[geeks] Q: On Compaq Proliant 800 PPro server

Dark Age geeks at sunhelp.org
Mon Jun 4 11:25:38 CDT 2001


Aye,
Compaq's are a tricky lot, search around on their website for all the 
utilities that go with this system. They have a bunch of DOS based utilities 
that go with each system. Plus these things really like to have their "EISA 
Partition" and sometimes will have problems if that little 20 meg partition 
is not there

If you change ANYTHING you need to update the NVRAM that is on the board. On 
one of our Proliant's here at work, I had to update it's settings when I 
changed the keyboard on it, it wouldn't boot until I did that.

Most, if not all, of the Compaq servers SCSI only goes one way(internal or 
external). I believe that they do this just to sell extra controllers. In 
our main server here, we have 3 SCSI busses because of this fact

Pressing F10 is supposed to take you into the setup utilities that are 
located in the EISA partition, if you don't have that partition or the 
utilities, then hitting it will do you no good.

If you need any further direction(plus I think I have a couple of extra 
compaq CDs I could send your way) contact me directly at 
chad at ziggadigga.com. Don't use this hotmail account, I only use this to read 
mail while away from home.

Enjoy,
Chad


>From: "Ken Hansen" <n2vip at bellatlantic.net>
>Reply-To: geeks at sunhelp.org
>To: <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: [geeks] Q: On Compaq Proliant 800 PPro server
>Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 11:34:08 -0400
>
>Well, having said too many times in the last few days that I had my 2nd 
>CPU,
>I decided to shut my Compaq Proliant 800 PPro 200 server down and upgrade
>the various bits, and I have a few questions/observations:
>
>Questions/Observations:
>
>This is a well-ventilated case - the PPro 200/256K that was running
>Seti at home packets for the last 25 days was *merely* warm to the touch after
>being powered-down. The CPU only had a heatsink attached, and there is an
>"extra" fan in the front of the case blowing cool air over the CPUs. Cool.
>
>The case itself is nice, relatively quiet - since I have an external U/W
>connector on the back of this unit, I decided I needed an external U/W case
>to hold additional storage, so I got a used Compaq SCSI tower with all
>*seven* narrow trays included, and an extenral U/W SCSI connector. (The
>system and the SCSI tower make a matched set!) But, I noticed in the Compaq
>manuals for this system that they said I should only add drives *either*
>internally or externally, not both - any ideas why? (I am not familiar with
>U/W SCSI, just narrow/SCA...)
>
>I went through two "known good" PCI video cards before returning the
>original card to the system (a 1 Meg PCI card) - is there any special
>requirement for compatibility with these systems? When my other cards were
>installed, the system "beeped" - and the sequence decoded to a message 
>about
>a defective monochrome adapter... Monochrome? I suspect it wants an unusual
>mode newer cards don't support (I am going to try living with 1024x768 at
>256 colors... 8^(
>
>After adding the 2nd CPU (another 200 MHz PPro w/256K cache), the BIOS/POST
>display tells me that the processor configuration is invalid (178 -
>Processor Configuration Invalid), but continues to boot and runs fine (not
>sure if 2nd CPU active). I have a VRM/CPU installed. Do I need to enter the
>BIOS/System Config screens to "activate" the second CPU? (Some older PCs
>required you to enter the BIOS so it could update the new RAM count after
>upgrading the RAM, I am thinking this may be similar)
>
>How do I enter the BIOS/System Setup screen? I saw in the manual that I
>press F10, but when, holding it down appears to do no good, nor does
>"tapping" it repeatedly while booting - any thoughts?
>
>Thanks in advance for any light that can be shed on this box,
>
>Ken
>(BTW, anyone ever try Solaris/x86 on one of these boxes? Just curious...)
>
>_______________________________________________
>GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
>

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