Hi to the group, First of all Ive to apologize for my bad English. Im writing from Germany. We do not have any Win Srv 2k8 forums here ;-). Maybe the product is too new? After a raid failure we had to change one HDD oft he raid. The Raid was rebuilt successfully, all data are fine. But the only way to boot the server is, to have the Win 2k8 DVD in the DVD-Rom. You now, the familiar message appears: press any key to boot from cd If you do not Win 2k8 is starting well, you can use the server. If the Win 2k8 DVD is absent, we get the message: Insert proper boot device For me its sounds like MBR is missing or corrupt. (Maybe the MBR was on the changed HDD). So as in former times I booted from DVD to get to the Repair Installation Part to fix the problem with fixmbr. There is the option Repair an Installation, but if you click on that, your current Win 2k8 partition is known an able to select, but the tool tells: You can use this tool only for Vista OS . To leave the DVD at the DVD Rom to get the server booting means to me just a workaround.What do I have to do to get this server boot without having the DVD? How can I fix this MBR issue (is it a MBR issue?)? Im not really happy about the idea to use external MBR tools.The configuration of the machine is it is a Fujitsu Siemens Primergy Econel 200 S2, 8 GB Ram, Dual Xeon, Win 2k8 64 bit installed. It is an application server, but it is also our Terminal Licensing Server for the organization. OK. Is somebody out there with an idea?I will be happy about any response. Greetings from Germany Michael

Hi Michael, It doesn't matter how bad you are at English. It is just a "tool" for us to communicate with each other. Besides, you are not that bad at English, right? Well, firstly, please check the BIOS settings to see if you have selected the proper disk (containing the operating system) to start from. Select the right one and reboot the computer to see how it goes. If the problem remains, boot from the Windows Server 2008 Setup media (not the Windows Vista's), and click "Repair your computer". Select the proper operating system that you want to repair and in the next page, click "Command Prompt". Then, try the following methods each at one time and see how it goes: 1. Type "bootrec /fixmbr" (without the quotations) in the command prompt. After the operation completes, reboot the computer and see how it goes. 2. Type " bootrec /fixboot" (without the quotations) in the command prompt. After the operation completes, reboot the computer and see how it goes. 3. Type " bootrec /rebuildbcd" (without the quotations) in the command prompt. Reboot the computer and see how it goes. 4. If you see any message prompting that a file is missing, you can replace the file with the intact ones in Setup media from the command prompt. For more details about these commands, you can type "bootrec /?" in the command prompt. If all these methods cannot solve the problem. Well, I am sorry to say that you may need to rebuild the operating system. This is the last method to rescue our computers and recover data on disks. I hope this can help. Best regards, Chang Yin

Hi Chang, thank you very much for your answer. Maybe I'm not that bad, but I've to improof my English. ;-) Ok, back to my issue. Yes Chung, I did all you wrote before I opened this tread. All Bios settings are proper and correct. You know, as I wrote, the server worked very well until we cached this Raid Error. We had to change one HDD. So this is the reason why I thought about an MBR problem. And I also tried to repair the MBR with the original Windows 2008 Server setup medium before I opened this tread. There is something wrong with the setup medium of Windows 2k8 Server. If you boot with that original medium and choose the repair option your windows 2008 server installation will be found and shown on the screen. But if you click next you will get the error message that the tool does not support Windows 2008 Server, its only supports Vista. This message also tells, I have to use the original and fitting medium. I tried with a couple of Win 2k8 mediums, always the same. I also got me the newest download from the MS server (~ 2.7 GB) and made me a DVD from that. But I got the same error message. There must be something wrong with the repair tool on the win 2k8 setup medium. Thanks for your help Kind regards P.S.: We installed a German Version of Win 2k8 Server 64 bit from DVD 4/2008 (Art. No. X14-62420). Maybe it is a problem only with the German language pack? Michael

Hi Michael, Would you please write down the error messages word by word (in English please) on that page after you click Next button? Please also do the following two tests and see how it goes: 1. If you have any other Windows Server 2008 machines, try booting from this Setup media and do the same steps to see how it goes. 2. If you have any driver for that RAID, load the driver by clicking the "Load Drivers" button on the System Recovery Options page. Additionally, I have tried the German edition but didn't find any problems. Did you get the original Setup media from the OEMs or, did you install your machine with OEM Setup media? If possible, would you please also try the 64-bit Setup image in the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=13C7300E-935C-415A-A79C-538E933D5424&displaylang=en Please let me know how it goes. Best regards, Chang Yin

Hi Chang, Thank you very much for your reply. On the page, where you can select the installed OS or load the driver for HDDs the description on top of the list box tells: Select an OS which you want to be repaired and click Next.Hint: Only Windows Vista OS will be repaired by this function. OK, and after clicking 'next' this expected error messages appears: This version of System Recovery Option do not support the selected Windows version. Please use a recovery medium which is compatible with this Windows version. Hopefully my translations are useable! ;-) We used no OEM medium to install our servers.We used a) the DVD from the Action Pack rollout of April 08 and / or b) the medium from the MSDN. But Im not sure about the last one. Today we have a public holiday and I cant ask the responsible guy where our MSDN mediums are.... And, as I told you, I got me the All Editions image (the trial download it may be?) from the public (German) MS Download Server. As you asked me, I tried to boot the other 2k8 servers with these mediums. But the result was the same. So I tried the image from your link. I left the settings as they appeared (keyboard layout = US, time format English (United States) and language = English) and surprise, surprise, this (English) medium of Windows 2008 Server works fine! J I was able to use the command line to run some diagnostics and repair commands. Funny thing with this mediums I have, isnt it? I tried the steps 1. To 3. from your first post, but unfortunately this boot problem wasnt solved.But at this point I have to say it clear: It is no longer a Microsoft issue. Right know the little baby only is booting if mama DVD is in the DVD rom. I agree with your last paragraph of your first reply. The Raid Disaster did some nobody knows what in the deep of the hardware. My next plan is to get an (software) image of our current installation of this server. After that we have to delete and reconfigure the Raid settings, install the W2k8 server brand new and make a restore of the software image. What do you think about this plan? If you agree and if you are interested in the results I will post them in this thread. And if you dont mind I would also appreciate a short info of whats wrong with our (German) mediums. I will tell our technician only to use the DVD I got from your link. (Just in case they have to repair a German W2k8 installation ;-)) Chang, thank you very much indeed for your help! Kind regards and all the best, Michael

Hi Michael, Thank you for your detailed description on the steps performed and the results. I am sorry to hear that DVDs that you got did not work. I tried an internal German Setup media, it worked fine, I think it might relate to the special Setup media. If you are Action Pack subscriber, you can contact our regional service center as they are in a better position to provide assistance on the Action Pack media. Action Pack Subscription: Regional Service Center Contacts https://partner.microsoft.com/global/program/managemembership/actionpack/40016492 Reinstalling might be the better way to resolve it. Just remember to load all the necessary drivers if you have any. I would be very happy to hear the results from you and I am expecting it. Thank you for the information and your cooperation. Best regards, Chang Yin

Hi Chan, You very welcome. The MSDN (multi language) mediums are also working fine. I will get in contact with our regional service center to tell them about the Action Pack and the downloadablemediums. As I was told from our technician, we are using this Action Pack Licenses for customer demo cases. So the next two days we cant reinstall this server because it is in use for a show case. As soon as we are allowed to reinstall this server Ill report the result as I promised. J Kind regards Michael