SAS Controller Problems

[GokAy]

I am sure that SAS controller has some sort of configuration screen, like Press CTRL+L or CTRL+I to configure or something similar. Don't you see it? How do you configure it otherwise?

 

[wints]

No idea mate will do some digging around see if I can find owt out, I'll report back lol

 

[wints]

Back again found out to get to the configure screen for the SAS card when rebooting after the card has finished initializing you can to press ctrl+ m keys which brings up the screen in the image below, no idea what to do in there dose'nt seem like a lot you can do but what the heck do I know lol

http://i.imgur.com/pU95ium.jpg

 

[miket82]

Assuming you are using a standard desktop PC (not a server) the following may be some guide.

Generally speaking SAS drives need to be initialised using the controller software before the machine will see them. Do this on BIOS startup using whatever key the controller S/W requires. F7 works on Asus boards but your mobo may need something else (F2, F8, F12 may work). Experiment! However, you may need to tap the F key rather than hold it down as this is probably the same key needed to access the HDD boot menu!

Once the controller has been accessed and the drives initialised the machine should restart and the SAS drives should now show up. However, not all SAS controllers allow their drives to be bootable (if you have 2 SAS drives you will probably only be offered either Raid 0 or RAD 1) so although they may show at the boot menu (F7 for Asus) they cannot be used until the machine has started up the O/S. Do not expect to see them in the standard BIOS screen as the only kick in after BIOS has completed its work.

The idea is that the BIOS needs to know about the controller before it will work and I suspect that there is a conflict. i.e the BIOS does its search, finds the SAS controller but does not understand and, essentially, gives up. This may explain why the problem goes away if the SAS drives are disconnected.

If you can provide the make and model of your controller it may help.

 

[gregrocker]

A couple of questions/observations:

If you only had the SSD plugged in during install why was AHCI not preset in BIOS set up as per normal.

Can you use the card if absolutely needed without raid? We see nothing but problems here with RAID, enough so that I would move the data off the drives and unRAID them which should let the bios AHCI setting take hold if it is not configurable per the other suggestions.

 

[wints]

Assuming you are using a standard desktop PC (not a server) the following may be some guide.

Generally speaking SAS drives need to be initialised using the controller software before the machine will see them. Do this on BIOS startup using whatever key the controller S/W requires. F7 works on Asus boards but your mobo may need something else (F2, F8, F12 may work). Experiment! However, you may need to tap the F key rather than hold it down as this is probably the same key needed to access the HDD boot menu!

Once the controller has been accessed and the drives initialised the machine should restart and the SAS drives should now show up. However, not all SAS controllers allow their drives to be bootable (if you have 2 SAS drives you will probably only be offered either Raid 0 or RAD 1) so although they may show at the boot menu (F7 for Asus) they cannot be used until the machine has started up the O/S. Do not expect to see them in the standard BIOS screen as the only kick in after BIOS has completed its work.

The idea is that the BIOS needs to know about the controller before it will work and I suspect that there is a conflict. i.e the BIOS does its search, finds the SAS controller but does not understand and, essentially, gives up. This may explain why the problem goes away if the SAS drives are disconnected.

If you can provide the make and model of your controller it may help.

Thanks for that it was very informative, not had chance yet to play with f keys on boot yet the card is a AOC-SASLP-MV8 REV:1.01

 

[wints]

A couple of questions/observations:

If you only had the SSD plugged in during install why was AHCI not preset in BIOS set up as per normal.

Can you use the card if absolutely needed without raid? We see nothing but problems here with RAID, enough so that I would move the data off the drives and unRAID them which should let the bios AHCI setting take hold if it is not configurable per the other suggestions.

It probably was but I didn't want to risk it and run the risk of mucking the install up as for the raid setup this is my media machine hence the amount of drives just makes it easier for me and it has saved me bacon 2 when drives failed but was able to recover the media.

 

[gregrocker]

In that case then I'd definitely unRAID the card because you can lose all data if you lose a single HD. Back up your data now and investigate syncing it in real time.

 

[wints]

Remember that i'm using flexraid which restores data to a new drive when you do a swapout, but i still need access to to the sas to be able to connect the 2 drives that i can't attach to sata ports on the motherboard as there all full.

 

[miket82]

SAS controller

Go here to get the install instructions.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Accessories | Add-on Cards | AOC-SASLP-MV8

Follow precisely and hopefully all will work. Good luck.

 

[wints]

Cheers for that mike i'll give it ago when i get home, just one thing do you still these days have have to F6 and install third party drivers?

 

[miket82]

Assuming you do have the cards S/W CD just read the install instructions from the link I sent you and all will become clear. If no driver CD then you need to go to the supermicro site to download the drivers. In short F6 is needed but as the manual says you have to be quick. Good luck.

 

[wints]

Ahhhh still no go this is now burning my head out, First i removed the drivers that where already installed then shut down the pc removed the card rebooted then I followed these part of the destruction from the SuperMicro's User Manual

3-2 Adding the Driver into an Existing System
Use the following procedures for adding a driver into an existing system.
For the Windows Operating System:

1. Install the controller and make sure that the BIOS screen is displayed.

2. Start the Windows OS. The Windows OS displays the FOUND NEW HARDWARE
WIZARD window and searches for the installer driver.

3. Insert the driver floppy disk that you've created into the floppy drive, select the
floppy drive as the source, and press the ENTER key.

4. Continue clicking NEXT until the driver is successfully installed.

5. Remove the driver disk from the floppy disk drive and restart the system to complete
the installation process.

 

[miket82]

From your reply it appears that although you removed the card etc. you then rebooted without putting the card back in. If so the the system cannot see it as it is no longer there and therefore won't ask for a driver because as far as it is concerned there is nothing asking for a driver.

Shut down, put the card back in and restart from 1 again. Re-read what it says about F6 as it is sometimes fiddly to get to get the screen you need as the F key serves 2 functions. i have similar problems when I need to access my SAS controller BIOS (an LSI Logic Megaraid 8 port controller) running with Win 7 Enterprise.

 

[gregrocker]

Any piece of hardware that asks for floppy disk is as a rule of thumb outdated.

 

[wints]

From your reply it appears that although you removed the card etc. you then rebooted without putting the card back in. If so the the system cannot see it as it is no longer there and therefore won't ask for a driver because as far as it is concerned there is nothing asking for a driver.

Sorry mike think you misunderstood i did that first just to make sure there was no trace of the card left over then shut down pc put the card in and carried on as normal to installing the driver as to the manual instructions, anyway nothing seems to fix this issue even put the old ssd drive back in which was untouched (still the way i took it out when everything was working) but same problem after post just sits at a black screen for a while then pops up the message press any key to boot from floppy. Think going with a new SAS card i might have better results?

 

[gregrocker]

We see cases here regularly where RAID fails to restore data. RAID is outdated technology that doesn't play well with Win7 at all. I would not use RAID. Try using your card once it is unRAIDed.

Be sure to Enable hardware auto-updating via Windows Update (Step 3) and then once card is plugged in, check for Updates to install all Important and Optional. There may be a driver for the card as well as patches needed to make it work correctly. If you still need a driver ask back in our Drivers forum where they can find any driver.

 

[miket82]

Whilst I agree with gregrocker that RAID is being replaced by other procedures/technologies few home users could afford or have the understanding to. go down those routes. The question is how the wints problem can be solved within a reasonable budget.

Q1. Is there data on the sas drives which needs to be accessed
or
Q2 is the object to simply use them because they are available and/or the extra space is required.

If the former then wints needs a solution using the existing H/W

If the second, then, assuming the drives themselves are OK there are 3 possible solutions

1 Obtain a different controller and try again

2 Sell the drives and use the proceeds to contribute to the cost of purchasing bigger capacity sata drives, substitute these for the existing smaller drives and then sell those on. No mention of eSata but that is what I would use to transfer the contents from small to big before I replaced the small for the bigger drives. (eSata card plus cable from eBay under a tenner).

3 Sell the sas drives and abandon the idea.

 

[wints]

Thanks for the replys guys biggest problem is that there data on the sas drives which needs to be accessed say like a third of my movies which I really wouldn't like to re-rip

 

[gregrocker]

Was your previous install to EFI? Was SATA set to AHCI? Why was the hardware raid being run on it if this was not even known? Was it the factory install?

I am not a raid expert but even though Hardware raid should be independent of the installed OS an EFI BIOS might still affect the card. I would contact the cards tech-support to ask about the correct settings, or post back a picture so someone more familiar with raid can assist you.

Still waiting to hear what card drivers or patches the new install delivers when you enable hardware updating and run Windows update. Uninstall all the old drivers in Control Panel and Device manager first.