New DELL server, OS can't be installed

[TheDirtyBird]

I got Windows Server 2008 for free through my college and is registered in my name. All is legal. But...I copied the installation onto my DVD (because I had to download the ISO from MSDN Academic Alliance) and now my new Dell PowerEdge T100 will not recognize the CD. This Dell is fresh out of the box with nothing on it (no OS.)

 

Anybody got any suggestions on how I can get my Windows Server 2008 installed?

[F2 Staff]

Make sure bios is set to boot from cd/dvd as first boot device.

 

If it is then burn the cd again. Might just be a bad burn.

[TheDirtyBird]

I'll give that a shot. I can access the files on my WindowsXP computer.

 

When I boot up the new DELL, the Windows Server 2008 CD starts to run. I get a message that says, "loading installation file (or something of that sort)". The progress bar gets about half way then I'm prompted with this message box:

 

Systems Build and Update Utility

 

Please insert a valid Windows Server 2008 DVD into the DVD drive.

[TheDirtyBird]

FYI...I got the DVD to finally read. The DVD was labeled wrong. It was actually SQL Server 2008. :p

[F2 Staff]

Things like that happen. Glad you got it working.

[TheDirtyBird]

damn, the installation about broke my arm. Toward the end of the installation, I kept recieving this error: "windows could not update the computer's boot configuration"

 

Finally, I disabled all boot devices and that worked. What a headache! Dell needs to fix their utility partition where it doesn't interfer with installations.