Dell Power Edge 840 PCIe training error slot 1 ***NEED HELP PLEASE***

Hello healthonemed

The first thing to figure out is what controllers you are working with. UCS 51 and 61 are model designations that tell me 5th generation and 6th generation, but that is about it. Is the UCS 51 a PERC or SAS 5 card? Also, is the 61 a PERC or SAS card? Also, What RAID level is the array?

We need to find out if we have a meta data issue corrupting the operating system, or corruption caused by data loss during the sudden loss of power. Answering the above questions should help to find that out.

Thanks

Daniel, thank you for your response.

I have taken some screenshots to clear some things up:

Let me know if you need any additional information!

anyone have any ideas???

You need to rebuild (resynch) your failed RAID 1.  Your disk may be bad, so you may need to replace it first (you can boot to the bootable 32-bit Diagnostics utility to test the drive).  Once rebuilt and the array is again healthy, you need to boot to your 2003 installation media and attempt to repair it in Recovery Console - start with a chkdsk /r, then move to the fixboot and fixmbr commands if you are still having problems.  You can attempt repairs before rebuilding the disks, but it is strongly recommended to do it while the array is healthy.

Thank you for your help.

I was able to get the array healthy., and load the 2003 installation media.

Once I hit "R" for recovery of windows it says there are no detectable harddrives.

The hard drives appear to be working fine in the RAID config utility.

I did backups of the drives just in case I have to start from scratch.

Just like before, the windows splash screen begins to load and then reboot after 5 seconds.

Not sure were to go from here..

Windows can't see the hard drives, because it doesn't have the drivers for the RAID controller (you will need the 'hard drive' version):

www.dell.com/.../poweredge-840

Download and run to extract files before use.

You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Put extracted driver file on floppy, and load the drivers at the F6 prompt.

2. Use nlite to integrate the drivers into your installation media (this will create a new CD from which to install).

Please excuse the slight hijack of this thread but I have the same error on my schools Poweredge 840. It has a UCS-51 SAS-5 card in non RAID mode and I'm looking for a replacement card - I have read elsewhere on the web that there can be driver issues even replacing the card like for like so would I be better off trying to get another UCS-51 SAS card or move to a UCS-61 SAS card ?

Thanks

Fortunately I took a phone camera shot of the screen whilst it was booting the other day as it's dead at the moment....I believe the card is SAS 5/iR...

Dell SAS 5 Host Bus Adapter BIOS

MTPBIOS-6.12.02.00 (2006.12.22)

We're running Windows 2003 Server R2...

Unfortunately I can't easily find the driver level...

Thanks

The safest way to do this would be to replace the SAS 5 with a SAS 5.  There is only one version newer of the controller firmware than what you have, so the difference is minimal ... although it would be ideal to make sure that the new one has the same version.

Going to a SAS 6 without knowing what driver version is installed will 'probably' work, but if the driver is very old, it may not.

What is 'dead' ... the server or the card?  When you power up, do you see the SAS 5 information come up with or without the CTRL-C prompt?

The server has been flaky the last couple of days but now as soon as its powered on gives a PCIe training error slot 1 message, If I take the SAS card out it'll go further on, it finds the other Adaptec SCSI card etc so it would seem to be the SAS card...

I have a feeling the hard drive might have been corrupted before this solid failure but fortunately I took a fresh image copy of the C drive earlier in the week..

Yes, there can be issues even replacing a SAS 5/iR with a SAS 5/iR, if they have radically different firmware (in particular, if the newer one is older).

Similarly, there can be issues replacing a SAS 5/iR with a SAS 6/iR ... although Virtual Disks on a SAS 5 can be migrated seamlessly to a SAS 6, it depends on the firmware versions ... and the installed driver version may also make a difference - the SAS 5 and SAS 6 use the same driver, but only the newer versions support the SAS 6.

Let's use their proper names ... is your UCS-51 a PERC 5/i or SAS 5/iR?

What firmware is it running?

What OS?

Do you know the driver version off-hand?

Well, at least you have a backup.  You could try clearing the NVRAM using the jumpers on the motherboard, but aside from that, there isn't much else you can do if removing the card consistently removes the error (there is no other PCIe slot to try the card in, to rule out the motherboard/connector).

No..this is always the problem with PCs...it's a bit hit and miss when things go wrong...logical guesswork if that makes sense... There don't seem to be many sources of supply for a new SAS card..Dell UK don't list it so I'm really having to look around..

This info might be useful to others: I found an item on the web which says that a common cause of failure on the SAS 5/iR card are the two electrolyic capacitors. I've put the link to the item here but I did what the item suggests. I replaced the two 1500uF 6.3V capacitors with ones off an old motherboard and the server is now working again... Good luck iff you have the same problem.

parkyjimbo.blogspot.co.uk/.../dell-poweredge-2950-failure.html

Anyone looking for good prices on remanufactured parts should check out this website recommended to me by a Dell PowerEdge Rep

www.velocitytechsolutions.com/Parts-by-DELL-Model

Very reasonable prices it seems