I have 2008 R2 running just fine on all of my 2850's, so, like reybeast said, it is not a compatibility issue with the OS.  Some of the drivers in 2008 R2 do require your firmware to be at a certain level, but you are good with all your firmware.  Do you even see the first Windows screen with the white bar going across the screen? or does it reboot before you see anything related to the install?  Is it for SURE trying to boot to the DVD/USB ... you set/checked the boot order to be sure?  Are the DVD/USB AND hard drive listed AND have a check mark in the boot order in BIOS?  I believe what it does first is load files into memory.  I might consider running diags on the system to see if anything steps up as a problem.  You might also clear the NVRAM (BIOS) using the jumpers on the motherboard (near system memory) - maybe there is something weird related to the BIOS keeping it from booting.
Hello everyone I have a Dell PowerEdge 2850 server which has 2 Xeon CPU with 8 Gb of RAM and all the latest firmware updates. I am trying to install Windows 2008R2 on it for test purposes. As soon as the BIOS checks are finished and it starts to read the installation DVD, the server reboots. I don't get to see anything, no messages, no logs to see or anything like that. At first I thought it might be the DVD or the DVDROm, but the DVD works well on different machines and starts the installation. I even tried booting from a USB flash stick. Again, the same problem with Dell, but tested iton another machine, no problem. So it is not the installation media, it is not the CPU (I think). I tried installing Win2K3R2 64 bit and 32 bit and both work flawlessly this Dell, so I am confused and don't know what else to check. I even tried downloading the eval version from the MS web site. Dell has all the drivers and the web says it supports it [URL]~ck=anavml The fact that it reboots without showing anything is strange. This happens the second it reads the OS off the DVD. I suppose the question is, what is the absolute first thing that Win2K8R2 installer checks that would force it to reboot? That might give a clue. Any ideas? I'm getting really desperate. Regards Nima
Windows 2008 R2 install reboots immedaitely upon start