Using a DELL 2600 PowerEdge as a Desktop PC

[jamesjaddah1755]

I picked up a DELL PowerEdge 2600.

The system has a 3+Ghz CPU, 4gb of ram, and four SCSI drives.

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...2000ServerF2_zps54049a5e.jpg.html?sort=3&o=69

I want to use it to store data and do basic things like play Mp3s and DVDs,as well as connect my scanner to it and just use it as an internet pc.

So I’ll need to add an audio card. (And possibly a graphics card if needed). I’d also want to replace the tape back-up unit with a DVD drive. (Andput my multi-card reader in the floppy bay if that is possible).

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...0ServerOpen1_zps92d1678f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=73

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...ServerFront1_zps05eeed16.jpg.html?sort=3&o=72

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...Motherboard1_zpsd7c864f9.jpg.html?sort=3&o=71

I want to clean the system and install Windows XP. Any ideas on the best way to approach this and any hardware recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

As for my first boot attempt I got as far as this screen: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...n2000Server_zps2307ecdd.jpg..html?sort=3&o=70

And then an orange light began blinking on the front of the case.

On the next boot up I made it as for as the password screen: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...rverPassword_zps1ccf8057.jpg.html?sort=3&o=68

But I still get the blinking orange light. (Perhaps I didn’t re-seat all of the drives properly?).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I picked up a DELL PowerEdge 2600.

The system has a 3+Ghz CPU, 4gb of ram, and four SCSI drives.

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...2000ServerF2_zps54049a5e.jpg.html?sort=3&o=69

I want to use it to store data and do basic things like play Mp3s and DVDs, as well as connect my scanner to it and just use it as an internet pc.

So I’ll need to add an audio card. (And possibly a graphics card if needed). I’d also want to replace the tape back-up unit with a DVD drive. (And put my multi-card reader in the floppy bay if that is possible).

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...0ServerOpen1_zps92d1678f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=73

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...ServerFront1_zps05eeed16.jpg.html?sort=3&o=72

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...Motherboard1_zpsd7c864f9.jpg.html?sort=3&o=71

I want to clean the system and install Windows XP. Any ideas on the best way to approach this and any hardware recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

As for my first boot attempt I got as far as this screen: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...in2000Server_zps2307ecdd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=70

And then an orange light began blinking on the front of the case.

On the next boot up I made it as for as the password screen: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...rverPassword_zps1ccf8057.jpg.html?sort=3&o=68

But I still get the blinking orange light. (Perhaps I didn’t re-seat all of the drives properly?).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

There is at least one "diagnostic" package on this site,
that is "OS independent". You could try that if you're
bored. DELL_32-BIT-DIAGNOSTICS_5114-2_R206154.exe is for
Windows. EL5114A0.bin is for Linux. You use the download
on a working system, to create bootable media. The wording
of the package, doesn't suggest the diagnostic is custom
made for the 2600, but I could be wrong.

http://ftp.dell.com/Pages/Drivers/poweredge-xeo2600.html

The video driver listed is ATI RAGE XL. I think that
means the video chip is on the motherboard, and not
a removable card.

The slot mix shows mostly 64 bit 3.3V PCI slots. And
while video cards were made for that, they're not
"gamer cards". I think Matrox used to make cards
suitable for that slot, probably in the $500 region.
And the reason is, the slot is so obscure. So if
you wanted to do a video upgrade, unless I'm missing
a slot, the pickings are going to be relatively
crappy (at least, for video playback acceleration).
There is a 5V 33Mhz 32 bit slot (desktop compatible),
but then that's no better than all the PCI slots you had
on your other hardware. You can get PCI cards for that,
brand new. We've probably discussed the bandwidth limitations
with such solutions. My FX5200 PCI would fit in that
slot. The keying might prevent my video card from fitting
in the 3.3V longer slots.

At least, with a 3GHz processor, you might be able to
do some decoding in software, and have enough horsepower.

So go prepare your "diagnostic CD" and see what it can
diagnose. Try booting with that.

*******

Some specs for the 2600.

https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/servers/docs/PowerEdge-2600/en/Pe2600/UG/5j718aa0.htm

*******

System service manual. Page 15 shows system board LEDs
and what they mean. Page 8 has front panel LEDs in a
table near the top of the page. The page 8 info is
delightfully devoid of details. The LEDs indicate
a "problem".

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_poweredge/poweredge-xeo2600_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

There is at least one "diagnostic" package on this site,

that is "OS independent". You could try that if you're

bored. DELL_32-BIT-DIAGNOSTICS_5114-2_R206154.exe is for

Windows. EL5114A0.bin is for Linux. You use the download

on a working system, to create bootable media. The wording

of the package, doesn't suggest the diagnostic is custom

made for the 2600, but I could be wrong.



http://ftp.dell.com/Pages/Drivers/poweredge-xeo2600.html



The video driver listed is ATI RAGE XL. I think that

means the video chip is on the motherboard, and not

a removable card.



The slot mix shows mostly 64 bit 3.3V PCI slots. And

while video cards were made for that, they're not

"gamer cards". I think Matrox used to make cards

suitable for that slot, probably in the $500 region.

And the reason is, the slot is so obscure. So if

you wanted to do a video upgrade, unless I'm missing

a slot, the pickings are going to be relatively

crappy (at least, for video playback acceleration).

There is a 5V 33Mhz 32 bit slot (desktop compatible),

but then that's no better than all the PCI slots you had

on your other hardware. You can get PCI cards for that,

brand new. We've probably discussed the bandwidth limitations

with such solutions. My FX5200 PCI would fit in that

slot. The keying might prevent my video card from fitting

in the 3.3V longer slots.



At least, with a 3GHz processor, you might be able to

do some decoding in software, and have enough horsepower.



So go prepare your "diagnostic CD" and see what it can

diagnose. Try booting with that.



*******



Some specs for the 2600.



https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/servers/docs/PowerEdge-2600/en/Pe2600/UG/5j718aa0.htm



*******



System service manual. Page 15 shows system board LEDs

and what they mean. Page 8 has front panel LEDs in a

table near the top of the page. The page 8 info is

delightfully devoid of details. The LEDs indicate

a "problem".



ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_poweredge/poweredge-xeo2600_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf



Paul

I'm still working on installing a PDF viewer on my system so I can take a better look at the manual, but I'm stuck at go since I cannot burn a CD. Nevertheless, since I can make it as far as the password screen I first want to reformat and then install Windows XP and then see if I have any problems.

This picture is a better view of the motherboard, which has only a single Adaptec SCSI card plugged into a PCI slot: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...omputer/DELLServerMotherboard_zpsb10f583c.jpg

What I thought looked like a floppy drive says "Compact Disc", but the opening is too small to take standard compact disks so I'm not sure what it is for. ?!?

But I want to replace the tape drive below it with a DVD player:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...ter/DELLCDampTapeDrives-Front_zps04b33705.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...uter/DELLCDampTapeDrives-Rear_zpse4c2947a.jpg

Also, I'm not sure what this is, but this card is located on the side of the cage that contains the four SCSI hard drives: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...omputer/DELLServerMysteryCard_zpse60859d4.jpg

There of course are limited options to begin with, but it does have two USBports at the rear: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...DELLMotherboardInputs-Outputs_zps689bff57.jpg

Is there a PCI card/s I can get that will allow me to run an IDE DVD playerand/or a printer and/or IDE hard drives? I'm assuming I can use them alongside of the SCSI drives. (An Adaptec SCSI card is the only thing plugged into a PCI slot).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I'm still working on installing a PDF viewer on my system so I can
take a better look at the manual, but I'm stuck at go since I cannot
burn a CD. Nevertheless, since I can make it as far as the password
screen I first want to reformat and then install Windows XP and then
see if I have any problems.

This picture is a better view of the motherboard, which has only a
single Adaptec SCSI card plugged into a PCI slot:

What I thought looked like a floppy drive says "Compact Disc", but
the opening is too small to take standard compact disks so I'm not
sure what it is for. ?!?

But I want to replace the tape drive below it with a DVD player:

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...ter/DELLCDampTapeDrives-Front_zps04b33705.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...uter/DELLCDampTapeDrives-Rear_zpse4c2947a.jpg

Also, I'm not sure what this is, but this card is located on the side
of the cage that contains the four SCSI hard drives:

There of course are limited options to begin with, but it does have
two USB ports at the rear:

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...DELLMotherboardInputs-Outputs_zps689bff57.jpg

Is there a PCI card/s I can get that will allow me to run an IDE DVD
player and/or a printer and/or IDE hard drives? I'm assuming I can use
them along side of the SCSI drives. (An Adaptec SCSI card is the only
thing plugged into a PCI slot).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Another manual you can look at.

http://support.dell.com/support/sys...file=/systems/pe2600/en/sm/remove.htm#1101823

*******

The unknown thing is a "SCSI backplane daughtercard" with
a Qlogic controller.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWERE...ARD-R0208-3D735-R0273-CN-0R0208-/251248248005

Apparently, if you look, you'll see SCA bays for SCSI drives
with SCA connectors on them. Could be 80 pin (while your daughtercard
seems to have a 60 pin on it). Sun Microsystems used that sort of thing (SCA 80),
and there was some sort of lever-action, to ease the drive into the bay,
and mate the SCA connector on the drive, with the backplane. The daughtercard,
is for adapting the backplane, to something on the motherboard. Exactly what,
I don't know. Is a SCSI controller involved ? That's probably what is
plugged into your 64/66 slot. Is a RAID controller involved ?
If we knew what the Qlogic chip did, we might get an answer.

Your machine doesn't appear to have IDE or SATA connectors.
I don't see a floppy connector.

To install WinXP, you'll need a driver for the SCSI disk drive.
You press F6 and offer drivers on a floppy diskette (TXTSETUP.oem type).

An alternative, is to slipstream the appropriate driver, into a
new installer CD. You take your original WinXP CD, read it into
this program, add the appropriate driver, burn a new CD, boot
and install with that. Then, no need to press F6, no need for
a floppy drive.

(See "Integrate Drivers" button here...)

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html

So you'd be looking for a txtsetup.oem flavor driver
for the SCSI card on the motherboard. Something like that.

Even if you get an IDE card, that's still going to need a
driver. If you had a Promise ATA133 card for example, it
would need some sort of driver. This VIA based card would
need a driver as well (pray it is on the included CD).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132012

I don't think any PCI IDE cards are as convenient as my Jmicron chip,
which doesn't need a driver. You'd still want to look at integrating
a driver into a new installer CD, to avoid the need for the
floppy.

You can get floppy drives with a USB cable on the end, but
I don't know if WinXP recognizes that as A:\ or not. In some
cases, you have to convince the motherboard to disable the
(non-existent) floppy interface on the SuperI/O chip, before
a USB floppy is recognized as A:. (That's what I experienced here.)

The USB floppy, I'm not sure they make controller chips any more
for it, so they can't manufacture any new ones. If your motherboard
doesn't pin out the floppy interface on the SuperI/O, then life is
a bit hard.

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

Another manual you can look at.



http://support.dell.com/support/sys...file=/systems/pe2600/en/sm/remove.htm#1101823



*******



The unknown thing is a "SCSI backplane daughtercard" with

a Qlogic controller.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWERE...ARD-R0208-3D735-R0273-CN-0R0208-/251248248005



Apparently, if you look, you'll see SCA bays for SCSI drives

with SCA connectors on them. Could be 80 pin (while your daughtercard

seems to have a 60 pin on it). Sun Microsystems used that sort of thing (SCA 80),

and there was some sort of lever-action, to ease the drive into the bay,

and mate the SCA connector on the drive, with the backplane. The daughtercard,

is for adapting the backplane, to something on the motherboard. Exactly what,

I don't know. Is a SCSI controller involved ? That's probably what is

plugged into your 64/66 slot. Is a RAID controller involved ?

If we knew what the Qlogic chip did, we might get an answer.



Your machine doesn't appear to have IDE or SATA connectors.

I don't see a floppy connector.



To install WinXP, you'll need a driver for the SCSI disk drive.

You press F6 and offer drivers on a floppy diskette (TXTSETUP.oem type).



An alternative, is to slipstream the appropriate driver, into a

new installer CD. You take your original WinXP CD, read it into

this program, add the appropriate driver, burn a new CD, boot

and install with that. Then, no need to press F6, no need for

a floppy drive.



(See "Integrate Drivers" button here...)



http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html



So you'd be looking for a txtsetup.oem flavor driver

for the SCSI card on the motherboard. Something like that.



Even if you get an IDE card, that's still going to need a

driver. If you had a Promise ATA133 card for example, it

would need some sort of driver. This VIA based card would

need a driver as well (pray it is on the included CD).



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132012



I don't think any PCI IDE cards are as convenient as my Jmicron chip,

which doesn't need a driver. You'd still want to look at integrating

a driver into a new installer CD, to avoid the need for the

floppy.



You can get floppy drives with a USB cable on the end, but

I don't know if WinXP recognizes that as A:\ or not. In some

cases, you have to convince the motherboard to disable the

(non-existent) floppy interface on the SuperI/O chip, before

a USB floppy is recognized as A:. (That's what I experienced here.)



The USB floppy, I'm not sure they make controller chips any more

for it, so they can't manufacture any new ones. If your motherboard

doesn't pin out the floppy interface on the SuperI/O, then life is

a bit hard.



Paul

I'm confused about everything above.

I just want to *erase* Windows 2000 Server.

I can't burn CDs.

I can get as far as the password screen.(I don't have the password). So I'dhave to find out how to reformat the drive/s on boot-up.

But I of course would need to be able to install my DVD/CD player so I can install Windows XP.

I'm wondering if there is a PCI card available that will allow me to run anIDE hard drive. But I already have four SCSI drives in the case, so I assume they would run if the drivers weren't already installed. So if I find a way to reformat them I'd need new drivers because Windows XP doesn't support SCSI, correct?

There is an Adaptec SCSI card plugged into a PCI slot and a cable witch runs from it to the DAT72 Tape drive: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...ELLCDampTapeDrives-Front_zps04b33705.jpg.html

Right above that tape drive is what *looks* like a floppy, but if you look at it carefully it says "Compact Disc". CDs of course will not fit into it,so I assume that it is really a floppy drive. (?). Nevertheless, I don't need a floppy drive.

You can see the rear connections of the Tape drive and the "Compact Disc" drives here: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...DELLCDampTapeDrives-Rear_zpse4c2947a.jpg.html

The only SCSI capability I need are for the SCSI hard drives already in thecase and working.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I'm confused about everything above.

I just want to *erase* Windows 2000 Server.

I can't burn CDs.

I can get as far as the password screen.(I don't have the password). So I'd have to find out how to reformat the drive/s on boot-up.

But I of course would need to be able to install my DVD/CD player so I can install Windows XP.

I'm wondering if there is a PCI card available that will allow me to run an IDE hard drive. But I already have four SCSI drives in the case, so I assume they would run if the drivers weren't already installed. So if I find a way to reformat them I'd need new drivers because Windows XP doesn't support SCSI, correct?

There is an Adaptec SCSI card plugged into a PCI slot and a cable witch runs from it to the DAT72 Tape drive: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...ELLCDampTapeDrives-Front_zps04b33705.jpg.html

Right above that tape drive is what *looks* like a floppy, but if you look at it carefully it says "Compact Disc". CDs of course will not fit into it, so I assume that it is really a floppy drive. (?). Nevertheless, I don't need a floppy drive.

You can see the rear connections of the Tape drive and the "Compact Disc" drives here: http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...DELLCDampTapeDrives-Rear_zpse4c2947a.jpg.html

The only SCSI capability I need are for the SCSI hard drives already in the case and working.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Instead of being confused, we could look for another solution

Have you considered resetting the password on Win2K Server ?

Look for a password reset tool. At least, as long as the password
you're looking at, isn't a BIOS password. If you've been in the
BIOS setup screen, it might not be that. If you're seeing the
logjn prompt for Win2K Server, then you need some kind of tool
to reset the password. (Not just change the password, but make
the password blank.)

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

*******

A PCI IDE card, has a BIOS chip on it. And that allows the PCI IDE card,
to control an IDE CDROM or DVD drive, and even, allow the booting
of a CD or DVD with the drive. No driver is needed to kick off that
process. Inside the PCI IDE card EEPROM, is Extended INT 0x13 BIOS
code, and it supports reading the hard drive or optical drive.

The other level of operation, is when an OS is actually running. The OS
has its own drivers. The only OS I know of, that continues to use the
BIOS driver, is DOS. Other OSes make you install a (higher performance)
driver for the hardware in the box. That's where that floppy diskette
based F6 driver comes in.

So your PCI IDE card works right away. It allows a CD to be booted.
That's how you'd install WinXP, or run a password cracker or resetter,
or a copy of a Linux LiveCD OS.

As for what's SCSI and what isn't, they make both SCSI optical
drives and SCSI tape drives. I suspect the entire box is SCSI.
The SCA 80 bays are SCSI. I see a 2x3 configuration on the front.
Could be two SCSI bus segments, of three slots each.

Your front view, I see a CD tray at the top. The rectangular button
opens the CD tray. It's a low profile drive (laptop drive),
which means the CD pushed down onto an expansion hub.
Below it, is a... floppy drive. Below that, is a tape drive.
[My best guesses looking at the pictures.]

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/5067/1sid.jpg

You're not driving a desktop here - this is a server.
We aren't in Kansas any more, Toto. We're somewhere
else. You don't buy a box like this, without a little
planning ahead of time. The only thing that's surprised me
so far, is your box boots to a password prompt. Many other
Ebay buyers, get stuck with a non-working box that needs a
lot of effort to even see a password prompt. (That's because
the seller parts the thing out, and removes a critical element,
or even, sells the OS separately.) I think you're doing damn
good so far.

Paul

 

[Paul]

That is a project you should work on first.

You should have a stack of re-writable media,
and a burner. As you can get yourself out of
a lot of binds with burner in hand. Like the
password reset disc. Re-writable media is
more expensive, but you can use it more than
once (quick erase, followed by burn).

And for a basic burning software, you can
use Imgburn. Just remember to turn off the
audio prompt feature, as the first time it'll
blow your eardrums out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgburn

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:






That is a project you should work on first.



You should have a stack of re-writable media,

and a burner. As you can get yourself out of

a lot of binds with burner in hand. Like the

password reset disc. Re-writable media is

more expensive, but you can use it more than

once (quick erase, followed by burn).



And for a basic burning software, you can

use Imgburn. Just remember to turn off the

audio prompt feature, as the first time it'll

blow your eardrums out



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgburn



Paul

I actually have two stacks of writable disks.

My burners haven't/can't been used because of problems with my "present working" systems. The final acting s though it is ready to die, which is why I'm trying to get this server working fast. (I think NERO came with my DVD drives).

Ok, that is a CD player over a floppy drive. I didn't know. I had never seen a low profile CD player before.

I hadn't though about resetting the password on the server because I didn't think I could use the system for basic stuff like surfing the internet and playing MP3s/DVDs using Windows Server 2000.

How is this for an IDE PCI card?: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4002182680.html

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I actually have two stacks of writable disks.

My burners haven't/can't been used because of problems with my "present working" systems. The final acting s though it is ready to die, which is why I'm trying to get this server working fast. (I think NERO came with my DVD drives).

Ok, that is a CD player over a floppy drive. I didn't know. I had never seen a low profile CD player before.

I hadn't though about resetting the password on the server because I didn't think I could use the system for basic stuff like surfing the internet and playing MP3s/DVDs using Windows Server 2000.

How is this for an IDE PCI card?: http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4002182680.html

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Does your Craigslist thing work with ATAPI (optical drives) ?

With RAID controllers, you want a JBOD mode of operation
for running individual hard drives. In a few cases, products
only support RAID, so there would be a two disk minimum. The
product in question is quite old, and would be fun finding
documentation for it.

At one time, Maxtor did a promotion, where they included
an IDE controller card, inside the box their disk drives came
in. I got one of these. The Ultra133 ones, as far as I know,
do ATAPI OK. These can either be sold as Promise Ultra133,
or sport the word "Maxtor" on the front, if they were
from the batch of Maxtor promotional cards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxtor-Ultr...sk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item1c339f4a51

Promise stopped making those cards probably five years ago,
and yet Ebay is still offering "new" ones from China. Things
that make you go "hmmm".

Paul

 

[Paul]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

Does your Craigslist thing work with ATAPI (optical drives) ?

With RAID controllers, you want a JBOD mode of operation
for running individual hard drives. In a few cases, products
only support RAID, so there would be a two disk minimum. The
product in question is quite old, and would be fun finding
documentation for it.

At one time, Maxtor did a promotion, where they included
an IDE controller card, inside the box their disk drives came
in. I got one of these. The Ultra133 ones, as far as I know,
do ATAPI OK. These can either be sold as Promise Ultra133,
or sport the word "Maxtor" on the front, if they were
from the batch of Maxtor promotional cards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxtor-Ultr...sk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item1c339f4a51


Promise stopped making those cards probably five years ago,
and yet Ebay is still offering "new" ones from China. Things
that make you go "hmmm".

Paul

Also, I just noticed in the picture of that card, the dude broke
the corner off one of the connectors. Priceless Makes you
wonder whether the pins are bent or not...

Also, when you look at those cards, they're dual keyed on voltage.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Promise-Ult...sk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item27c3e71e8d

Both the 5V and 3.3V slots are present. It's just possible
the card will work in your 64/66 slots. If you do that,
you'd want some info on whether your machine has more
than one bus segment, then make sure the SCSI controller
card and that card, are on different segments. I don't know
if you're allowed to mix 32 and 64 bit cards on the same
segment.

The bus segments are detailed here.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/1466/t/7648445.aspx

"The PowerEdge 2600 has 7 PCI slots total

two 64-bit/133MHz PCI-X
four 64-bit/100MHz PCI-X
one 32-bit/33Mhz PCI

The two 64-bit/133Mhz PCI-X slots run on dedicated bus segments
improving bandwidth dramatically."

You'd want the SCSI card in one of the 64-bit/133 slots.
Then you could stick the 3.3V Promise, into one of the 64-bit/100 slots,
and it would run 32-bit/66Mhz (twice what it does when in a desktop).

You're not likely to find a lot of cards to match the electrical
characteristics of the Promise, so the other three slots on the
four slot segment are likely to remain empty.

There were a few products made, with virtually "anything goes"
capability (some Adaptec cards). For most others, there
are a whole bunch of rules to follow. And at this late date,
digging up good info on PCI wouldn't be all that easy.

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

Does your Craigslist thing work with ATAPI (optical drives) ?



With RAID controllers, you want a JBOD mode of operation

for running individual hard drives. In a few cases, products

only support RAID, so there would be a two disk minimum. The

product in question is quite old, and would be fun finding

documentation for it.



At one time, Maxtor did a promotion, where they included

an IDE controller card, inside the box their disk drives came

in. I got one of these. The Ultra133 ones, as far as I know,

do ATAPI OK. These can either be sold as Promise Ultra133,

or sport the word "Maxtor" on the front, if they were

from the batch of Maxtor promotional cards.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxtor-Ultr...sk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item1c339f4a51



Promise stopped making those cards probably five years ago,

and yet Ebay is still offering "new" ones from China. Things

that make you go "hmmm".



Paul

The seller never got back to me, but I found another:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4082191520.html

That have 8 IDE connections, but I really only need one and perhaps I should look for a card that allows for SATA drives also.

I'm assuming getting the cards from China on Ebay would be a crap-shoot: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=Ultra+133+PCI+IDE+SATA&_sop=15

But there are other options: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...CI+IDE+SATA&_nkw=ATA133+PCI+IDE+SATA&_sacat=0

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

The seller never got back to me, but I found another:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4082191520.html

That have 8 IDE connections, but I really only need one and perhaps I should look for a card that allows for SATA drives also.

I'm assuming getting the cards from China on Ebay would be a crap-shoot: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=Ultra+133+PCI+IDE+SATA&_sop=15

But there are other options: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...CI+IDE+SATA&_nkw=ATA133+PCI+IDE+SATA&_sacat=0

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

At the current time, there are a fair number of
products using VIA 6421 chips. That's two SATA ports
and one IDE port (one ribbon cable). The SATA ports
are SATA I rate.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/peripherals/serial-ata_raid/

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/peripherals/serial-ata_raid/vt6421a/

A typical VT6421A card, with two internal SATA connectors, and one IDE. $15.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/16-132-012-12.jpg

*******

According to Larry

http://al.howardknight.net/[email protected]>

when you buy a card like that, you want the VT6421A chip, as it's
more likely to work with a SATA II drive. There was VT6421 and
VT6421A and the "A" version is supposed to be fixed for SATA.

"AFAIK, only older SiS and VIA chipsets
(VIA VT6420, VT8237, VT8237R, VT8237R+, VT8237A)
can't handle SATA 3Gb/s drives.

but VT8237S and VT6421A are OK"

I have a VT8237S here, and can vouch for it being "fixed".
I don't own any VT6421A cards. The IDE connector will
work in any case.

What happens if the chip isn't a "fixed" one, is the
SATA disk is not detected, due to speed negotiation failing to
work. (VIA chip doesn't convince the interface to run at
SATA I rates.) I've never seen any scope traces, to see
what the parties on either end of the SATA cable, are
trying to do in such a situation.

*******

With regard to the Escalade, where are you going to find
help and support for this ? Even if it supports JBOD and
single disks, it might not work with an optical drive (ATAPI).

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4082191520.html

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

At the current time, there are a fair number of

products using VIA 6421 chips. That's two SATA ports

and one IDE port (one ribbon cable). The SATA ports

are SATA I rate.



http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/peripherals/serial-ata_raid/



http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/peripherals/serial-ata_raid/vt6421a/



A typical VT6421A card, with two internal SATA connectors, and one IDE. $15.



http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/16-132-012-12.jpg



*******



According to Larry



http://al.howardknight.net/[email protected]>



when you buy a card like that, you want the VT6421A chip, as it's

more likely to work with a SATA II drive. There was VT6421 and

VT6421A and the "A" version is supposed to be fixed for SATA.



"AFAIK, only older SiS and VIA chipsets

(VIA VT6420, VT8237, VT8237R, VT8237R+, VT8237A)

can't handle SATA 3Gb/s drives.



but VT8237S and VT6421A are OK"



I have a VT8237S here, and can vouch for it being "fixed".

I don't own any VT6421A cards. The IDE connector will

work in any case.



What happens if the chip isn't a "fixed" one, is the

SATA disk is not detected, due to speed negotiation failing to

work. (VIA chip doesn't convince the interface to run at

SATA I rates.) I've never seen any scope traces, to see

what the parties on either end of the SATA cable, are

trying to do in such a situation.



*******



With regard to the Escalade, where are you going to find

help and support for this ? Even if it supports JBOD and

single disks, it might not work with an optical drive (ATAPI).



http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sys/4082191520.html



Paul

Ok, these have the VT6421A chip, so one of them should work:
www.ebay.com/itm/161064813022
www.ebay.com/itm/170332514420
www.ebay.com/itm/350555428799

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

Ok, these have the VT6421A chip, so one of them should work:
www.ebay.com/itm/161064813022
www.ebay.com/itm/170332514420
www.ebay.com/itm/350555428799

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Yes, these look like a good candidate for a cheap IDE.

The keying on the card is 5V I think, so the card
should fit in your single 33MHz, 32 bit PCI slot.

(Second down, on the left)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PCI_Keying.png

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

Yes, these look like a good candidate for a cheap IDE.



The keying on the card is 5V I think, so the card

should fit in your single 33MHz, 32 bit PCI slot.



(Second down, on the left)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PCI_Keying.png



Paul

First, I have the face plate off of the cabinet and there is no way to turn the machine on or off outside of plugging/unplugging the AC cord. (The orange light that was blinking on the front is gone).

BTW. F2 = Setup, F10 = Utility Mode, and F12 = PXE Boot.

Anyway, after looking in the manual I found the information concerning the jumpers for the password is confusing, so I just took both of the jumpers off. (I think that was what I'm suppoed to do).

It seems to have no effect, because I still can only get as far as the screen where I have to enter the password.

I then attempted to take the battery out, but I must have pulled too hard because one side of the battery holder detached from the motherboard.
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...uter/Battery_zpsbf5d507d.jpg.html?sort=3&o=69

My next boot attempt gave me a screen that said "No Boot Device".
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...NoBootDevice_zps08510b11.jpg.html?sort=3&o=68

So I re-booted while pushing down on the battery only to get a screen that said "Invalid Configuration".
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...onfiguration_zps068ebb4c.jpg.html?sort=3&o=71

BTW. If I can correct these problems I notice that there is an option in Setup that says "OS Install Mode". Would I need to turn that on to install a new OS?
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...SInstallMode_zps6194f23d.jpg.html?sort=3&o=70

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

First, I have the face plate off of the cabinet and there is no way to turn
the machine on or off outside of plugging/unplugging the AC cord. (The orange
light that was blinking on the front is gone).

As a general rule (haven't seen an exception yet), the power signal
and the reset signal on the front, are momentary contact active low.
The power pair, consists of POWER- and GND, and touching the two together
for a moment, triggers power on. I do that on systems here, with the tip
of a slot head screwdriver. As long as you can identify bits of exposed
metal or pins corresponding to those two, you can turn it on.

The RESET- and GND are similar. Touch the two together for just a moment,
and the machine will be reset.

In an emergency, you can even swap the POWER and RESET cable pairs, and
use the RESET button as a POWER button. (As RESET isn't used quite as much,
and you could live without a RESET button, using the RESET button to take
the place of a broken POWER button.

So you weren't as "disabled" as first appeared. Just a matter of finding
out where the cable goes, and touching the two pins.

To turn the power off, can require making contact between POWER- and GND
for a period of four seconds or longer. When turning off the power,
a timer is used, and so the momentary contact in that case must be maintained
for a four second interval.

BTW. F2 = Setup, F10 = Utility Mode, and F12 = PXE Boot.

Anyway, after looking in the manual I found the information concerning the
jumpers for the password is confusing, so I just took both of the jumpers off.
(I think that was what I'm suppoed to do).

To reset the password, you remove the jumper on PASSWD.

To clear the NVRAM (CMOS), you insert its jumper. You only use
the jumper long enough to clear the settings, then the jumper
will be coming off again.

The manual says to remove system power while fooling around
with those. I suspect the NVRAM one is the most dangerous,
in terms of damaging the ORing diode for 3VSB. But in any case,
follow the instructions in the manual, when it says to remove
system power (unplug).

It seems to have no effect, because I still can only get as far as the screen
where I have to enter the password.

Make sure you are following the procedure in the manual.

"The existing passwords are not disabled (erased) until the
system boots with the password jumper plug removed. However,
before you assign a new system and/or setup password, you
must install the jumper plug."

The system has to see the PASSWD jumper plug removed, to disable the
password for that cycle. It could be a write enable signal for
an EEPROM, rather than a traditional resetting jumper for all I know.

I then attempted to take the battery out, but I must have pulled too
hard because one side of the battery holder detached from the motherboard.
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...uter/Battery_zpsbf5d507d.jpg.html?sort=3&o=69

You villain

Those are always tricky. And in this case, I would have
advised against attacking it. Unless the thing is flat,
leave it alone

My next boot attempt gave me a screen that said "No Boot Device".
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...NoBootDevice_zps08510b11.jpg.html?sort=3&o=68

That means you've managed to "NVRAM" clear. Losing the battery
caused the settings to be lost.

If you wrote down all the settings, you can power up the system,
enter the BIOS, and load all the necessary settings by hand. They
will stay there, until the next power failure. Then you have to
enter them again.

As I have several systems here with flat batteries, I'm quite used
to running systems that way (load settings, then use the computer).

So I re-booted while pushing down on the battery only to get a screen that said "Invalid Configuration".
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...onfiguration_zps068ebb4c.jpg.html?sort=3&o=71

It says to press F2 to enter the BIOS.

Good luck getting the correct settings in there.
You should really have taken digital camera photos of each setup
screen page, for future reference. Now, you're screwed
Part of the fun is things like the SCSI setup.

BTW. If I can correct these problems I notice that there is an option in Setup that says "OS Install Mode". Would I need to turn that on to install a new OS?
http://s290.photobucket.com/user/St...SInstallMode_zps6194f23d.jpg.html?sort=3&o=70

OS Install Mode restricts the amount of RAM the system gets to use.
It would be for situations where an OS cannot understand large
amounts of memory. For example, if installing Windows 98, you might
engage that. For most other purpose, leave it off so all memory
is always detected.

"OS Install Mode — Determines the maximum amount of memory available
to the operating system. On sets the maximum memory available to the
operating system to 256 MB. Off (default) makes all of the system
memory available to the operating system. Some operating systems will
not install with more than 2 GB of system memory. Turn this option On
during operating system installation and Off after installation."

The CMOS battery issue isn't the end of the world. What concerns
me now, is will you ever figure out how all those BIOS settings
should be configured ? It's a server, and should be a real challenge.

HTH,
Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

As a general rule (haven't seen an exception yet), the power signal

and the reset signal on the front, are momentary contact active low.

The power pair, consists of POWER- and GND, and touching the two together

for a moment, triggers power on. I do that on systems here, with the tip

of a slot head screwdriver. As long as you can identify bits of exposed

metal or pins corresponding to those two, you can turn it on.

There is only a power on/off switch. No reset button.

The RESET- and GND are similar. Touch the two together for just a moment,

and the machine will be reset.



In an emergency, you can even swap the POWER and RESET cable pairs, and

use the RESET button as a POWER button. (As RESET isn't used quite as much,

and you could live without a RESET button, using the RESET button to take

the place of a broken POWER button.



So you weren't as "disabled" as first appeared. Just a matter of finding

out where the cable goes, and touching the two pins.



To turn the power off, can require making contact between POWER- and GND

for a period of four seconds or longer. When turning off the power,

a timer is used, and so the momentary contact in that case must be maintained

for a four second interval.









To reset the password, you remove the jumper on PASSWD.



To clear the NVRAM (CMOS), you insert its jumper. You only use

the jumper long enough to clear the settings, then the jumper

will be coming off again.



The manual says to remove system power while fooling around

with those. I suspect the NVRAM one is the most dangerous,

in terms of damaging the ORing diode for 3VSB. But in any case,

follow the instructions in the manual, when it says to remove

system power (unplug).








Make sure you are following the procedure in the manual.



"The existing passwords are not disabled (erased) until the

system boots with the password jumper plug removed. However,

before you assign a new system and/or setup password, you

must install the jumper plug."



The system has to see the PASSWD jumper plug removed, to disable the

password for that cycle. It could be a write enable signal for

an EEPROM, rather than a traditional resetting jumper for all I know.

The password and CMOS consist of two 3-pin connectors on the motherboard. Ihad taken each 2-pin jumper off of both.

Since this did not clear the password (or CMOS for that matter? I assumed that replacing the jumpers in the lower position might work. (But I never got to that because of what happened when I attempted to remove the battery).

You villain



Those are always tricky. And in this case, I would have

advised against attacking it. Unless the thing is flat,

leave it alone

Well, I didn't know that. In the past I've temporarily removed or changed the battery on many other motherboards without issue.

That means you've managed to "NVRAM" clear. Losing the battery

caused the settings to be lost.



If you wrote down all the settings, you can power up the system,

enter the BIOS, and load all the necessary settings by hand. They

will stay there, until the next power failure. Then you have to

enter them again.



As I have several systems here with flat batteries, I'm quite used

to running systems that way (load settings, then use the computer).








It says to press F2 to enter the BIOS.



Good luck getting the correct settings in there.

You should really have taken digital camera photos of each setup

screen page, for future reference. Now, you're screwed

Part of the fun is things like the SCSI setup.

What settings in the CMOS have to be correct in order to get back to the password screen? (Which I assume is still uncleared).

Am I supposed to research information on the motherboard, hard drives, CD/Floppy/Tape drive, ram, and Adaptec SCSI card for information on what settings are needed? Or is it a matter of trial and error, rolling the dice with different settings?

There is a single screen in BIOS that you have to scroll down a little to see everything.

I would have included a picture of the BIOS screen, but today as feared theimminent failure of the pc I was using occurred and as a result I have to way to tranfer the image from my camera to a computer. (I was trying to getthe DELL 2600 up and running so I could avoid all my data loss).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

There is only a power on/off switch. No reset button.


The password and CMOS consist of two 3-pin connectors on the motherboard. I had taken each 2-pin jumper off of both.

Since this did not clear the password (or CMOS for that matter? I assumed that replacing the jumpers in the lower position might work. (But I never got to that because of what happened when I attempted to remove the battery).


Well, I didn't know that. In the past I've temporarily removed or changed the battery on many other motherboards without issue.


What settings in the CMOS have to be correct in order to get back to the password screen? (Which I assume is still uncleared).

Am I supposed to research information on the motherboard, hard drives, CD/Floppy/Tape drive, ram, and Adaptec SCSI card for information on what settings are needed? Or is it a matter of trial and error, rolling the dice with different settings?

There is a single screen in BIOS that you have to scroll down a little to see everything.

I would have included a picture of the BIOS screen, but today as feared the imminent failure of the pc I was using occurred and as a result I have to way to tranfer the image from my camera to a computer. (I was trying to get the DELL 2600 up and running so I could avoid all my data loss).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Whereas normal BIOS have a menu along the top, this menu is based on hitting
enter on the appropriate line in the main screen (depicted here).

This person is setting the hard drive boot order, using the Hard Disk
Drive Sequence entry. This is a picture, when the SCSI card is removed
and a TX2300 is in place.

http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1021.jpg

And this would be with the original hardware.

http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1016.jpg

As long as you know how to set everything in that screen
(and at the levels below the main screen), you should be OK
without a battery. If the power goes off, you just end up entering
the settings again.

The SCSI card has an INT 0x13 BIOS ROM on board, and when
that code is loaded, it prints stuff on the screen. Sometimes,
there is a separate utility, for setting up which drive to
boot from or doing other configuration things. I seem to
remember my old Adaptec card having something like that.
SCSI cards usually are more fully featured, than run of
the mill SATA or IDE cards.

http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1012.jpg

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

Whereas normal BIOS have a menu along the top, this menu is based on hitting

enter on the appropriate line in the main screen (depicted here).



This person is setting the hard drive boot order, using the Hard Disk

Drive Sequence entry. This is a picture, when the SCSI card is removed

and a TX2300 is in place.



http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1021.jpg



And this would be with the original hardware.



http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1016.jpg



As long as you know how to set everything in that screen

(and at the levels below the main screen), you should be OK

without a battery. If the power goes off, you just end up entering

the settings again.



The SCSI card has an INT 0x13 BIOS ROM on board, and when

that code is loaded, it prints stuff on the screen. Sometimes,

there is a separate utility, for setting up which drive to

boot from or doing other configuration things. I seem to

remember my old Adaptec card having something like that.

SCSI cards usually are more fully featured, than run of

the mill SATA or IDE cards.



http://www.modlog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF1012.jpg



Paul

OK. My present system didn't go down yet. My monitor plug has somehow fallen out.

The following pics are the BIOS screen. The top and the with it scrolled down:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DELL2600BIOSScreen1_zpsec8039bf.jpg

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/DELL2600BIOSScreen2_zpsd1e87a9a.jpg

I'll play around on it tonight to see if I can get it working again.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

Ok. I booted the DELL 2600 server about 60 times in an attempt to get back to the password screen (or past it).

I went into BIOS and under "Integrated Devices" changed "Embedded RAID Controller" from "Off" to "SCSI". (The RAID option causes a warning that data will be lost). http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/1IntegratedDevices_zpsc498632d.jpg

This allows me to boot as far as the Windows 2000 Server splash screen: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/2Win2000Server_zps5bd0f4cc.jpg,
Followed by a "Inaccessible Boot Device" blue screen which I can't get past: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...mputer/3InaccesibleBootDevice_zps9b47479a.jpg (The blue screen tells me to run CHKDSK /F, but I don't know how to do that).

A weird thing is that three times out of all the times I booted I got a slightly different BIOS screen that gave me an extra option. ?!? Notice there is nothing in between "Boot Sequence" and Integrated Devices": http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/4BootSequence_zpsb33cace7.jpg

Now look at the "Hard-Disk Drive Sequence" option that rarely comes up: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/4BootSequence2_zpsc0f0d585.jpg

When I did get that option, putting "Hard drive C" at the top in "Boot Sequence" didn't help me get any further into the booting process. And putting either the Seagate drive or the IBM drive at the top in "Hard-Disk Drive Sequence" didn't either: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...puter/5Hard-DiskDriveSequence_zps8edbbf27.jpg (The other three hard drives don't show up in BIOS at all, but during the boot-up sequence it show as each is spun up).

I tried every combination I could think of in "PCI IRQ Assignment": http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/6PCIIRQAssignment_zps24dd15fd.jpg to no avail. And in "PCI-X Slot Information" only slot 6 is occupied, which is the SCSI card. http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...omputer/7PCI-XSlotInformation_zps62a0b031.jpg
I don't think "Console Redirection" is important: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/8ConsoleRedirection_zps3b4f486c.jpg.. And in "System Security" anything relating a password is off. http://i290..photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/Computer/9SystemSecurity_zps84160fdc.jpg

The DELL 2600 PowerEdge motherboard features are as follows:

*** Six 64-bit PCI/PCI-X slots and one 32-bit slot. Slots accept full-length cards designed for 133 MHz, 100 MHz, 66 MHz, or 33 MHz.
*** An integrated VGA-compatible video subsystem with an ATI RAGE video controller. This video subsystem contains 8 MB of SDRAM video memory (nonupgradable). Maximum resolution is 1600 x 1200 x 16.7 million colors (noninterlaced).
*** An integrated, dual-channel Ultra320 SCSI host adapter.
*** Optional 1 x 2 backplane automatically configures the ID numbers and SCSI termination on individual hard drives, greatly simplifying drive installation.
*** One integrated 10/100/1000 NIC, which provides and Ethernet interface.
*** Embedded systems management circuitry that monitors operation of the system fans as well as critical system voltages and temperatures. The systemsmanagement circuitry works in conjunction with your systems management software.
*** Back-panel connectors including video, keyboard, mouse, two serial, oneparallel, two USB, one NIC, and one optional embedded remote access Ethernet connector.

The service manual says that the supported operating systems are as follows:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server family
Windows NT 4.0 Server family
Red Hat Linux 7.3 or later
Novell Netware 6.0

I assume this system came out before Windows XP I just wanted to confirm that XP can be installed if needed.

Also, If I can get this system up and running correctly would there be any advantages of adding another processor? There is already a single VRM chip,whatever that is. But I don't know if another VRM chip would be needed if a second processor were added to the system.

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/...puter/1Processoramp4RamSticks_zps49f8849a.jpg

Also would there be any advantages to adding two more 1GB memory chips to bring the total to 6GB?

(Outside of internet, DVD, MP3s, I may want to play around with ram disks and video editing).

I have to look into a way to reattach the NVRAM battery so I wouldn't have to keep entering the settings whenever I want to boot up.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.