# Cant install AD on dell 2008 server



## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

hi guys,

i cant get AD running on server 2008 on a dell server.
previously the same server was running sbs2003 with AD installed no problem.
then i installed 2008 that installed no problem
but when i run dcpromo it installs fine, but then boots to a black screen.

i have googled this and cant find any fix...plenty people were complaining about the problem but nobody seems to have a fix...
so thought i would check with you guys

any info or help would be appreciated
pk


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Is the the first DC in in the forest or is it an additional DC on an existing forest? Does the black screen ever resolve itself? Are all of the drivers installed for the disk array?What model DELL server is it? Is all of the server firmware and BIOS up to date?


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

heres the story rock, im actually pretty mad!!!:

a few months ago we bought a new dell rack mount server which replaced the old server (the problem server) running sbs2003
so the rack mount new dell is now the dc and runs accounting etc etc the old DC is now a seperate server that is on its own broadband connection and network.

i took the drives out of the old dell server and put a new 500gb drive in partitioned it 200 by 300gb
and installed server2008 on the 200GB partition.

everything was fine, but when i installed active directory it installed, but then the server never booted, just a black screen
even after reinstalling i had this problem...looked on line and a lot of people seemed to have the problem, but nobody had an answer.

i told them that i needed to sort this out...but they were insistant on getting things started, now they have installed all types of databases and software...and now...they want (or rather need) Active directory!!! 

so my plan was to clone the server on a new drive and run AD on that to see if it did the same thing (i was hoping the server had updated over the last few months and the problem might be resolved, but im not willing to take that chance.)

so i was trying to clone it to a new 250GB drive 
i tried using storage craft - but couldnt get it booting (i think i have an old version which has a problem with the c: 100mb partition that server 2008/win7 creates. they were talking about a boot fix but my version doesnt have it.

then i tried using backup in server 2008 and created a bare metal backup (image) and tried restoring it to the new drive, but it complained at me that the drive to restore to was missing? or some error like that, but i havent investigated this yet.

am i on the right track, should i concentrate on creating an image that can boot? (i think this is obvious) 
i was thinking about using acronis true image, but what version etc i will have to read about...

anyway thanks for reading all that, and i would appreciate amy help you can offer

sorry:

the server is
a dell power edge sc640 or 460 not sure will get the exact model tomorrow
it has not had bios updated, only windows updates

thanks again


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

I have never heard of such a thing. BTW, you need to install DNS and AD. You didn't answer the question as to whether this was the first DC in the forest. I am assuming that it is not if you already have users on the network authenticating via a domain controller and this is just a member server. If this is a mixed environment of server 2003 and you are trying to add another domain controller you need to update AD on the other servers to 2008 AD schema first. This just sounds weird because AD should not break a server.

I cannot even find a DELL SC640 anywhere on the internet, or a 460


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

no, this server is on its own broadband and network, the new rack server uses 10.0.0.x this one is using 192.168.1.x
when i was having the problems it was in a stand alone environment (not on a network connecting to anything)
i promise you rock i have setup AD a few times on 2003 / 08 
it was definitely just black screening after the first restart
i will get you the exact server type the dell is...
thanks


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## iansjack (Nov 28, 2010)

Can you start the server in safe mode (or, possibly, Active Directory restore mode)? If so, have a look at the dcpromo log.

I have seen a posting elsewhere suggesting that wrong setting of the SATA mode in the BIOS can cause this problem. However, I believe that changing that would require a reinstall of the OS.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

thanks for your input iansjack


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

the server dell poweredge SC440 
thanks


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## ChRoNo16 (May 30, 2005)

this was honestly kind of done wrong from the start, if one server was supposed to replace the other, you booth the new one on the same network as the old, promote it to a DC, then downgrade the old one. just shutting one off and moving it elsewhere seems to me like it ruined the whole network.

Also, that is an older server, the SC440 is not listed as supporting Server 2008.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

I looked at the specs as well and Chrono is correct. You are lucky it is running Server 2008 at all.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

Well i just managed to get my hands on an identical server with 1GB (My server has 4GB) of RAM and a 2 x 80GB hdd's...installed server 2008 r2 and AD no problem what so ever!!! 

Its running reasonably quick, but it will prob suffer if you throw a few users and applications at it, but the installations went without any problem. 

Im still trying to recover to another drive so i can have a copy in case things go pair shaped after running AD on my original server

anyway here is what i have done...

I created a full bare metal backup of my C and D (same drive, partitioned) to my usb 2TB buffalo drive.

the drive i backed up from (in the server) is a 500GB (but its only using about 180GB of the whole drive) im trying to recover the image to a 250GB (yes, this is what im suspecting is the problem)

anyway i boot up off the windows DVD (one i originally installed from) and go to repair...
i can see the image, but when i try to install it i get an error

no disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found. try the following 1) A probable system disk may have been excluded by mistake etc.

and there is other stuff but none of it i think is applicable.

am i going about this the correct way? (should i put a 500GB or 1TB in place of the 250GB, guess it makes sense)

Or do you think im better off using Acronis or another third party cloning software?

This stuff is really interesting, and i cant emphasize how thankful i am for your guys guidance!!!

pk

PS"here is a an article i thought i would run by you guys regarding this restore error,i always like to see if you guys value the info, or think its total BS...and while we on the subject...where is the best place for good IT tech info, am i better off joining and staying on sites like this one or tech republic, experts exchange, or googling and moving around, or both??? cause i remember posting some info that some "Top" lads on this site were not too pleased with...

article starts:

Here it is re-worded in simpler language (a.k.a. - broken down Sesame Street style).

Your old C:\ drive's partition had to be smaller than your new C:\ drive's partition.

It has NOTHING to do with how big your back-up image is on your external back-up drive.

Your external back-up drive (with the stored image on it) has a log file in it that describes how big of a partition the image "came from". Thus, even if your image is only 30GB, if it came from a 500GB hard drive and you're trying to restore it to a 350GB partition, it WILL NOT WORK. It doesn't matter that the 30GB image will fit on a 350GB partition - Windows only looks at the fact that you're trying to install a theoretical 500GB partition into a 350GB space. This is pure idiocy. I'm not afraid to say that. This is moronic code-writing. Absolute stupidity.

The advice above is to "Shrink" your OLD C:\ drive while it's still installed, then make a back-up image of it while it's in it's smallest form. To shrink a volume, Right-Click "Computer", and choose "Manage".

I forget the name of the tab you choose, but just look for an option that shows your drives in the main window. Right-Click on the C:\ drive. Choose "Shrink". Shrink the partition to be smaller than the size of the new drive (or the new drive's intended new partition).

So, you might ask, what do I do if I'm doing a system restore because the old C:\ drive is DEAD???

Excellent question! You're EFFed! You go and buy a hard drive that is bigger than your old one. That's the easiest solution if you're doing an image restore and your old drive is lo longer functioning.

Thanks to everyone that posted here before me. I mean no disrespect about your explaining things. I'm sure it's my fault I misunderstood at first. I thought you meant my back-up image needed to be fewer Gigs in size than the new drive. I nearly went insane.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

Hi chrono, no it was not done wrong, because as i stated, it was a new domain on a separate network.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

You created a full metal backup with what? You are trying to restore a full metal backup with what? Is there a RAID controller, is the RAID controller recognized byt the imaging software or do you need to inject other drivers. Lots of questions to not a lot of info.


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

no rock there is no RAID on my server 
just 500gb drive partitioned c: 120 and d: 380

want to restore backup to another drive in case the system fails after installing AD
at least i can have the server running again

i used the backup utility that come with server 2008


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

i put a 500gb drive in and the system has recovered from the image to the new drive and its running fine...after reading i saw that if you have a 250gb drive, you have to have 250 or bigger to take the image, regardless of how much data is used on the drive, silly really...

anyway just installing AD now...

AD is taking very long to install, on the other same server i have it took about 15 minutes here its been installing for over an hour...i remember this being the problem.

after searching i found this in a forum:

Hi @ All,
Great explanation. It helps to me for the installation for a new Server 2008 RC2. But the AD Installation was too long (2 hours) and after all the Windows wont load (black screen with the maus pointer), have anyone any idea about this? (This is whats happening to my server)
Regards

Carlos
Reply
Stuart says:
October 20, 2011 at 3:08 pm
I&#8217;m having the same idea, about to re-format and try Ruben&#8217;s suggestion, will let you know if it worked
Reply
Stuart says:
October 20, 2011 at 6:33 pm
It didnt work for me, but I did find a solution, I set the BIOS to its fail-safe defaults. Now I just need to find out what setting(s) were causing the problem
Reply

So what kind of BIOS settings can i change?

any ideas please...

PK


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## PK-her0 (Sep 17, 2007)

reading on forums i see that people fixed the AD problem the following way

a) by upgrading all drivers to most current version
b) by changing default AD installation paths to another volume
c) by disabling write cache on the hard drive

i tried disabling write cache on the drive, but it crashed the whole system

so any ideas now would be fantastic!!!


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

It is obviously a hardware issue if you can install server 2008 and AD on an identical server. If it is a new DELL and under warranty have DELL walk you through their slew of diagnostics. It could be memory, an HDD controller or any number of things.


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