Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008

Windows 2008 keeps booting to System Recovery Options

After I updated the firmware and the driver for the raid controller card (3Ware 9650), Windows 2008 would not boot, it keeps going to System Recovery Options, where i had to load driver from the diskette, then tried startup repair, but failed.

Please help

Thanks

LVL 1

Y YconsultantAsked: 2012-12-31

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Y YConnect With a Mentor consultantAuthor Commented: 2013-01-20

Thanks dlethe for the comments on my question. This problem was resovled by calling MS support, which costed about $600. MS started charging more on out of work hours support. Thats why.

CAUSE:

Digital Signature of RAID controller drivers not recognized by the OS.

RESOLUTION:

Ran "bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no" (without quotes) to prevent the server from going to WinRE. Disabled driver signature enforcement and rolled back the RAID controller drivers.

The above is the $600 worth answer.

LVL 47

DavidPresidentCommented: 2012-12-31

3WARE has a long list of prerequisites and compatibility issues. There are 2 sets of firmware, plus drivers. They all matter and not all combinations are compatible with each other. Also reading release notes are vital.

So before you do anything else that risks damage (or further damage, even trying a startup repair writes to the disk and if the raid is broken you could have done major damage) ... read release notes and make sure that the 2 firmware images and drivers are compatible with each other. Also go to the BIOS and see if there are any issues.

Make sure the hardware is healthy before doing anything else.

LVL 47

DavidPresidentCommented: 2013-01-20

Thank you for following up. This is my biggest pet peeve on 3WARE. Drivers and BIOS changes way too often and they don't maintain any upwards or downwards compatibility. they really need to make it clear to users to read release notes. (But it could be worse ... try MAINTAINING this code when the drivers/BIOS changes so often).