Unable to boot to hard disk after installation of WS2008

[bingyeo]

Hi

 

I am trying to install WS2008 Enterprise on a server which had a history of boot problems which I have posted previously in these forums when I was trying to deploy WS2003 using WDS:

 

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=471

 

Each time I redeploy W2k3 using WDS onto a server, I have to run the Repair console from the CD after deployment, run FIXMBR and FIXBOOT beforeI am able to boot to the newly deployed W2k3 image. However, an installation from scratch using the CD would boot normally.

 

This time, I ran W2k8 installation from the CD on to the same server (deleted, recreated, formatted the hard disks) and after the first phase of installation is completed and it did a reboot, the server would not be able to boot to the hard disks. Just a blinking cursor after the initial bootup processes.

 

I have tried googling for W2k8 boot issues and how to resolve them, but I have gotten mostly Vista articles, and I am not too sure if they apply completely.

I tried the following articles to try to fix/recreate the MBR and BCD, but nothing is working.

 

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/fix-mbr-xp-vista/

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Reco...er+from+the+DVD

 

If I run bootrec /scanos or /rebuildbcd, it tells me the Total identified Windows installations is 0.

 

However, I tried the following from this link: http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?act=Pr...=54&t=48325

 

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

c:

cd boot

attrib bcd -s -h -r

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /RebuildBcd

 

it showed that there was 1 identified Windows installation.

However, after I ended the repair console session and the machine rebooted, it went back to the blinking cursor and not booting to the hard disk.

 

Anyone has any idea how to fix this?

[anyweb]

what type of hardware do you have on this box with boot problems ?

[bingyeo]

what type of hardware do you have on this box with boot problems ?

 

 

I am installing W2k8 on a Hp Proliant DL140. I have about 30 of these servers which were previously used to run Linux. My previous booting problem with these servers was when I tried deploying W2k3 images using WDS on them for the first time, and after deployment, it would still try to load GRUB. I only managed to resolve this by running the repair console, and using FIXMBR and FIXBOOT before I was able to boot to the W2k3 image successfully.

 

However this does not seem to be a permanent solution as I have to FIXMBR and FIXBOOT each time after I redeploy an image onto any server which I had already performed this step before. It would just show a blinking cursor instead of GRUB.

 

Installing W2k3 from scratch however, does not give me this problem. I have an impression that it might be the previously installed Linux which is causing this boot problems, but I have no clue on what I should do to solve this.

[anyweb]

are the servers raid ? can you not do a low level format on the hard discs which should erase any/all boot records for ever and then do a new deployment on them ?

[bingyeo]

are the servers raid ? can you not do a low level format on the hard discs which should erase any/all boot records for ever and then do a new deployment on them ?

 

 

The servers come with 2 hard disks, 74 gigs each. I inherited them from another user who was running Linux on them, and he did not provide me with any documentation or info about the servers.

I checked the bootup process and the BIOS for any RAID controllers but didn't find anything.

 

I did do a deletion, creation and format of the partitions on the disks. Right now for this particular server, only C: has been created, with the rest of the disk spaced unpartitioned, but the boot issue persists.