LSI Megaraid 300 problem

[Ttyllc]

Hi,

I recently came across an old Intel server with an LSI Megaraid 300 8 port controller connected to a 6 bays hotswap cage.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it doesn't see any of my 500Gb drives no matter what I do (I'm talking about the BIOS config utility) I even updated the controller firmware with no luck.

The drives that I'm using work for sure. they are SATA 3Gb/s. Much faster than what the controller can do but SATA is backword compatible. Correct?

Any thoughts?

 

[TAPtech]

Can you verify that the drives are receiving power?

Also, just to be clear... when you say BIOS utility, you are talking about the LSI utility and not the Intel Motherboard BIOS, correct?

 

[Ttyllc]

Can you verify that the drives are receiving power?

They don't spin up. But the cage has power.

Also, just to be clear... when you say BIOS utility, you are talking about the LSI utility and not the Intel Motherboard BIOS, correct?

Correct.

 

[TAPtech]

Can you try using cables instead of the hotswap bay?

 

[Ttyllc]

I did try once with no improvement.

I have available another identical card, I'll try to swap them and see what happens.

 

[Ttyllc]

So I did try with another identical card with no luck.

Don't know what is wrong with this thing.

Any idea?

 

[TAPtech]

Maybe poke around the BIOS settings. What kind of server is it?

 

[Ttyllc]

I did belive me, It's a challange now to get to the bottom of this. The server is an IntelSC5395WS with Intel Motherboard SE7520BD2 ( https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/4727/Intel-Server-Board-SE7520BD2 ) with latest BIOS on both the motherboard and the controller.Could it be that the drives are too large? I dont have anything smaller than 500GB, and honestly I wont even bother if I cant even use 500GB.

 

[jbartlett323]

Whats the exact model number of the controller card? Make and Model of the drives your are trying? Are you trying multiple Makes of drives? How do you know the drives are not being physically seen, are they not being listed in pre-boot or are you just not seeing any logical drives? Are you sure you controller can handle 500GB drives (does happen occasionally) or have you tried smaller drives?

Yes, SATA can be backward compatible, to an extent. If you are using a SATA 6.0 drive, it will step down to 3.0 easily. If you are using a SATA 3 drive on a 1.5 controller, you may need to set jumper (depending on drive). If you are using a SATA 6 on a 1.5 card, you will have exactly zero luck.

 

[Ttyllc]

Ther we go with model numbers:

Controller:
MR SATA 300-8X L3-01038-03B

Drives (3 identical drives)

HITACHI Deskstar
MODEL: HDS725050KLA360 SATA 3.0Gb/s
7200RPMs

 

[Ttyllc]

Is there another SATA controller PCI-X 133 that you would suggest? I could do Software RAID....

Thank you for your time!!

 

[TAPtech]

That's pretty old, I don't have any experience with it... as jbartlet323 stated, have you tried other drives? I would try an older, smaller drive to see if it can recognize anything.

 

[Markverhyden]

Do the drives work with the onboard SATA? Is this something you just picked up or are your troubleshooting a system that was working fine and failed?

 

[Ttyllc]

I didnt

Do the drives work with the onboard SATA? Is this something you just picked up or are your troubleshooting a system that was working fine and failed?

Didnt try that yet, But I did put them on another very old desktop and they do work.

It is something that supposedly worked fine. I just got it though.

 

[Ttyllc]

Well.... I finally got a Sat2-mv8, I'll see if that works.

 

[jbartlett323]

Is this your card?
http://vb.net/products/LSILOGIC/lsi3008xpb.pdf
If yes, then yeah that is an old card. Based on this and other info, looks like this guy was one of LSI's first generations of SATA only controller cards. Which kinda means much like the first model year of a car, it could be buggy as hell.

It does appear to support "Up to 3Gb/sec per port" and "48-bit LBA for drives greater than 137GB", so in theory those drives should work. They only thing that may pose a problem is if the drive is "Advanced Format" or 4k sector size, but that should only prevent the drive from being read correctly, it should still be recognized. And this should really only be a problem if they are the HGST models, I would think the Deathstars would still run the old format.

I would definitely test all drives on onboard controller, and/or run a test from a second desktop (said you tried em, but no mention of actual tests). After that, your only choice is try older/smaller drives. or switch controllers.

And as I was typing, I see you switched controllers! good luck with that one!

 

[Ttyllc]

Is this your card?
http://vb.net/products/LSILOGIC/lsi3008xpb.pdf
If yes, then yeah that is an old card. Based on this and other info, looks like this guy was one of LSI's first generations of SATA only controller cards. Which kinda means much like the first model year of a car, it could be buggy as hell.

It does appear to support "Up to 3Gb/sec per port" and "48-bit LBA for drives greater than 137GB", so in theory those drives should work. They only thing that may pose a problem is if the drive is "Advanced Format" or 4k sector size, but that should only prevent the drive from being read correctly, it should still be recognized. And this should really only be a problem if they are the HGST models, I would think the Deathstars would still run the old format.

I would definitely test all drives on onboard controller, and/or run a test from a second desktop (said you tried em, but no mention of actual tests). After that, your only choice is try older/smaller drives. or switch controllers.

And as I was typing, I see you switched controllers! good luck with that one!

Yes, that is the card. Thank you for all the info.