another perc5i integrated fiasco.. [i need help]

rig:

e4500 @ 3.02
asus p5n32-e [v1205]
4gb patriot ddr2-800
2x fujitsu MAX3073RC 73gb 15k
1x 320gb seagate sata [current OS install]
dell perc 5/i integrated [the problem] w/ 256mb ddr2-400 ecc
WinXPproSP2

the issue:

attempted to load new firmware/bios updates into an ebay-purchased dell perc5i_int..

LSI's megaCLI and dell's MPTUtil all convey that there is either NO bios installed or it is disabled..

-quote from MPTutil after running dell's .bat file:

ERROR! The PCI System BIOS is NOT present!

running MPTUtil and manually trying to force the .fw and .rom files:
gives the previous line: and

WARNING: No PCI chips found!

two main factors:

after the mobo bios post/boot a raid card warning displays: memory fault, check sdram etc.. winxp tries to install a new device and recognizes a raid/scsi card..

what ive attempted.. and from what ive read from the dell manuals, is that
this card was probably not used as a boot drive so the bios was disabled at
some point.. if so how do i go about turning it back on? when it behaves as if
no bios has ever been installed .. ?

if not.. im at a loss.. the LSI 8408e manuals says there is a jumper.. J6 and J7..
which need to be manipulated.. to enable the bios and or flash firmware.. does this
also apply to the perc5i? i havent been able to find any manuals with the perc5i
card and jumper diagrams [even tho there is only a pair of pins to the lower RH
side of the DIMM slot on the card.. ]

i have read the other posts containing essentially the same setup i have.. a
680i mobo with a spare pcie16x slot running the perc5i card. i have emailed
some of you asking questions .. but as of yet no replies.. i registered here
specifically to get help seeing as how there are a few here who have my exact
setup [for the most part]..

i started here: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1031922367
[i must note that user thebeephapha and i share the same setup]

i have downloaded nearly every flash version from dell i could find.. with one
note being that dells flash utilities specify the need for the initial version to
be 06.50 before moving to something like 10.49..

also Dell's urgent A07 firmware update doesnt find any thing to update and
fails..

do i have a dead perc5i?

i am pretty frustrated at this point.. i feel like ive made the correct methodology
in installing the card and updating the fw/bios..

what am i missing?

could someone please reply with some sort of [very specific] tutorial.
i will troll this post fanatically..

please help..

-d [esperate]

EDIT: also ive tried different combos of LSI flashing and drivers. e.g. i install LSI drivers [8408e] reboot and make
an attempt to flash fw/bios with megaCLI.. to no avail.. i find the dell sw gives better fault output data after
a failed bios attempt [in the dos utility mptutil]..

lastly, i created a bootable 2gb usb stick drive [using hp sw] with DOS and tried to manually install each
file bit for bit.. the error output was :

Failed to find ControllerId List
Failed to find CpController object

running dell's R169302 file through msDos only hangs with no verification or faults..
the adpcount.log file doesnt have any numbers telling me if its bios or memory
or otherwise.. ..

*sigh

is the card itself good?

why do people feel the need to run dell perc's in non dell systems? They DESIGN them to only work in dells. If you want an LSI raid card, go buy the LSI version.

Originally Posted by cyr0n_k0r

is the card itself good?

can someone else please help.

I think there is a f-key (I think F4) to press at boot to go into the cards bios and configure it, enable/disable it on boot etc. I have the regular 5i in my Dell but cannot reboot it right now to tell you what key it is. I do know that a LOT of people have problems getting the integrated version to act right and it does have limited abilities compared to the standard 5i. Also - it's quite possible your motherboard BIOS does not have enough free resources to assign to the card. Just as a test - try disabling just about all on-board things you can like USB, etc and see if the card magically starts working. If so a different mobo BIOS might solve the problem - also I've read where some peoples video cards also conflict. One last thing - your mobo bios may have an option for scanning other BIOS's at boot which must be enabled. All of this is coming from memory though so I may not be 100% exact but hopefully I at least gave you some things to try. Good luck - once you do get it up and running those MAX SAS drives are incredibly fast.

Originally Posted by cyr0n_k0r

is the card itself good?

Originally Posted by somasaint

how would i know.. ?

How would WE know? It's your card. Hook it up to a different system and test it.

Originally Posted by MixManSC

I think there is a f-key (I think F4) to press at boot to go into the cards bios and configure it

On Dell systems it's Ctrl+R

However genius doesn't have a dell system, so mileage may vary.

Originally Posted by cyr0n_k0r

It's your card. Hook it up to a different system and test it.

you could have said that initially instead of the first reply.

i was trying to state the status of my card, as its identified in winxp but with fw/bios
flash failures, so as to convey the state of the card, in hopes someone had experienced
a similar situation in terms of flashing issues..

is the card good? i would say yes, but the bios is not.

i dont have a spare SLI rig or spare mobo to just pop the card into
a PCIe16x slot to check the viability of the bios/fw

MixManSC:

thanks for the help.. i will try to combos of configs in the mainboard bios settings. although
i seem to be entering into a catch22 situation, what with trying to enable a bios that my
flash utilities state dont exist.

your frustrated.... we all get it... we've all been there before... but acting like a prick when people are trying to help you and provoking them is NOT what you want to be doing right now...

maybe someone would have posted a solution by now if you were acting more humble...



p.s. nice ninja edit...

Originally Posted by BuBBa

your frustrated.... we all get it... we've all been there before... but acting like a prick when people are trying to help you and provoking them is NOT what you want to be doing right now...

maybe someone would have posted a solution by now if you were acting more humble...

p.s. nice ninja edit...

maybe, no seriously..

ok let me just say cyr0n_k0r: if you dont have
experience with my particular problem or setup
please stop commenting on how i dont have
a dell system. its moot

but i would prefer to have sound advice from say:

thebeephaha who has :

"Mobo/CPU: ASUS P5N32-E SLI / Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 @ 3GHz 1.25v w/Lapped Tuniq Tower w/ SilverStone FM121
RAM/GPU: 4x1GB PC2-6400 Mushkin eXtreme @ 800MHz 4-4-3-10 2T 2.0v / EVGA 8800 Ultra Superclocked w/ZEROtherm HC92 8800
Storage: RAID0 4x80GB WD Raptors (WD800GD) | RAID5 4x320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 | All on a Dell Perc 5i Integrated SAS Controller
Optical/Audio: ASUS DRW-1814BL / Creative Audigy 1394 w/ Audigy Drive
Case/Power: CM Stacker 832 | Mushkin "550100" 650w
Cooling: 9x120mm CM (TLF-S12-EB) | Zalman MFC1 Plus-B Fan Controller"

me acting like a prick, to you was unjustified and i apologize..

surely the ninja edit was evidence of my calming down.. ? and not wanting to
perpetuate a flaming session.. as to humility, i fail to see what was wrong with
my first post..

I know on my Asus motherboard, the P5B-D, I never could get more then 3 raid controllers to post, so try disable the raid controllers, at least to try it and see if your Dell PERC posts.....

Originally Posted by somasaint

ok let me just say cyr0n_k0r: if you dont have
experience with my particular problem or setup
please stop commenting on how i dont have
a dell system. its moot

Hahah, your right man. I don't know jack shit.

I only own 3 Dell Poweredge 1950's with Perc 5/I's and Perc 5/E's in all 3. Each 5/i is setup for SAS Raid internally, and the 5/E's connect to powervault MD1000's arrays. So your right man, I have no experience with either the PERC cards or their bios. I'm just talking out of my ass.

cyr0n:

IF.. you can help me install my perc5i card on an asus P5N32-e 680i mobo running xp..

THEN.. [see first post for my fault issues]..

you have 3 dell pe1950 systems running perc cards.. congratulations.
you have convinced me of your prowess.. in dealing with dell systems..

ok .. so now three replies in, do you have anything constructive to say ?

your attempt to help me [however miniscule] invovled saying Cntrl+R ..

ok i didnt know that.. thank you.

when i reboot and press Cntrl+R, or Cntrl+L [typical to LSI], or L or F1-F12,
it immediately boots the window loading screen..

the boot msg error i get from the raid card states:

WARNING! RAID adapter error
Memory fault
Please check the SDRAM connection.
if fault persists please contact tech support
press any key to continue.

this fault halt does not recognize any Cntrl+key function.. it just moves on..

upon entering into the xp desktop, i get a new
hardware notification prompting me to install new
raid/scsi drivers for the card..

when i try to flash, it says no BIOS present..

please help

Originally Posted by gjvrieze

I know on my Asus motherboard, the P5B-D, I never could get more then 3 raid controllers to post, so try disable the raid controllers, at least to try it and see if your Dell PERC posts.....

hmm, do you know why? was it a perc fw/bios fault or cus the asus bios was funny?
either way.. i will try to disable and remove as many items as possible to force
a boot post..

thanks

your onboard perc memory might be bad.

Originally Posted by somasaint

hmm, do you know why? was it a perc fw/bios fault or cus the asus bios was funny?
either way.. i will try to disable and remove as many items as possible to force
a boot post..

thanks

It was not a perc, but it was a Adaptec controller, which would not post and made the machine bios act screwy.... I think part of it, is that these modern motherboards have sooo many devices on them that the majority of IRQs have been used.... Just my $.02 worth, feel free to correct me on the IRQ thought.....

Originally Posted by cyr0n_k0r

your onboard perc memory might be bad.

do you have a list of what Dell uses as "certified" ecc memory. there
is not link on dell.com that shows me what ram i could order in the
event my ram is dead for my integrated perc5i.

or, even better, could you read off what the ram says on your perc5i cards?

i have one picture of a perc5i card that shows it has Netlist ram.
when i searched for it, the netlist site has two types of ram..

http://www.netlist.com/technology_pr...tails#PC2-3200

under PC2-3200

unbuffered:
256MB 32Mx72 ECC 32Mx8 NLD3272232078-D32K

registered:
256MB 32Mx72 ECC 32Mx8 NLD327R232078-D32K

ive also found on that this ram works:

infineon:
HYS72T32000DR-5-A 256MB 1Rx16 PC2-3200R

beephaha emailed me a message detailing that the same issues
he had were stemming from the bad/wrong memory also..

the memory stick i bought for it, [cus the ebay perc5 item came stripped ]
is 1Rx8 256mb ddr2 400MHz ECC from micron i think. the sticker says its
ECC, but i found a link on a MSI forum that this memory tested as 533MHz
unbuffered nonECC..

so yeh.. any specifics on what memory i can get would be extremely helpful..

thanks,