[mdlug] Fixing a Dell Precision server

[Mat Enders]

Replacing the cmos battery may have been coincidental. What was the up time before that?  When running the live cd does it see the SCSI bus?  If it sees the bus does it see the drive?  
Mat Enders from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: David McMillan <skyefire at skyefire.org>
Sender: mdlug-bounces at mdlug.org
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:58:56 
To: <mdlug at mdlug.org>
Reply-To: MDLUG's Main discussion list <mdlug at mdlug.org>
Subject: [mdlug] Fixing a Dell Precision server


	Running Windows, alas.  But it's for a local nonprofit that can't 
easily afford a shop repair or to replace the machine.

	It was running fine until recently, when the BIOS began giving warnings 
that the BIOS battery needed replacing.  Well, someone went ahead and 
replaced the battery... with the machine off, which obviously wiped any 
non-factory BIOS settings.  Now the BIOS won't recognize the hard drive.
	The kicker is, the main hard drive is SCSI (which I have zero 
experience with), plugs directly into the motherboard, and is (as far as 
I have been able to determine) the original factory configuration.

	So, since everything else was operating fine, my best guess is that the 
BIOS needs adjusting to use the SCSI drive as a boot device.  Although 
*why* this would be, when the SCSI drive was factory-original, confuses 
me.  The problem is, when the nonprofit's in-house "computer guy" 
contacted Dell with the service tag#, Dell told him that BIOS upgrades 
for this computer are no longer available.

	So, now the thing's landed in my lap.  I'm guessing it should be *that* 
hard -- the BIOS firmware shouldn't have been changed by the battery 
change, just the settings, correct?  It should just be a matter of 
figuring out what the right BIOS settings are.  But since I've *never* 
used SCSI in my life, well... any guidance from more knowledgeable 
people would be appreciated.

	Now I'm going to go boot it with a Linux CD and see what a hardware 
scan says....


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