We got a new DELL PowerEdge 1400SC server (Pentium III 2.8GHz, 512MB RAM, 18GB Ultra-160 SCSI 10K HDD, built-in Adaptec 2-channel Ultra-160 SCSI controller, 3-year warranty) to replace an aging Taiwanese server (ASUS motherboard) that had been intermittently locking up recently (the old server running Windows NT Server 4.0 had been very reliable for at least 4 years though, so I'm not knocking Taiwanese products). The DELL server only cost HK$8770 (US$1125) without an operating system. We purchased a Windows 2000 Server license for it though so yesterday I installed Windows 2000 Server and I only had 1 glitch during the Windows 2000 Server Setup. I got this error:
The following value in the .SIF file used by Setup is corrupted or missing: Value 1 on line 0 in section [Keyboard] Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.It stumped me for about 20 minutes (it was a continuous loop!) and I tried searching on the Web for answers but eventually, based on the error mentioning "Keyboard", I figured out that the keyboard was the problem. I had to swap out a cheap Filand-branded keyboard for an HP-branded one and that did the trick (disconnecting and reconnecting the Filand keyboard and rebooting didn't help). And so by yesterday afternoon, I had Windows 2000 Server installed.
This morning, I needed to transfer two 9GB Seagate SCSI hard disks, an Adaptec AHA-2940-UW SCSI controller, and an external HP SureStore DAT40 tape drive from the old server to the new DELL. Opening up the case and getting at the drive cages on the DELL was a snap! It's extremely well-designed and constructed and needless to say, I was impressed. Getting at the hard disks in the old server's case was just the opposite — it was like trying to work out a puzzle! The two old SCSI hard disks are 1" thick and they heat up quite a bit and so I wanted to ensure they had empty space above and below. I ended up mounting one in the last free 5.25" drive bay and the other two in the lower 3.5" drive cage with an empty slot in between. I needed to change the SCSI ID number on one of the old disks so I did a quick Google search for "ST19171W" (the model number of the old disks) and the very first item in the search results was just what I needed: ST19171W Illustrated Configuration. I used another SCSI cable to make use of the extra Ultra-160 channel on the motherboard, hooked up all 3 disks, added in the Adaptec card, connected the external tape drive and powered up the system. To my amazement, Windows 2000 Server recognized all the new devices, asked to be rebooted, and then everything worked! I was very impressed at how smooth all of this went.
Posted by derek at January 17, 2003 05:06 PM