Dell PowerEdge BIOS does not detect CD-ROM

OK, I have not been able to find any clues at Dell or here about this, which surprises me but probably means I am not finding the right search word combinations.

I had a Dell PowerEdge SC1420 server running Windows Server 2003 from one Fujitsu 146GB SCSI drive, everything was working, and I then added a second 146GB SCSI drive. The installation went fine and I could reboot into the operating system from the first drive, see the second drive, etc.

I was hoping to be able to expand the original 1 disk RAID 0 array to a two disk RAID 1 array, but after researching the Perc 320 DC SCSI configuration utility and downloading the associated RAID Storage Manager, that did not appear to be an option for me to use.

So, I used the SCSI configuration utility to delete the original array and create a new array. The array deletion lost all of the original data, OS included, installed on the first disk. The OS, applications and all data are recoverable.

Oops, now the system BIOS is not detecting the CD-ROM drive that I intended to re-install the OS from. I checked the cables to make sure that I did not loosen them while installing the SCSI drive.

I have played around with computers a lot, but not so much the last couple of years. I am an accountant by trade who usually has to deal with computer issues whenever possible due to a lack of funds to bring in techs.

It feels like there is something that I should remember that is eluding me here. I will continue to search around while waiting to see if anyone here can help me out.

Peace...

 

Update - I swapped in a near identical CD-ROM that I tested as working on another PC, no change in results.

I then swapped in the cable from the above PC, no change in results.

I am afraid that this is turning out to be a motherboard problem.

 

So, I swapped out the CD-ROM for a known working CD-ROM of nearly identical type...no difference.

I then swapped out the CD-ROM's cable for a known working cable...no difference.

I finally found a list explaining the LED troubleshooting combinations and found that the server was telling me that there was a cable issue, so I disconnected and remounted every cable in the system...no difference.

I went back in to review the BIOS settings and realized that I had inadvertantly disabled the CD-ROM drive in the BIOS during an earlier phase.

The server now recognizes the CR-ROM. However, Windows Server 2003 setup does not have the necessary SCSI driver. I went through that back in January, so now I just to jump through that hoop again.

 

Final report: I downloaded the SCSI controller driver and fed that to Windows during setup, then I downloaded the network card driver and installed that after setup. I then downloaded 38 updates. I thought that I was supposed to finish setting up the RAID 1 within Windows, but I was not surprised to find out that the RAID 1 setup is transparent to Windows because it is being handled at the BIOS level.

I've formatted the unallocated space on the drives, so now I'm set to start adding applications and data tomorrow.