r730xd do not recognize u.2 nvmw disks as bootable

Hi @urbaman,

Can you please confirm the type of RAID controller being used in the system and can you please change the boot mode to UEFI and check if the drives are detectable.

Hi,

It mounts a Dell 2GB PERC H730p Mini Mono as RAID controller.

I already tried both BIOS and UEFI, also tried to move the nvme expansion kit from slot 3 to slot 4 with 4x4x4x4x bifircation as well, to no avail: can't seem to recognize the disks in the boot menu, nor in the boot sequence.

Hi,

Sorry for repeating the message.

It mounts a Dell 2GB PERC H730p Mini Mono as RAID controller.

I already tried both BIOS and UEFI, also tried to move the nvme expansion kit from slot 3 to slot 4 with 4x4x4x4x bifircation as well, to no avail: can't seem to recognize the disks in the boot menu, nor in the boot sequence.

Hi,

could you provide the Dell part number from your expansion kit?

Regards Martin

Hi,

Should be 0P31H2, image attached.

Another label:

Let me know which slot and settings should I use, of it is even compatible.

Thanks,

Hello  urbaman,

Can you let us know what backplane configuration you have?

Backplane page 172-180 : http://dell.to/3Horg7D

How many CPUs do you have?

What cables did you get for the expander card?

Hi,

Sorry for accepting a solution, we're probably getting there but not yet.

I'm in 2.5 Inch (x24) SAS/SATA backplane (option 3), page 175 situation.

I see I do not have the rear backpane installed, should I get one?

I also see I have the controller in slot 3, the diagram seems to suggest slot 4. Also tried slot 4 with no success.

I'll get back with cable info.

Thank you very much.

Hi @Dell -Charles R 

Cables label attached (they aren't Dell..)

I also have, completing the information

2 x Intel Xeon E5-2650LV4 SR2N8 14C

4x 64GB Ram

Hello  urbaman,

Thank you. I see you are trying to get  (option 3), page 175 but I was asking what your current, original, backplane configuration is. 

Please note: field change to backplane configuration is not supported. It is selected at time of purchase.  We do not have kits for upgrade so to attempt to do it we would have to try to piece part components together as best effort.

I don't know what the Super Micro cable is and cannot validate it.

Slot 4 is the correct part for the extender adapter card.  The cable would be  Part #:1PDFM.

NVMe drives would go in backplane slots 20 - 23

In BIOS Can you check "Embedded SATA" setting and set to RAID mode. The drives will not be visible in the H730p mini. You will use the PERC S130.   You cannot get Hardware RAID functionality with NVMe extender card.

You should also use UEFI boot mode.

Do you have a picture of the disk label showing the Dell part number I can validate with our parts data base?

Thank you for your time.

I inherited 3 such servers from a recently closed firm, and I'm trying to get them back to life.

I tried to put the nvme expansion in slot 4, SATA RAID, both default and 4x4x4x4x bifurcation.

I see the PERC S130 in the PCIe devices, but no disks are present. They are present as PCIe devices.

Also, I for some reason only see two ports in embedded SATA, I saw 4 before, can't say exactly what I did change to get this.

I can see them from the OS installer, install in them, but the system do not see them as actual disks and can't boot from them.

Now, I think we narrowed down the possible problems:

• Missing rear backplane
• Supermicro cables not compatible (they are described as MiniSAS HD to MiniSAS HD cables)
• Disks not compatible

Disk lables attached.

Micron

Samsung

Hi,

Some more diagnostics:

Put BIOS settings back to default, put SATA mode to RAID, Boot settings to UEFI.

No disks available.

I see I randomly get this message from the IDRAC logs: "The storage BP1 PCIe B cable is not connected, or is improperly connected." Is it because the missing rear backplane?

I also get this random message from the boot sequence:

"Controller VenHw (C153B68D-EBFC-488E-B110-662867ABCDEF) CBL0008: Backplane 1 connector PCIe B is incorrectly connected to BP SAS B" that seems correlated to the prevous one.

Last thing, I think I lost connection to the iDRAC virtual console, probably due to the Nvidia P2000 in Slot6?

Sorry for your time I'm using on this, but it seems a real mess and I really like to bring it back to life...

Hi @Dell -Charles R 

I installed the rear backplane, and the 1PDFM cables to the nvme expansion. Also installed 2x900 SAS disks in slots 0 and 1.

Only see from idrac the SAS disks in slots 0 and 1.

Set PERC H730P mini to HBA and disk in slot 0 as bootable.

Set SATA devices to RAID mode, only recognize port A and port B.

Set Boot to UEFI

I still do not see any bootable disks in boot management.

I also do not see the 4 nvme disks in PERC S130, only as single SATA devices.

Is there any other setting/troubleshooting I can try?

Thank you very much.

Hi, I'm afraid this can only be answered by those who have actually tried this. Sorry I can't be of help this time.