what a little perseverance can do. I often tell today's kids that they give up too easily

And that's the real fun part too! Without problems to solve the 'old gray matter' doesn't get a good workout.

As for the build, I'm just waiting for the second Raid array on the storage drives to finish up now and it's then the long slow transfer of the data saved from the old server. That's about 2TB sitting on a USB HDD.

[ikon]

2TB on USB 2? I don't envy you. I highly recommend RoboCopy for that, for the robustness and reliability.

[doc]

2TB on USB 2? I don't envy you. I highly recommend RoboCopy for that, for the robustness and reliability.

ikon, I kept hearing Robocopy referred to but until now had never used it.
I downloaded a GUI frontend to make it easier to use.
Worked wonders - I have transferred 500MB+ a night for the past two nights (I think it probably only actually ran a few hours each night - I'll check the logs for times).
So I am over half way through the transfer without a problem.

It's actually the first client PC backups that take days to complete but I had been through this before when I rebuilt WHS v1.

Thanks again for the help.

[pcdoc]

WHS 2011 install done! Mostly went well, with a few small hiccups along the way...

Firstly, the Crucial SSDs still had the Raid 1 Mirror in place after updating the firmware, that was good
Secondly, I was using the unattended install process with the cfg.ini file on a USB stick due to the size of the SSD.

In the initial stages of the WHS install, after booting from the install DVD, and after the 'Windows is loading files...' process, I received the following:

Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device connected
to your computer.

This error can be caused by unplugging a removable storage device such as an external USB drive while the device is in use, or by faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that is failing.

Make sure any removable storage is properly connected and then restart your computer.


File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe

Status: 0xc00000e9

Info: An unexpected i/o error has occurred

I firstly moved the USB stick from a front port to a rear port, thinking I may have the Front USB header not connected properly but still same error.
I then re-seated the SATA cables on the DVD drive and the ICY DOCK, although these drives showed up in the BIOS no problems.

This time the error was gone.

Install then proceeded without my interaction as intended until a new error stopped it:

"Errors occurred during installation" A network device driver was not found. Install the appropriate drivers for your network device."

There were two options on the dialog 'Install network drivers...' and 'Restart'

So I grabbed the Gigabyte drivers disk and dropped it in, however I then found neither my USB mouse or USB keyboard were working.

I chose then to restart via the reset switch and booted into Safe Mode. I now had a keyboard working and managed to get the Gigabyte drivers setup opened, however the application kept complaining with errors about 'Open Handles'.
I moved to Windows Device Manager, and manually installed the Network Card drivers from the Gigabyte disk.
While in Device Manager, it was evident why no keyboard and mouse as the USB controller also did not have drivers.
So for now, I managed to ferret out a PS/2 k/b and mouse in the cupboard and fortunately the Gigabyte board supported these.

A restart and the WHS install continued.
Completed the install.
Then immediately used the Gigabyte disk to install all drivers.

Next step will be to install the Highpoint card over the weekend and setup the storage arrays.

You did not by chance plug you mouse and keyboard into the Blue USB 3 ports did you? As they are not active on boot.

[ikon]

ikon, I kept hearing Robocopy referred to but until now had never used it.
I downloaded a GUI frontend to make it easier to use.
Worked wonders - I have transferred 500MB+ a night for the past two nights (I think it probably only actually ran a few hours each night - I'll check the logs for times).
So I am over half way through the transfer without a problem.

It's actually the first client PC backups that take days to complete but I had been through this before when I rebuilt WHS v1.

Thanks again for the help.

Glad it worked out. I use the command line version of RoboCopy, but that's because I'm used to it and also I really don't want to have an app installed to do file copying.... just my own preference.