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I've looked online but can't find a solution. On post it says press ctrl+r to enter configuration utility and i do that. it then says

1 virtual drives found on the host adapter
1 virtual drives offline

1 virtual drives handled by bios
Initializing HA - 0 (Bus 1 Dev 0). Please Wait...

Update It also says: Foreign configurations found on the adapter Press any key to continue or 'c' load the configuration utility or 'F' to import foreign configurations and continue

I've let it run for about an hour now and nothing has changed!

It is a dell power edge 2950. I really don't know that much about raid and stuff. The reason I want to reconfigure it is because I've added drives. (I just got this server a while ago and this is the first time ive been able to work on it) and they are not reconized on gparted or any linux installation. Please dumb it down because I'm only 14 and im just getting into making a home lab. (note: i paid for these servers with my own money and they were only 75 bucks but it was a really good deal)

Note: It has the same problem without drives!

Optiplex
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  • isnt this device in support of dell? – djdomi Dec 06 '20 at 08:13
  • @djdomi Likely not. A PE 2950 is a very old system. – Spencer Dec 06 '20 at 13:29
  • Optiplex, only particular Dell-certified models of hard drive will work in this system. What is the manufacturer and model of these drives? – Spencer Dec 06 '20 at 13:45
  • @Spencer It's been a while but I distinctly remember using non-Dell drives on PERC cards. In the late 2000s when this hardware was current. OP, these systems are nearly as old as you are, and unfortunately might not be worth what you paid for them unless they came with a LOT of RAM and disk. I also hope you have a plan for dealing with the noise. – Michael Hampton Dec 06 '20 at 13:54
  • @MichaelHampton OP's drives are likely modern ones, as the original owner likely removed the original drives and had them destroyed. – Spencer Dec 06 '20 at 14:08
  • @Spencer That could be, but I also would not be surprised to see that that didn't happen and OP has a stack of old 146GB (or even 73GB) SAS drives. – Michael Hampton Dec 06 '20 at 14:11
  • @Spencer I removed all the drives and am still having the same problem. – Optiplex Dec 07 '20 at 06:00
  • @MichaelHampton they are surprisingly quiet and they were upgraded from stock with some more ram and a much better processor! Must add i also got a Cisco router, Cisco 48 port switch(managed), and a 24 port netgear switch(unmanaged). plus a few books – Optiplex Dec 07 '20 at 06:00
  • Please update your post to indicate you have the same problem without any drives. It's a key clue. – Spencer Dec 07 '20 at 13:23
  • @Spencer I've updated it with more information. Thank you! – Optiplex Dec 08 '20 at 21:50

1 Answers1

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Since you have the same problem with no drives in the server, the problem lies in the Power Edge Raid Controller (PERC). I assume this is the built-in PERC 5/i card .

If you're willing to give up RAID, you can go into the system BIOS and disable the PERC card (integrated devices -> Integrated Raid Controller -> Disabled) (see here). IF you have compatible disks, then they should work independently (but you have no benefit from RAID).

However, if you want to try to get RAID to work, you could try downloading the PERC 5/i firmware from the Dell Support site and reinstalling it. If you enter the system's service tag it will give you a list of all drivers available for that system and links to download them.

I hope you have a floppy disk drive, because without an installed OS you will need to create bootable floppies to install BIOS and firmware on the server.

Spencer
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