Odd RAID Adapter Problem

Giffyguy · 10-13-2009, 11:21 PM

Server Hardware
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 w/ HyperThreading, 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache
Motherboard: ASUS P5MT-M, Rev 1.03, BIOS version 0310
RAM: four sticks, each one is Corsair 2GB PC2-5300 (667MHz) - for a total of 8GB
Power supply: XION 500W (I don't know much more about it.)
Removable disk: 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
Optical drive: LG 32x CD-RW, IDE - Primary Master (the MB has only one IDE channel)
RAID adapter: Promise SuperTrak EX8350, Rev A3, BIOS 2.9.0.15
HDD: Five Seagate ST31000340NS 1TB, 32MB, 7200RPM, SATA 3Gb/s
(I don't know the firmware versions on the HDDs, but I doubt it matters at this point.)

The motherboard's onboard SATA is set to IDE-mode, rather than RAID or AHCI. I don't know if this matters.

I am attempting to get this server set up using all five drives as a RAID-5 array. As you can probably guess from the above specs, this is a budget-server, and I cannot afford to upgrade any hardware at the moment. I am stuck trying to get the current hardware configuration to function.

I've tested the CPU, motherboard, RAM, CD-RW, floppy, and HDDs - they all work perfectly as far as I can tell. I tested the hard drives individually by plugging them directly into the motherboard and seeing if a copy of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise will install on them. They are all currently un-partitioned.

The only way I can get this server to boot up (at all) is by physically removing the RAID adapter from the PCIe slot in the motherboard. Otherwise, the motherboard waits until the RAID adapter finishes initializing before it allows the boot-up to continue. The problem is that the RAID adapter never finishes initializing. Instead, after the BIOS finishes checking the system memory (and then after waiting for about 20 minutes for all the dots to appear), the following information appears on the screen:

SuperTrak EX16350/16300/8350/8300(SATAII 300) BIOS Version 2.9.0.15
(c) 2004-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.
Scanning drives ................................................................
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Warning - Something wrong with your hardware!.
(You gotta love the double punctuation at the end...)

As vague as this error is, it would naturally lead one to assume that a piece of hardware (namely, a HDD) is causing the problem. However, I've tested all of my hardware for problems, and this error occurs exactly the same way even when I disconnect all of the HDDs from the RAID adapter.

One idea that has occurred to me is that I could try updating the RAID adapter's BIOS and firmware, both of which may be outdated according to Promise. However, I'd need the computer to boot-up (from a floppy at the very least) with the RAID adapter installed before I could do that.

What I'd like to know is:
What could cause this to happen?
What can I do to get around this problem?

**raptor_pa** · 10-14-2009, 05:44 AM

Are the drives new? Soem of the es.2 drives have the same firmware issues as the 7200.11 drives. If windows would install to all drives it is not likely to be a firmware issue, but you can check on line at support.seagate.com to verify if they need a firmware update by entering the drive serial numbers in their online tool.
It kind of sounds like the issue might be the raid card itself, you could try booting with say just two of the drives connected - also it could be bad sata cables. Does this controller support SATA2? If it only supports sata1 then you may need to jumper the drives down to 150 speed if it does not support Sata2

Giffyguy · 10-14-2009, 11:50 AM

The RAID controller does support SATA2. I am using the SATA cables that came with the controller, so it should be safe to assume they are SATA2 as well. I'm thinking I can rule-out HDD and cable issues, since the RAID controller won't initialize correctly even when no drives or cables are attached to it.

The RAID controller's BIOS is quite outdated, but I don't know how I could possibly flash the BIOS when the machine can't POST.

**raptor_pa** · 10-14-2009, 12:10 PM

Yeah, it is kind of a tough one, I'm leading more toward a hardware failure or corruption in firmware code as opposed to a legacy code issue. If the controller is SATA2 it isn't like it is all that old in comparison. I've fired up some old IDE raid cards that didn't even support 48bit LBA addresing so couldn't see a drive over 127GB and those even worked.

Metrohm · 11-08-2009, 08:21 AM

hi

today i got the exact same probleme. could you find a solution? i need to copy some data from the array, which i need.

Giffyguy · 11-09-2009, 06:42 PM

Promise technicians have told me that the only way you can really test the RAID adapter is by swapping it into another machine that has a working motherboard from the list of compatible motherboards that Promise has tested with this card. If you don't have a motherboard from this list, you have no way of knowing if the card is actually broken or if it is just an incompatibility with your system hardware. My motherboard is brand new, and it is a perfect motherboard for the server I am building. Any of the boards from the list will cost three times as much at least, and they may not even do what I need. Plus I don't have the budget for new MB/CPU/RAM. Therfore I have kinda given up on this RAID controller, and I plan to shop for a new one this month. I'll keep the EX8350 around in case I ever get a motherboard that does work with it, but I don't plan on using it in this server for now.

RRO · 11-21-2009, 03:19 AM

It may sometimes happen when the data that is being sent to the RAID disks isn't sent to the parallel place, causing the the information not to be found as quick as it should or not being found at all.
i really recommend you to go to any professional. One that can diagnose your problem and give you an offer without obligations (for free) :
www.raid-recovery-online.com
(the dots that are shown are free disk bits. it should be cheaked if in the same place in the other disks it's empty, and if not - only a pro can help)

10-13-2009, 11:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Giffyguy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 3 OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2	Odd RAID Adapter Problem Server Hardware CPU: Intel Pentium 4 w/ HyperThreading, 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache Motherboard: ASUS P5MT-M, Rev 1.03, BIOS version 0310 RAM: four sticks, each one is Corsair 2GB PC2-5300 (667MHz) - for a total of 8GB Power supply: XION 500W (I don't know much more about it.) Removable disk: 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive Optical drive: LG 32x CD-RW, IDE - Primary Master (the MB has only one IDE channel) RAID adapter: Promise SuperTrak EX8350, Rev A3, BIOS 2.9.0.15 HDD: Five Seagate ST31000340NS 1TB, 32MB, 7200RPM, SATA 3Gb/s (I don't know the firmware versions on the HDDs, but I doubt it matters at this point.) The motherboard's onboard SATA is set to IDE-mode, rather than RAID or AHCI. I don't know if this matters. I am attempting to get this server set up using all five drives as a RAID-5 array. As you can probably guess from the above specs, this is a budget-server, and I cannot afford to upgrade any hardware at the moment. I am stuck trying to get the current hardware configuration to function. I've tested the CPU, motherboard, RAM, CD-RW, floppy, and HDDs - they all work perfectly as far as I can tell. I tested the hard drives individually by plugging them directly into the motherboard and seeing if a copy of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise will install on them. They are all currently un-partitioned. The only way I can get this server to boot up (at all) is by physically removing the RAID adapter from the PCIe slot in the motherboard. Otherwise, the motherboard waits until the RAID adapter finishes initializing before it allows the boot-up to continue. The problem is that the RAID adapter never finishes initializing. Instead, after the BIOS finishes checking the system memory (and then after waiting for about 20 minutes for all the dots to appear), the following information appears on the screen: SuperTrak EX16350/16300/8350/8300(SATAII 300) BIOS Version 2.9.0.15 (c) 2004-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Scanning drives ................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ................................................................................ ....................................................... Warning - Something wrong with your hardware!. (You gotta love the double punctuation at the end...) As vague as this error is, it would naturally lead one to assume that a piece of hardware (namely, a HDD) is causing the problem. However, I've tested all of my hardware for problems, and this error occurs exactly the same way even when I disconnect all of the HDDs from the RAID adapter. One idea that has occurred to me is that I could try updating the RAID adapter's BIOS and firmware, both of which may be outdated according to Promise. However, I'd need the computer to boot-up (from a floppy at the very least) with the RAID adapter installed before I could do that. What I'd like to know is: What could cause this to happen? What can I do to get around this problem?

10-14-2009, 05:44 AM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,761 OS: XP	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem Are the drives new? Soem of the es.2 drives have the same firmware issues as the 7200.11 drives. If windows would install to all drives it is not likely to be a firmware issue, but you can check on line at support.seagate.com to verify if they need a firmware update by entering the drive serial numbers in their online tool. It kind of sounds like the issue might be the raid card itself, you could try booting with say just two of the drives connected - also it could be bad sata cables. Does this controller support SATA2? If it only supports sata1 then you may need to jumper the drives down to 150 speed if it does not support Sata2 __________________

10-14-2009, 11:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
Giffyguy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 3 OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem The RAID controller does support SATA2. I am using the SATA cables that came with the controller, so it should be safe to assume they are SATA2 as well. I'm thinking I can rule-out HDD and cable issues, since the RAID controller won't initialize correctly even when no drives or cables are attached to it. The RAID controller's BIOS is quite outdated, but I don't know how I could possibly flash the BIOS when the machine can't POST.

10-14-2009, 12:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,761 OS: XP	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem Yeah, it is kind of a tough one, I'm leading more toward a hardware failure or corruption in firmware code as opposed to a legacy code issue. If the controller is SATA2 it isn't like it is all that old in comparison. I've fired up some old IDE raid cards that didn't even support 48bit LBA addresing so couldn't see a drive over 127GB and those even worked. __________________

11-08-2009, 08:21 AM	#5 (permalink)
Metrohm Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1 OS: W7	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem hi today i got the exact same probleme. could you find a solution? i need to copy some data from the array, which i need.

11-09-2009, 06:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
Giffyguy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 3 OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem Promise technicians have told me that the only way you can really test the RAID adapter is by swapping it into another machine that has a working motherboard from the list of compatible motherboards that Promise has tested with this card. If you don't have a motherboard from this list, you have no way of knowing if the card is actually broken or if it is just an incompatibility with your system hardware. My motherboard is brand new, and it is a perfect motherboard for the server I am building. Any of the boards from the list will cost three times as much at least, and they may not even do what I need. Plus I don't have the budget for new MB/CPU/RAM. Therfore I have kinda given up on this RAID controller, and I plan to shop for a new one this month. I'll keep the EX8350 around in case I ever get a motherboard that does work with it, but I don't plan on using it in this server for now.

11-21-2009, 03:19 AM	#7 (permalink)
RRO Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 7 OS: xp	Re: Odd RAID Adapter Problem It may sometimes happen when the data that is being sent to the RAID disks isn't sent to the parallel place, causing the the information not to be found as quick as it should or not being found at all. i really recommend you to go to any professional. One that can diagnose your problem and give you an offer without obligations (for free) : www.raid-recovery-online.com (the dots that are shown are free disk bits. it should be cheaked if in the same place in the other disks it's empty, and if not - only a pro can help)