Re Post: R930 RAID Card Only Detects Half of Drives

Question

Since I haven't had a reply in about a week on my previous post, I decided to start a new one:

I recently bought a Dell R930 online for setting up a testing lab with a 24-drive backplane, 4-port SAS expander, and PERC H730P. I have it cabled as per the owner's manual where port A is in port A of the daughter card/SAS expander and A1 is connected to A1 in the backplane; the same goes with port B and B1. However, the RAID card only displays half of the drives present.

I have tried everything from resetting the BIOS, swapping the backplane and SAS expander, using a different RAID card, and I cannot seem to get it to work. I would also like to mention that iDRAC does not allow me to configure the enclosure mode. However, I assumed that this should be set in unified mode by default.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

CrispyChris,

Would you confirm if this server originally came with the 24 drive backplane, or did it originally have a smaller backplane?

Also, with the 24 drive backplane setup with the Perc, you should have a SasA and B cable that goes from the controller to the 2 ports on the expander, then the other two ports on the expander should be cabled to the backplane.

As seen on page 151 in the manual.

Is that the way it is cabled?

crispychris · Answer

It came with the 24-drive backplane.

Yes, it is cabled exactly that way, where a and b of the perc go to the respective a and b of the expander, then from the expander to the backplane, it's a1 to a1 and b1 to b1. I tried swapping cables, backplane, sas expander dc, everything. Only thing I didn't swap out was literally the mobo.

iDRAC also won't let me configure the enclosure mode.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Would you run a TSR (Tech Support Report) on the server, afterwards upload it to https://dell.to/3d2BnPy, then private message me the svc tag used to upload, so that I may retrieve it?

crispychris · Answer

Hey Chris, I sent you a PM with the service tag.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Thank you, I received it.

Upon review I see that you have 18 drives installed, 2 as an OS raid 1 and 16 in a raid 10. So it is seeing beyond the 12 you stated, but I also see that there were several non certified drives installed errors, as seen below.

T28: C0:EVT#224359-T28: 236=PD 00(e0x21/s0) is not a certified drive
T28: C0:EVT#224360-T28: 91=Inserted: PD 01(e0x21/s1)
T28: C0:EVT#224361-T28: 247=Inserted: PD 01(e0x21/s1) Info: enclPd=21, scsiType=0, portMap=01, sasAddr=500056b34321abc2,0000000000000000
T28: C0:EVT#224362-T28: 236=PD 01(e0x21/s1) is not a certified drive
T28: C0:EVT#224363-T28: 91=Inserted: PD 02(e0x21/s2)
T28: C0:EVT#224364-T28: 247=Inserted: PD 02(e0x21/s2) Info: enclPd=21, scsiType=0, portMap=01, sasAddr=500056b34321abc1,0000000000000000
T28: C0:EVT#224365-T28: 236=PD 02(e0x21/s2) is not a certified drive
T28: C0:EVT#224366-T28: 91=Inserted: PD 03(e0x21/s3)
T28: C0:EVT#224367-T28: 247=Inserted: PD 03(e0x21/s3) Info: enclPd=21, scsiType=0, portMap=01, sasAddr=500056b34321abc0,0000000000000000
T28: C0:EVT#224368-T28: 236=PD 03(e0x21/s3) is not a certified drive
T28: C0:EVT#224369-T28: 91=Inserted: PD 04(e0x21/s4)
T28: C0:EVT#224370-T28: 247=Inserted: PD 04(e0x21/s4) Info: enclPd=21, scsiType=0, portMap=01, sasAddr=500056b34321abdf,0000000000000000
T28: C0:EVT#224371-T28: 236=PD 04(e0x21/s4) is not a certified drive
T28: C0:EVT#224372-T28: 91=Inserted: PD 05(e0x21/s5)
T28: C0:EVT#224373-T28: 247=Inserted: PD 05(e0x21/s5) Info: enclPd=21, scsiType=0, portMap=01, sasAddr=500056b34321abde,0000000000000000
T28: C0:EVT#224374-T28: 236=PD 05(e0x21/s5) is not a certified drive

So it could be a drive compatibility problem, or possibly due to the server, controller, and drives being out of date.

Would you confirm what version the BIOS, iDrac, Perc, and drives are at, as well as how many drives you are expecting to see or install?

Let me know.

crispychris · Answer

Also....

The reason you are seeing 18 drives is because, as a workaround, I put in two SAS expander DCs and wired A to one and B to the other one. That was the only way I was able to get more than 12 to display.

While this works, it is not supported and causes an error message to appear upon boot.

I can remove one of the SAS expanders and run the diagnostic again if that will help to troubleshoot this issue.

crispychris · Answer

For some reason, my reply keeps getting marked as spam.

Here are the firmware versions

BIOS 2.9.0, iDRAC 2.75.100.75, PERC 25.5.8.0001, and SSDs 4IWVHPG1

The other thing that I find unusual is that I cannot change the enclosure mode, even if I remove all drives.

TheCtark · Answer

Hello Dell,

I too am experiencing the same issue. Same configurations, single perc card, single daughter board. Only half the enclosure recognized. Even with all drives removed, I noticed I can not set the controller mode to HBA, it says unable to complete request.

I have tried a new perc card, no change, I do not have a second daughter card to test with.

This is very disappointing, as I have spent days troubleshooting and have gone over all the documentation I could find, to no avail.

Just countless dead threads like this one.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

TheCtark,

Would you confirm the part number and type controller that is installed, the part number for the backplane, drives, as well as cables installed from the backplane? I ask as I am trying to confirm compatibility, as well as configuration.

Let me know.

TheCtark · Answer

@DELL-Chris H ​  Thanks for your reply, here is the requested info: Controller: H730P / 0X4TTx Backplane: 0V3665 (Only has 2 sets of connectors on the left side, A1P, B1P) SAS Daughterboard: 0P6DGF (Installed in right slot, has 4 connectors, A, B, A1, B1) Controller to Daughterboard Cable: 0KN3YV (Connected to A and B on daughterboard) Daughterboard Cable 1: 085WG0? (Connected from A1 to A1P) Daughterboard Cable 2: 09HT8M (Connected from B1 to B1P) Hard Drive I was testing with: ODKM-400G-5C20 (400GB SSD) I have also tested with non dell drives (that I am currently using in bays 13-24 with no issue), couple enterprise ssd's, couple consumer sata drives) Please let me know if  you need any more info, Thanks!

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Thank you. A couple things I would like you to check are what mode the backplane is in on the idrac, since you stated it works on the right hand slots, as seen on page 26 here that points to the backplane not being in slip mode with a single perc.

Also, with the controller not going to HBA mode, would you confirm that these parameters are followed?

All virtual disks must be removed or deleted,

Hot spare disks must be removed or re-purposed.

All foreign configurations must be cleared or removed.

All physical disks in a failed state, must be removed.

Any local security key that is associated with SEDs must be deleted.

TheCtark · Answer

@DELL-Chris H ​  Backplane always says not compatible under split mode. As for HBA mode, I have tried both via iDRAC and via the bios configuration utility (the one you can access pre-OS). Ive tried removing all disks, using default settings, and then trying to switch to HBA mode, and it still says unable to complete request at this time. Is there anyway to force unified mode?  Maybe through racadm?

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello,

I'll let Chris know your reply.

Have you tried a flea power drain and try switching to HBA mode?

drain flea power (shut down, disconnect power cables and Network cables, hold in power button 20 seconds with cords removed). After flea power drain, system has to set for 3 minutes for DRAC to reset without any power plugged in, then plug in NIC and power but wait 2 minutes before power on to give DRAC time to initialize.

TheCtark · Answer

@DELL-Charles R​  Hello Charles, Sorry for the delay, I was able to test the power drain as you requested, however, it doesn't seem to have made a difference.  The system still won't change to HBA mode or recognize drives in the first half of the bay. Hope you had a relaxing weekend.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

After reviewing all the part numbers that you have provided, I found this video of the backplane assembly. Video: https://dell.to/4bSH3Hp

The backplane DPN# V3665 description is PWA,BKPLN,X24,SPLIT,R920,V2 (although it shows R920, but it shares the same part), hence I would think that, the other half of the drives are not connected. You will need another set of HBA card, cables and a daughter card, based on the video. I've searched through the available backplanes for R930, DPN# V3665 is the only X24 backplane. Based on the cabling guide, there are 2 ways of connecting. 1 is the split Figure 7 and the other is Figure 5. I think you're trying to connect using method Figure 5?

Attach cabling guide: https://dell.to/4bT8iBP

Dell OpenManage Enterprise

Re Post: R930 RAID Card Only Detects Half of Drives

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