ServeRaid-6i

[sergenet1]

I have a 2k3 server which stopped working. On bootup, the message is: ServeRaid-6i slot 2, Status: no scsi controller found-3E21
There are 2 red lights to the far left side of the controller card. I bought a new card and it is doing the same thing.
Any ideas what might be causing the failure? Thanks.

 

[goombawaho]

Are you sure that the original controller card was in slot 2?? Do you get the prompt to enter serveraid configuration utility by pressing Fsomething key? May be the motherboard. Have you tried booting using the Serveraid support CD utility?

Check for your server in that list and Operating System, but that should be it. Burn image to CD and boot from CD.

 

[rclarke250]

Most of the servers that this shipped with namely the 345, and 226 x-series, are 10 years old. I would check the cmos battery, and if it has one, the raid adapter battery. The no scsi controller found message pertains to the LSI controller built into the motherboard, as the 6i just activates the raid capabilities of the LSI controller. It is not a stand alone raid card.

 

[rclarke250]

Oh, and to get into the raid controller, you would see a prompt, ctrl-C, usually for LSI. ctrl-A for adaptec.

 

[goombawaho]

http://ps-2.kev009.com/eprmhtml/epr3b/9224.htm

It's actually CNTRL-I to enter into the mini configuration utility. IF you don't see that prompt or you keep pressing it and you can't get into the utility, the card is NOT talking to motherboard or vice versa. It's all coming back now - that it's not a stand-alone raid controller.

Can't hurt to check the batteries, but also maybe boot to a BartPE / WinPE CD to see if the motherboard will boot up to something. That proves the motherboard is working in general, but slot 2 may not be working.

If these "simple" things don't work, it might be time to try to flash any firmware/BIOS for the server, then put the controller back in and try to flash the firmware on it.

 

[rclarke250]

LOL, I had ctrl-I in there, but couldn't remember, so I erased it, too lazy to look it up, haha.

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, I busted my hump to find the right document. Foolish waste of my time really.

 

[sergenet1]

I can get into all the cconfigurations/setup menues when the machine boots. I ran diagnostics on the motherboard and it passed all tests. I can enter the mini confuguration utility by pressing Ctl+I and looking at contoller status. In bold letters it says Controller Confuguration is invalid. I then go to advanced functions and restore the controller settings to factory default but that does not help. All I get is Status: 0E00h. It is a new controller board. The old one does the same thing.
Ctl+C gives me the LSI setup but I don't know what I am looking for in there.
The Serveraid 6i has 2 red lights to the far left side when booting the machine which tells me something is wrong, and then after it goes thru the boot cycle it stops at a blank screen with the cursor blinking at the top left.

 

[rclarke250]

When you put the new controller in, did you go to the mini-config, and do an import config from disks? it's under advanced settings. It sounds like it may have just lost the raid config. As to the 0E00h that is normal status, if it was different then we would have to worry. For the status of the drives, does it say RDY or ONL? if RDY, then there is no array, and the drives are sitting ready to be used. If ONL, the array is online, but that doesn't seem likely. But you do need to import the configuration, it won't do that on this model automatically, that came along later.

 

[sergenet1]

@rclarke250, in the mini configuration utility, logical drive status, it says No logical drives found.

 

[rclarke250]

so, did you try an import the config from the drives, like I said?

 

[sergenet1]

I cannot because it says No logical drives found

 

[goombawaho]

Boot from the Serveraid Manager CD and do as instructed. See if you can choose "read configuration from drives" and it might just make everything happy. Forget the mini-config util at this point. I'm not so sure you can do that operation from withing the mini-config.

 

[rclarke250]

Yes, you can, and I said how to do it.....CTRL-I to enter mini-config, go to ADVANCE FUNCTIONS, choose COPY CONFIGURATION FROM DRIVES TO THE CONTROLLER. It won't pull the configuration automatically to the new controller. Also, check the battery if you have one, as a bad battery has been known to cause all kinds of problems with the controller. Now if you see nothing in drive status, for the PHY drives, you either have a bad cable, backplane, or system board. Also what fw were you using, and what fw is on the replacement card?

 

[goombawaho]

I never remember doing it from CNTRL-I, but I do recall doing it from the bootable CD, so try it both ways and keep your mind open to some type of hardware death.

 

[sergenet1]

Ctl-I does not do anything for me as stated before. I followed your suggestion and still no physical drives. Currently do not have a bootable cd but will look around to find one. Will report when I do. Thanks.

 

[goombawaho]

Here is the link to burn a CD.

http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-60624

Help me to understand why this is not a very pressing issue. Is that server in use at a company (assuming not) or maybe you are just playing around with it to learn things??

Something is dead, I will boldly predict. Did you check the BIOS for any crazy option that might deactivate the built-in Adaptec controller that works with the serveraid controller.

 

[sergenet1]

this was the main server which died. I had a replacement server (identical) to which I transferred the hard drives and got it to work. Now I am trying to find out what happenend to the original server and why it won't start (it does have the origianl set of hard drives that came with it). As of my last post the video controller must have gone bad because I do not get any signal to the monitor. If I cannot find an old pci card I will look for a replacement server to act as a backup in case the current one fails. Understand they are both very old and the company budget is very limited.
I do appreciate you keeping up with me. Thanks. I will post any new developments.

 

[rclarke250]

I don't understand, reading back through your posts, you said : I can get into all the configurations/setup menus when the machine boots. I ran diagnostics on the motherboard and it passed all tests. I can enter the mini configuration utility by pressing Ctl+I and looking at controller status. In bold letters it says Controller Configuration is invalid. I then go to advanced functions and restore the controller settings to factory default but that does not help. All I get is Status: 0E00h. It is a new controller board. The old one does the same thing.
Ctl+C gives me the LSI setup but I don't know what I am looking for in there.
The Serveraid 6i has 2 red lights to the far left side when booting the machine which tells me something is wrong, and then after it goes thru the boot cycle it stops at a blank screen with the cursor blinking at the top left.

Now you say: Ctl-I does not do anything for me as stated before. I followed your suggestion and still no physical drives. Currently do not have a bootable cd but will look around to find one. Will report when I do. Thanks.

So , again, I'm confused. You can get into ctrl-I, or you can't.....Also, how do you know if there are no PHYSICAL drives, if you can't get into ctrl-I, I see where before you say no LOGICAL drives found, but that is to be expected, because before, you said ,it said the configuration was INVALID, so of course you would not have a LOGICAL drive, as it is the RAID ARRAY, which according to you, you never imported from the drive configuration, so it wouldn't show up.

Oh, and pull the raid card, and see if you get post back at least, before you try anything else. I have to ask, how much experience do you have with servers, and raid?

 

[goombawaho]

Agreed, this is more confusing than the Tawana Brawley case.

Understand they are both very old and the company budget is very limited.

When I hear this, I can almost see the noose tightening around the company's throat.