NOTE: There's an "Executive Summary" at the end for those of you who's reading skills decline rapidly with each word.
So, you'd like to use a Dell PowerEdge 2600 server as a killer desktop PC. It's not as simple as it may sound, and many here have labored frustrating hours to accomplish just that. As a give-back to these forums, I figured I would compile what is necessary to accomplish just that.
As you will notice, Dell isn't exactly supportive of users wanting to "dumb down" their PowerEdge line of servers for use in a desktop environment -- and understandably so, as their focus is to support their PE line for use as they were intended: in mission-critical, enterprise-level server environments.
In all honesty, unless your company gives you a decommissioned PE 2600 for a great deal, or you happen to scoop up one on eBay as their prices plummet to ridiculously low levels, you're better off just buying a new Dimension, as they will actually run faster and are better suited to desktop tasks. If one of you're primary uses is for gaming, then don't bother, the 2600 has no AGP or PCI-Express slots, so any reasonably fast gaming board won't be compatible. The PE 2600 is NOISY, with a total of EIGHT (8) high-speed cooling fans (four internal and two on each PSU) and up-to SIX 10k or 15k SCSI disk drives. I have two fully-equipped Precision 670's in the same room with my PE 2600's and you can barely hear them. If a PE is on they are completely drowned out by the very noisome 2600's. Lastly, a fully-configured PE 2600 weighs as much as a semi. It's great if you want to buttress a castle door against an enemy battering ram, but putting one on a desktop is nigh impossible.
So, having gotten past the trivial matters, if you're not yet discouraged then you are like me. Having a higher-end mission critical server as a desktop PC just makes perfect sense to me. Hot-swappable hard drives, redundant PSUs, and cooling fans are just something you can't get in a desktop PC. It's a gadget-freaks dream come true, and it's just plain cool. Visitors freak out when they see such a monster "PC."
Here are the particulars you will need to overcome to use it as a desktop:1) The embedded ATI Rage XL graphics are useless for any desktop tasks, so you'll need to get the best-possible graphics card that will run in a PE 2600. Since there are only 64-bit PCI-X (
NOT "Express") slots and a single PCI (33mHz) slot available you need to get a PCI video board. My first try was a Radeon 9250 256M dual-DVI -- which fell flat on its face.
***NO ATI GRAPHICS BOARD WILL WORK*** so don't even bother thinking about ATI. If you install one -- in ANY slot -- the system won't even POST. Also, there is NO way to hardware-disable the embedded graphics outside of trying to physically sever solder pathways. Next up, I tried a nVidia GeForce FX 5700 256M PCI VGA+DVI board -- which fell flat on its face as well.
***NO STANDARD DVI GRAPHICS BOARD WILL WORK*** Unfortunately, you're stuck with a VGA-only board option, so I got a PNY Verto GeForce FX 5200 128M dual-VGA PCI board (PNY Model #:
VCGFX52PPB or
VCGFX522PPB for 256MB) and it works GREAT! A non-DVI FX5500 should work just as well. It's certainly not a gamer's dream rig, but since I haven't played a computer game other than Solitare in the last 10 years I couldn't care less. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Office, and all Web tasks run exceptionally well. Also, you can install the PNY board in the 64-bit slot (the Verto is universally keyed) adjacent to the single 32-bit PCI slot (the PCI-X slots are auto-adjusting) and save the 32-bit slot for a SoundBlaster Audigy 7.1 or some other sound board.
2) Installation of Windows XP Professional (I don't have Home, but assume it would be similar) can be difficult
IF you don't know which drivers to use. First things first, however. Download and FLASH all firmware on your PE 2600. As-of this writing the latest PE 2600 BIOS is "A14", the latest PERC-4/Di firmware is "251X", and the latest backplane firmware is "184/101". Download the latest Windows 2000 (
**NOT 2003**) drivers for
both the PERC4/Di AND the SCSI Backplane! (
All links provided below) You won't need the backplane drivers for install, but XP will report that the BP has no drivers in the Device Manager once the OS is installed. It doesn't affect performance, but it gets rid of the nagging question mark in DM.
I have six (6) 147GB 10k SCSI drives configured in a RAID-5 array with a global hot-spare, but the array configuration is of no consequence for OS installation. Regardless, configure your array to your liking in the PERC firmware at POST. After having flashed all BIOS and Firmware to their latest versions, you only need to have your newly-created PERC4/Di Windows 2000 driver disk handy. You'll also need to set your CD/DVD drive to boot BEFORE the array in the BIOS.
Place your WinXP Pro installation CD in your drive, reboot your machine, and almost immediately after the XP blue install screen pops up you'll need to hit "F6" to add custom drivers. Keep the Floppy in the drive throughout the blue install screen installation process. Create your OS partition(s) to your liking and let 'er rip!
NOTE: I've had a couple of PE 2600's not be able to read from a CD/DVD while laying on it's side. Once inverted into it's "tower" orientation they were able to read without issue. I've only had this problem with CD-equipped models and not with DVD-equipped versions.
Barring any issues with your CD/DVD drive Windows XP should install without issue and you should be able to remove your floppy disk, reboot, and enter into the XP GUI setup process.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Download latest PowerEdge 2600 BIOS and Firmware Updates and apply:
- Download latest WinXP compatible drivers:
- Enter into PERC BIOS (Ctrl-M at POST) and configure the array to your liking.
- In BIOS, set your CD/DVD drive to boot FIRST! Then Floppy, then Array.
- Have your PERC4 driver floppy disk ready and boot to WinXP installation disk.
- Don't forget "F6" at XP blue screen setup start!!!!!
- Leave Floppy in drive until end of Blue Screen Setup Process
- Create and format (NTFS) boot OS partition (I use 40GB for OS and Apps)
Once basic XP install is complete it will boot into XP normally. To make life simple I would burn all of the EXTRACTED drivers onto a separate CD. You'll need to install NIC, Backplane, Graphics, and any other additional drivers for hardware you have installed or connected manually from either the Wizard or in Device Manager. Network connectivity will NOT be available until you install the NIC drivers. As soon as you do that I recommend your first order of business be a trip to WINDOWS UPDATE! There will be a bazillion updates.
A note on INHERITED PERMISSIONS: If you intend to leave your array intact and access data partitions with the new XP installation that may be taking the place of a server OS —— then
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING—— from the original OS apply "
FULL" permissions to "
EVERYONE" to all partitions/directories/files just so there are no access issues once XP has been installed, just to be safe.
Message Edited by BGetchel on 08-04-200606:17 PM
