SCSI Configuration Issue - Dell Perc 3/SC

T

thebeephaha

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May 27, 2007
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I got a Perc 3/SC which I think is a LSI Megaraid Express 500, I have two Seagate U160 18.2GB drives, a Fujitsu U160 18.2GB drive, and a 5 device cable with a terminator at the end.

scsi1.jpg


So for the info: I've got the controller in a spare computer and I can see the card bring up its post screen but it gives me an error and when I press Ctrl+M it doesn't enter the config utility instead it just skips it and tries to boot the machine which fails as I don't have an array setup yet. (FYI I was going to try to make a RAID0 outta these)

error.jpg


I have the drives as such:

Controller:

Cable plug 1: Fujitsu with ID set as 1
Cable plug 2: empty
Cable plug 3: Seagate with ID set as 3
Cable plug 4: empty
Cable plug 5: Seagate with ID set as 5
Cable terminator

I also have the controller "J1 Termination Enable Jumper" set as "Permanently enable all onboard SCSI termination." as this is the default according to Dell.

Thanks.
 
Wow, so a firmware update fixed the issue, I can get into the config utility just fine now!

So I tweaked around with the ID's some more to make the controller happy and detect all 3 drives but when I try to initialize an array it freaks out and the buzzer alarm comes on showing the two Seagates as "fail". Then I tried to clear data on the disks before making the array and, the two Seagate drives won't work. The controller says "error" for both of them. I can configure the Fujitsu and I can clear the data on it fine. But the Seagates, if I try to do anything with them the controller just says "error". I checked the drive info in the controller for them and it thinks they are fine, it is just if I try to change the data on them they don't work.

Any ideas? I know the drives should be good as the Seagates were previously in a RAID0 from the previous owner.
 
Here are the pics of my configuration and the problems:

Drives are online, no configuration yet.
perc3_1.jpg

Fujitsu drive info:
perc3_2.jpg

Seagate drive info 1:
perc3_3.jpg

Seagate drive info 2:
perc3_4.jpg

Selecting drives for a new RAID0 array:
perc3_5.jpg

Array config:
perc3_6.jpg

Array created:
perc3_8.jpg

Initialization failed:
perc3_9.jpg

Controller shows the two Seagates "failed"
perc3_10.jpg

If I try to clear the data on the Seagates I get another "error"
perc3_11.jpg
 
Ok, so I run into this every day. Here's my really bad but accurate explination.

There are two sets of configurations for a HW Raid array, For LSI and Adaptec controllers anyway. The actually controller itself stores the array information and configuration. That is the NVRAM config. Additionally, the RAID config is also stored on each of the disks in the array. This lets you swap a controller, or a disk, and still retain the information.

So, when you take a controller and a set of disks, you will have a foreign or invalid config right off the bat. You need to decide which one you want. Do you want the array config on the disks, or the one from the controller.

To resolve this NVRAM mismatch error, you can do two things. You can either A) clear the configuration, this will effectively blow away the entire config or B) you can match the NVRAM config with the disk config. To do this, go into Objects, NVRAM, and then configure your disks with how they are actually configured on the drives. For example, hit the space bar for each disk, hit F8, then space bar, then enter, and Accept the changes (This is for PERC4s anyway). Now your NVRAM should match the disk config.

If all else fails, just clear the config and start all over. There should also be a jumper on the card itself to clear the NVRAM config, that would also take care of the issue.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Hmm, I tried clearing of the configuration on the controller and it still gives me fits with my Seagate drives. Though that did explain my original issue I was having.

Any ideas on why the Seagate drives won't initialize when I try to create a new array or why I cannot clear the data on them? Could it be they are not compatible?

Edit:

I didn't try the NVRAM yet so maybe that might help, but it does seem odd that the one drive works...

Oh also, there is a jumper on the controller that decides how the termination is handled, could this be fouling me up? I have it set to the default per Dell's instructions but I don't know if that needs to be changed.
 
So I did some more goofing around and found if I put any one drive on the first connector of the cable closest to the controller, I can initialize or clear the data on that drive, even the Seagate.

Upon closer inspection it seems the connector on the second and third connectors are loose, like I can pull the rear tab off easily when disconnecting the drive. I don't know if that is enough to screw up data transfers to the other drives but this might be the issue, just a bad cable. As I have tried just about every other configuration that you guys and some people over at TechPowerUp suggested as well.

If I try putting any drive past the first connector by itself it fails too, so I think this enough evidence to point at a bad cable.

Thoughts?
 
Check the Seagates. Looks like they've got the drive term jumpers set.
 
Update guys, I got a new cable and the drives work and I put them in a RAID0.

Things seem to be working okay but if I run a disk benchmark I get a read error and when I check the controller log one of the Seagate drives has some media errors. I ran a scan for bad sectors but it didn't show any. Ideas?

Things seem to be working okay, got Windows on it and such so I'm guessing it is just a glitch.

Edit:

I can run a quick benchmark with HDTach but the long bench gives the read error and so does HDTune.

The quick bench shows 60MB burst, 60MB average read with a access time of 8.5ms. (write back cache on, adaptive read ahead, cached I/O)

Seems a bit slow but these drives are fairly old I guess.
 
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