HP Smart Array P400 Controller issue

smuggler.ie

MoBo – Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 (with latest available BIOS)
RAM – 8GB DDR2 PC-6400
Processor – AMD - Phenom 8400 Triple-Core 2.1 GHz
OS - Windows Sever 2012 R2 Datacenter
C:\ - Samsung SSD 850 Evo 250GB
G:\ - Data drive 2.27TB (see below), data deduplication enabled(rate 35%, 447GB saving)
HP Smart Array P400 Raid controller (latest available drivers), 512MB Cache with battery:
X1 Logical drive (G:\) =
X6 physical (3 drives per port) SATA drives, 500 GB each, in RAID5 configuration =
2.27TB usable/1.46TB free


PSU – Corsair CS650M(650W) (brand new)


Originally system build at the end of 2016 on different MoBo(GF8100VM-M5), but MoBo died (mysterious incident, but that is another story).



I got this Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 (second hand) as I could reuse DDR2 RAM I had and processor, etc. PSU was replaced on new build as original was suspect of previous build failure.
So currently situation is:

1. Without RAID card system loads (matter of seconds) and function as expected.
2. With RAID card, but SAS/SATA cables disconnected system loads and function as expected. Raid card recognised in BIOS and in Windows. No errors
3. With RAID card and all 6 drives (both ports) connected over SAS/SATA cables, first, as normally, RAID card recognized in BIOS (logical drive also recognized) and then I get dark blue screen and looks like system halt, but then, after about 5min(minutes) windows load up. Drive (G:\) missing in File Explorer and Disk Manager. Device Manager show that RAID controller “could not start(Code10)”.
4. NOW!!! With RAID card and only 3 drives (one port, no matter 1st or 2nd) connected over SAS/SATA cable, first, as normally, RAID card is recognized in BIOS but obviously missing/failed drives detected so option do disable logical drive given to allow replace failed drives. Once logical drive disabled system continues to load and windows boot in seconds as expected. Device manager show properly functioning RAID controller. HP Array Configuration Utility show errors and warnings about logical drive and physical drives. If now HOT CONNECT unplugged SAS/SATA cable, RAID card recognizes all drives. After in HP Array Configuration Utility enable logical drive – G:\ drive appear in File Explorer and after parity initialization completed all data on G:\ drive accessible and intact.

This Motherboard has only one PCI-e X16 slot, 2x PCI-e X1 and 4x PCI so I have no way to “try another PCI-e slot”, but this card, with same set of drives and same SAS cables, function OK on another PC. There is no build-in graphics so I have Nvidia Quadro NVS290 card in one PCI-eX1 slot to monitor BIOS. I did try to run without graphics, but no difference – same delay in boot time (monitored by pinging NIC on server) and same “device cannot start” after RDP on to server. Checked PC-IeX16 slot with full size(x16) graphics card – no issues.
I could live with this odd behaviour, but server not running continually and until parity initialization completed (3+ hours) after server started most of files not available.

Anyone had experienced/come across similar behaviour?
Advice/ideas appreciated.

ED E

It sounds kinda like your disks are hammering the 12v rail all starting at the same time. Shouldnt be, but seems that way.

Can you put the half the drives on a second PSU and attempt a boot?

smuggler.ie

ED E wrote: »

It sounds kinda like your disks are hammering the 12v rail all starting at the same time. Shouldnt be, but seems that way.

Can you put the half the drives on a second PSU and attempt a boot?

Good tip - will try. Originally PSU was 570W and there was additional two NIC + graphics.
Testing right now.

smuggler.ie

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Good tip - will try. Originally PSU was 570W and there was additional two NIC + graphics.
Testing right now.

So, have connected harnes, powering up 4 drives, to another PC PSU
Started PC, let it boot.
Started serverPC - same effect - long booting time and card "cant start".

smuggler.ie

Have ordered new RAID card and SAS/SATA cables just in case.
Mean time will test removing drives one-by-one to see if drive failing but not reporting to controller(??) for some reason and somehow causing this trouble.


Any more good ideas are welcome.

smuggler.ie

Removing drives one-by-one got me nowhere. Also got them scanned with HD Sentinel – all in good health.
Backed up all data and deleted logical drive. Rebuild logical drive(RAID5) with 4 HDD only using only one port, loaded some data and let it settle for a day. Restarted PC – same story: “controller cannot start(code10)”

So I got new controllers delivered today.
Replaced original controller with new, start PC - after controller initialized (recognized 512MB cache and logical drive) windows tuck ages to load and I was certain it will fail, but not. Controller was recognized and drive with data were OK. Controller come with v5.22 ROM firmware, so I flashed it to latest available(v7.24), same as it was on original controller. Restarted PC and after very long loading time - same story: “controller cannot start(code10)”.
Attempt to downgrade – only could manage to version 7.22, anything below this throw error from installer: “unsupported OS”. Can’t get my head around this.
Replaced controller with second new (still with v5.22 FW) and it works, of course Windows take over 5 min to load but controller started and data is there. One more thing – somehow new controller can’t distinguish what bay physical drives are connected to – show all on bay0 instead bay1, bay2, bay3 and bay4.
Kinda out ideas…..