An IDE laptop drive should work, but 2003 should be in CD format.  There are some media kits, though, that use DVD format though.   No go.  The 2650 supports only 32-bit processors; 2008x86 is the latest Windows Server OS you can install on the 2650.
hello i have recently been given 2 servers to work on a install a fresh operating system however both these server have the same issue where you set the boot device in the bios to cd/dvd drive and then restart and insert a windows install cd into the drive but the server will not boot to this disk and continues to boot to the hard drive os.  however if you insert a live cd like erd commander for example the server will boot to and run the cd i had the same problem on the power edge 2850 but i could boot from a usb flash stick, but this is not possible on the 2550 and 2650 as a usb flash device is not shown in bios.  has anybody got an idea to what teh problem is or how to get around this fault??
windows installation power edge 2650 and 2550