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I'm trying to install RHEL7 on a Dell R210. The system was RHEL5, but had shred run against its disk. I tried booting a DVD with the RHEL7 installer, but got nothing, it would not boot. I've reburned the DVD twice with different burners, tried an old DVD with RHEL6 that has worked on other systems, redownloaded the iso and burned that, and even borrowed a USB drive, but nothing works. I've gone through the boot loader and made sure it is using the DVD, still to no avail. But the strangest part is that a CentOS7 and a Knoppix DVD work perfectly. It seems to be versions of RHEL that are the issue.

How can this be? What should I try?

dacracot
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    What happens exactly when you try to boot from the media in question? What messages do you get? – joeqwerty Nov 06 '15 at 21:04
  • @joeqwerty Now that I have CentOS on the system, it ignores the DVD and boots to the hard disk. Prior, when there was nothing on the hard disk, it would advance to try and boot from the NIC. No errors, it acts as if the RHEL DVD isn't there. – dacracot Nov 06 '15 at 21:06
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    Check the checksum of your DVD image. You may have [downloaded the wrong image](https://access.redhat.com/discussions/1373663). – Michael Hampton Nov 06 '15 at 21:39
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    @MichaelHampton Nope. Checksum is correct. – dacracot Nov 06 '15 at 21:48
  • Just to confirm, you're having problems with booting from the CD/DVD, correct? Will the CD/DVDs that you burned for RHEL6 and 7 load the installer on another system? – CIA Nov 09 '15 at 21:24
  • Perhaps it's a UEFI BIOS issue. Try updating the BIOS if possible and check other BIOS settings. – sivann Nov 11 '15 at 19:27
  • It sounds like a boot order problem to me, but requires more info. UEFI or BIOS? Any error messages? It sounds like this server currently has a working install of CentOS? – Andreas Turriff Nov 12 '15 at 04:22
  • Try booting from a USB stick, or iDRAC virtual media. – Michael Hampton Nov 12 '15 at 05:13
  • Stupid question but did you try another DVD or were you reburning the same one? – Matthew Ife Nov 12 '15 at 18:03
  • @CIA The problem is not the DVD in general, but DVDs with Red Hat disto. – dacracot Nov 12 '15 at 18:28
  • @AndreasTurriff Not a boot order problem, I've addressed that and even eliminated the hard disk and NIC. In that case the DVD is still ignored if it is a Red Hat distro. – dacracot Nov 12 '15 at 18:30
  • @MichaelHampton I tried a USB stick with a Red Hat distro and it too was ignored. – dacracot Nov 12 '15 at 18:31
  • @MatthewIfe I've tried four different ISOs and three different DVD burners. – dacracot Nov 12 '15 at 18:32
  • That's actually interesting, and not what I expected. About the only thing I can think of to suggest at this point, short of involving Dell's support, is to attempt to completely clear CMOS and reset any firmware to factory defaults. – Andreas Turriff Nov 13 '15 at 01:17

2 Answers2

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A quick search of the technical guide for the model shows: RHEL 7 is not in the supported OS list. Please have a look at it here, Table 25, page 54: Dell PowerEdge R210 Technical Guide

Or check here: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Certification Matrix for Dell PowerEdge Servers

I would suggest to check the manual and use the manufacturer supplied deployment CD/DVD to install supported OS version.

Here is a lits of supported Dell Poweredge Model from Redhat: Browse Certified Hardware

Here is a link for OS installation: How to Install the Operating System on Dell PowerEdge 11G Servers

Diamond
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  • I have used the DVD which refuses to read on this box to install RHEL7 on an identical Dell R210. – dacracot Nov 09 '15 at 20:18
  • Then I'd call Dell and have them fix the bad machine.. – GregL Nov 09 '15 at 20:25
  • @dacracot, well, may be it's possible to install. But I'm only pointing at the fact that official reference says it's not supported. And there is always good reasons to take it into consideration. I personally would not recommend to install an OS which is not officially supported, even if it's possible to install on a production server. Of course you can contact Dell and ask for their advice or support. – Diamond Nov 09 '15 at 20:33
  • @dacracot I have further edited the answer to add a list from Redhat site, which also shows the model is not supported by RHEL 7. To conclude, I recommend you to go through the knowledgebase article I have mentioned. Hope it will be of help. – Diamond Nov 09 '15 at 21:02
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    @dacracot, about being able to install on an identical server, may be you can check whether the firmware and BIOS versions are also similar. – Diamond Nov 09 '15 at 21:22
  • @dacracot, have you also tried to install it the way, as Dell suggests (press F10 at system boot and then proceed with OS deployment) ? (Link to dell site in my answer). – Diamond Nov 15 '15 at 19:01
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I would install any distro (that uses GRUB), and set its GRUB to boot the RHEL 7 install, based on what is seen from item 7 (and on) here https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-installation-server-setup.html

Another option is to create a usb drive to boot that ISO for you, using http://www.pendrivelinux.com

Eduardo
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