23 replies to this topic

[A Murder of Crows]

Is anyone having issues running Server 2008 R2 x64 or Windows 7 on these? i got mine to take vista x64 just fine, but Server 2008 R2 and windows 7 fail to install, and Hiren's Boot CD's version of Mini Windows 7 also fails to load.

i've replaced ram (stock 2gb replaced with 8gb, went back to the original 2gb for this when issues started), video card (both on board VGA and a 6450 card tried), and hard drive, and nothing works. I've flashed the modded bios and went back to the stock bios when i ran into this problem.

i tried installing with usb, but it failed, so i did it via DVD. i thought it might have been my disc, so i burnt a new disc using different media and a different burner on a different machine.

again nothing works.

on install attempts, i get a BSOD stating:

STOP: 0x0000007E with four parameters, blaming ACPI.SYS

i am at a loss and really upset at the moment.

Edited by A Murder of Crows, 28 April 2012 - 04:23 AM.

[cskenney]

Many people have installed Server 2008 R2 (including myself) with no issues. In fact, I initially installed it when I only had the original 2GB Ram and the original 250GB hard drive.

I was going to say you may have a bad motherboard but you mentioned you got Vista x64 to install.

The only changes I have made to my box is I modded the BIOS. Later I upgraded the memory to 8GB.

Maybe with Vista installed you could run some hardware tests to see if it can find a problem.

[jmwills]

I would RMA that box. If no OS installs there are bigger issues.

[A Murder of Crows]

Well stupid me, i lost the box and packaging already, so NewEgg won't RMA it. I get to deal with HP instead now. ugh.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[ikon]

oops. Well, good luck. Let us know how it works out.

[jazzerjay]

Well stupid me, i lost the box and packaging already, so NewEgg won't RMA it. I get to deal with HP instead now. ugh.

Thanks for the advice guys!

You might be surprised how HP actually handles your RMA. I've done many and since this is a brand new piece of equipment, they should be able to help you. However, they may send you back to Newegg. You said that Newegg won't RMA it without the original packaging? That's odd, never had that problem before as I don't keep boxes past 30 days. (for the most part) But like ikon said, keep us posted please as I'm sure a few of us are more than curious.

[jmwills]

As odd as this sounds, if one OS will install and others will not, the only way to rule out a corrupt iso image is to try a virtual install somewhere else. This will verify the integrity of the iso image and at this point I believe that is where your issue lies.

[A Murder of Crows]

oops. Well, good luck. Let us know how it works out.

Will do!

You might be surprised how HP actually handles your RMA. I've done many and since this is a brand new piece of equipment, they should be able to help you. However, they may send you back to Newegg. You said that Newegg won't RMA it without the original packaging? That's odd, never had that problem before as I don't keep boxes past 30 days. (for the most part) But like ikon said, keep us posted please as I'm sure a few of us are more than curious.

I actually wouldn't be too surprised. I used to be an HP Case Manager for both their 6J and their KV lines (Consumer Desktops and Notebooks). The business side of things always got better treatment than the consumer side.

Called HP, did an hour of troubleshooting/waiting on hold. I finally convinced the guy to send me a new motherboard. it's getting overnighted now and should be here in the morning from what he said.

Yeah, newegg said no joy. It was NewEgg business, but i doubt it makes a difference.

As odd as this sounds, if one OS will install and others will not, the only way to rule out a corrupt iso image is to try a virtual install somewhere else. This will verify the integrity of the iso image and at this point I believe that is where your issue lies.

I would go with this possibility, except that it wasn't just a single ISO that was a problem. it was also Hiren's Boot CD 15, with mini windows 7. I have this odd feeling that it has something to do with the kernel that win7/server 2008 R2 is based on, and that the board or proc can't deal with it. in my research, i read that someone else had similar problems with the x64 version of something, but switching to the x32 worked fine.

The last thing i remember reading was that the program used to create the bios USB upgrader should be run on 32-bit windows. Unfortunately for me, i don't have anything that actually runs 32-bit anymore, and ultimately, this line of thinking made little sense to me, but i'm pretty sure that i'll be trying that too when the time comes.

Thanks everyone.

[jmwills]

I run 2008R2 x64 on mine and have no issues whatsoever. Most, if not all, x64 processors can handle any x86 programs so more and more I think you have a bad machine.

[ikon]

Anyone else sensing a sudden uptick in bad mobos recently?

[jmwills]

I RMA'd an ASUS about 2 months ago and I still think it is not right. Replaced it with an Intel board and never looked back.

[jazzerjay]

I RMA'd an ASUS about 2 months ago and I still think it is not right. Replaced it with an Intel board and never looked back.

I recall a few years ago that I was all about ASUS and Abit and then I had a run of a few bad boards from different retailers. Quite weird. I've never used an Intel board at home, but that's cool for your success.

[A Murder of Crows]

New board arrived about 45 minutes ago. Installed that into the system than tried to install windows. Same problem. Tried with Hiren's boot disc's mini windows 7 again as well...same problem. gonna now swap out optical drives, and i'm redownloading the server 2008 R2 iso, just to be safe, but i'm stumped.

[jmwills]

What are you using to burn the images? I've always liked Image Burn, however I still think you have some corrupt images.

[A Murder of Crows]

I was using imgburn also. I believe i figured out the issue, and you were at least half right, if not completely. Despite the fact that the images i used have been the same the whole time, i've been running into memory error related BSODs on the system that the mini server is replacing. I got a brand new image only a few weeks ago and it installed perfectly fine on a virtual machine. did a completely new one today and kept it completely away from the old server, and now i'm getting windows update to install updates to Server 2008 R2, so we've obtained some sort of resolution here :-)

It still doesn't explain Hiren's boot CD failing, and it gives me major cause for concern regarding any other ISO i have on the current system. here's hoping nothing else is wrong

thank you all again.

Next up: how to install 5 hard drives, 1 ssd, and an optical drive, into this thing.

[jmwills]

Joe_Miner has an excellent write-up on this in the forums.

[A Murder of Crows]

Browsing the forums now. I REALLY don't want to waste the 250gb, but this thing is going to be taking 4x 3TB in the vertical slots, an SSD in the space between, and a blu-ray/hd-dvd ODD in the ODD bay. i have no clue where to put the 250 if i want it internal, and i STILL have to get a multiplexer of some sort so i can utilize the esata externally.

[jmwills]

You might want to think about a slim DVD drive which might leave room for that 5th drive in the ODD space, or use an external optical drive. I mean, really, how often do you really use the optical drive?

[A Murder of Crows]

You might want to think about a slim DVD drive which might leave room for that 5th drive in the ODD space, or use an external optical drive. I mean, really, how often do you really use the optical drive?

A lot actually. Although the primary purpose for the n40l is going to be file server and roaming profiles with household wide backups, it is replacing the HTPC functions that my main system has handled the last few years. This includes blu-ray/hd-dvd playback and XBMC while in the living room.

The drive i have is a combo blu-ray/hd-dvd burner. It is a requirement for the build. I don't really want to buy any more SSDs right now, and i don't want to waste the 250gb as it won't be used anywhere else, but it is small enough that i might just through it into a modified xbox system and sell it. i don't know just yet. what i do know is that i don't like the idea of routing the esata cable internally just to get one more sata device working, especially since i want to put a USB 3 card inside of this thing, and i'm not feeling too comfy with taking a dremel to the case to cut a hole for the sata cable.

[jmwills]

You can slide an SSD Drive beneath the optical drive, but without buying a replacement backplane unit and 2.5" drives, I do no know how you will get the 5th drive in the case.