IBM NetFinity 5000 3

[compaqproliant]

Hi,
I have a NetFinity 5000 Model Number - 8659 3RY Server,
it contains two PII - 450 chip, 1Gb Ram, 2x9Gb Hdd, ADAPTEC AIC-7895 SCSI & Raid. When i boot computer it show this
- NO SCSI BOOT DEVICE FOUND
- SCSI BIOS NOT INSTALLED
- DAC960 MEMORY = 32 MB
- WARNING 1 SYSTEM DRIVE OFFLINE
- DEAD SCSI DEVICE (CHANNEL:TARGE) 0:1 0:3 0:4
I never use and know server before. What i should start first.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[techieGeek]

HI Tony,

The DAC error seems to have something with a Mylex controller in it. I would check to see if you have a Raid controller installed in the machine and if so check the partnumber of the controller It will need to be an IBM ServeRAID Controller as other controllers has been known to cause problems.

FYI: Regarding the SCSI ID Settings these are set on the SCSI backplane on the server and you must not connect any pins to the harddisk at all.

This is something to check only if the harddrives are installed on the Adaptec SCSI Controller, else you will get errors that no SCSI BIOS has been installed because no bootable devices have been found.
You can possibly try and go to adaptec and see if they have a new firmware as IBM On board controllers for Adaptec are not modified but uses adaptec drivers and firmwares (unlike certain other options for IBM SYstems)
No SCSI BIOS found means that the SCSI controller has not found a bootable device, to check this I would suggest you go to the Adaptec SCSI BIOS and reset it to default settings. then restart the server and see what the error looks like now. You also need to make sure that there is a harddrive inserted at SCSI ID 0 on the machine.
The No SCSI BOOT Device found indicates that there are no drives ready on the location where the SCSI BIOS has been told to look for a harddrive, so again move a drive to the SCSI ID 0 and reset controller config and reboot server.

This should give you a few things to try out at least

Regards

Martin

 

[catorze]

The error makes sense if there is an add-in RAID controller (sounds like Mylex) and it is installed in Slot 1-4 of the server. The 5000 hits Slot 5 before the onboard on the PCI scan, so the SCSI BIOS not installed is from the onboard SCSI controller, and the Mylex RAID card has a defunct HDD. For performance, the RAID (or other booting controller) should be installed in Slot 5 and the onboard SCSI BIOS should be disabled.

 

[spacebass5000]

How badly would it affect a 5000's performance if the ServeRAID card wasn't in slot 5?

 

[catorze]

Depends on what else is installed. Slots 1-4 are on PCI Bus 1, consequently the RAID Controller has to fight for an interrupt - not my preference for a boot controller. Slot 5 is on PCI Bus 0, and I like my boot controller to POST before any other controllers to make sure it gets an interrupt, doesn't have to fight for resources, and gets its BIOS loaded first.

 

[spacebass5000]

no doubt...

great advice, thanks!