m17xR2 + Serever 2008 - Anyone?

I'm trying to install Windows Server 2008 r2. It went well until i tried to install the video drivers. None of the drivers I try will recognize the cards and install the drivers. Actually, the drivers appear to install fine, but they never update the VGA drivers in the Device manager. I currently have the A09 BIOS installed, but not the new video BIOS. I tried that but if the system doesn’t recognize the video cards, it wont even create a boot disk/usb.

Has anyone tried to install Server 2008? Was it successful? Do any of my symptoms sound familiar?

Thanks for all your help!

EDIT: I was able to get around the problem by installing the very first ATI driver from Dell/Alienware. Installing the latest driver is not enough to actually get the system to register the cards. This might be due to not having the latest video BIOS.

 

Thats one expensive server you have there lol

Is there a service pack for 2008 ?

Server 2008 installed fine on my Dell SC1425 server, and did the updates OK,

Were you able to get that far and have the hardware detect that way ?

 

rsgeiger: The initial (A00) VBIOS on the cards doesn't allow them to be properly detected by the ATI/AMD drivers. You have to use the Dell drivers in order to get them to work. I'd recommend doing the VBIOS update as it allows the ATI/AMD reference drivers to work correctly.

dave-p: Windows Server 2008 R2 is the follow-up to Server 2008, in the same way that Windows 7 is the follow-up to Vista. Both R2 and Win 7 use the same underlying kernel, just with various settings changes and services sitting on top.

 

Havent tried it but I will now that you mentioned it.

 

Well, and update:

The oldest dell display drivers installed just fine as I said. However, the new drivers that came out with the BIOS update still refuse to update the drivers installed on the system. All it installs is the C++ runtime and an updated version of Catalyst Install Manager. The Catalyst Control Center, the ATI Display driver, and the HDMI Audo driver do NOT show up as components in the new dell driver. I really dont know what that is about.

On top of it all, the BIOS flash utility now at least recognizes that I have 5870s, but it still wont move forward in the program until the new dell drivers are installed. So I have a catch 22: The new drivers wont install without a flash, and the flash wont install without the drivers

And yes, I do love server OSs

PS - The Ethernet driver also wont install. This is actually the bigger problem as I need the ethernet port for work.

 

Another update, and important note to everyone here. I just read this on the Windows2008workstation.com forums:

For those not aware, AMD decided to artificially break CCC and Radeon graphics drivers on server 2008 and 2008 r2 in Catalyst versions 10.7 and above. This is a guide providing a means of installing CCC -and- drivers for these newer releases.

This means that going forward, Server 2008 is not a very valid option. There are some hacking tricks to get around it, but it wont ever register anything above 10.6. I really hate artifical blocks.

And I still cant get the Ethernet installed either.

 

good to know that rsgeiger, was about to format this weekend but seeing that there are driver issues... well guess ill keep my win7 pro for now.

 

Yeah, server OSes have always been like that, not being consumer friendly and all, but it is getting worse and worse lately.

In fact I had to hack the Ethernet driver too, installing for it a driver that was similar, but not the proper one. So there are some real limitations, but if you are willing to hack it can be very rewarding.

Once I'm out of all the teething pains, I'll write up a guide on how to work with the OS on the m17zR2.