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PERC 5/i Signed Driver - PE 1950 PE 6850 SAS SCSI
I'm looking for a Signed Driver for the PERC 5/i. This is built into my 6850, but may be the same as the 2950. Willing to give either a try.
I'm installing a Windows OS that is asking for the signed driver, without which it can't see the hard drives.
theflash1932
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March 3rd, 2014 08:00
"I can't tell what PERC I have in my 6850 (new 800MHz motherboard). The old 6850 and transplanted key were 4e/di. The new one might be too, but something led me to believe it was a 5/i. How can I tell? The LSI chip on the board appears identical to the old 4e/di motherboard. I remember now. When I type in my service code it reported I had the 5/i. Do the 5/i and 4e/di use the same LSI chip?"
All 6850's have an embedded/integrated PERC 4e/Di (when the RAID key/DIMM are installed - it must also be enabled in the BIOS). You could have a PERC 5/i card, but that would be an add-in PCIe card and not the onboard/integrated/embedded controller. Also the PERC 4 is for SCSI drives only, and the PERC 5 is for SAS/SATA drives only. The PERC 4 has a CTRL-M prompt to enter its configuration utility, and the PERC 5 has a CTRL-R prompt for its utility. Again, you DO have a PERC 4, but you MIGHT ALSO have a PERC 5. You cannot use both simultaneously, however.
"The OS is Windows 8.1 Pro x64 on two CPUs. I know that's not supported, but this is a hobby server so trying to solve problems is what its for. I'm willing to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro x64 if that makes finding a driver easier. I don't want to run a server OS because I plan to game, but I do have access to them. What is the most advanced Windows Server OS that I can install?"
Dell does not have any "signed" drivers for any client OS's (Windows X/V/7/8/8.1), however, because Windows 2003/2008/2008R2/2012/2012R2 use the same kernel as the corresponding client OS, the driver will "usually" work (including the signature). So, when installing a client OS, the best thing to try (not, however, guaranteed to work) is the corresponding Server driver version. In the case of Windows 8.1, Dell does NOT have a 2012R2 driver for the PERC 4e/Di (or the 6850 in general) - and they probably never will - they likely have dropped ongoing OS support for 8G systems. You "might" be able to get it working with a PERC 5, as the drivers for that controller will be native to 2012R2, but you may have issues with other hardware.
Others have reported being unable to get 2012R2 installed on the 6850's cousin, the 2850 - I have not tried, so I'm not sure if there is a workaround or a way to get it working - but it is likely that 2012R2 will not run on a 6850 with a PERC 4 at all. I have had Server 2012 running on a 2850, however, using 2008R2 drivers. It does not run as well as 2008R2.
2008R2 is the latest stable/supported OS on the 6850. The corresponding client OS is Windows 7x64. Like I said, you "might" be able to install 2012/Windows 8, but it probably won't run as well. Since you have SCSI drives, you likely won't be able to use 2012R2/Windows 8.1 at all.
Because Windows 7 drivers do not exist, you will need to use 2008R2 drivers (2008x64 for the video, as they seem to have been overlooked by Dell - the display is horrible without it).
Also keep in mind that the server would only be good for gaming if all it does it crunch numbers ... the graphics is limited to like 16MB of video RAM, and the server doesn't support graphics cards. Gaming directly on the 6850 wouldn't work, but as a gaming "server", as long as it is only required to crunch numbers or manage network connections - and not do any video output - it should be fine. Servers are powerful, but they make lowsy gaming systems.
"OS is Windows 8.1 Pro x64 on two CPUs"
So, your 6850 only has 2 of the 4 processor slots populated?
"What is the equivalent LSI product and are those drivers better?"
I don't remember, and I didn't look it up, because I know that LSI does not have as recent of drivers for the LSI equivalent as Dell does (I think XP/2003 is the latest LSI offers for the PERC 4 equivalent).
theflash1932
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February 28th, 2014 14:00
Need to know which OS ...
toscrawford
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March 1st, 2014 09:00
Let's take a step back. I can't tell what PERC I have in my 6850 (new 800MHz motherboard). The old 6850 and transplanted key were 4e/di. The new one might be too, but something led me to believe it was a 5/i. How can I tell? The LSI chip on the board appears identical to the old 4e/di motherboard. I remember now. When I type in my service code it reported I had the 5/i. Do the 5/i and 4e/di use the same LSI chip?
The OS is Windows 8.1 Pro x64 on two CPUs. I know that's not supported, but this is a hobby server so trying to solve problems is what its for. I'm willing to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro x64 if that makes finding a driver easier. I don't want to run a server OS because I plan to game, but I do have access to them. What is the most advanced Windows Server OS that I can install?
The attempts to install Windows 8.1 fails when it asks for a signed driver. That's what I'm looking for.
My hard drives are 5x 15k SCSI with a plan for Raid 5.
So to summarize:
How do I determine which PERC version I have?
What is the equivalent LSI product and are those drivers better?
Where can I find a signed driver that might work with Windows 7 or 8?
toscrawford
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March 4th, 2014 11:00
Wow. 10/10 for that answer. Thanks.
Clarification:
I know how to get a x16 ATI Radeon 8950 to run in a PE 2850, so I'm going on the assumption that the 6850 will work the same.
I'm using 2xCPU: 800MHz, Dual, 3.4 GHz, 16MB Cache for a total of 4 cores or 8 Hyperthreads. The Windows 8.1 limit is two physical CPUs, but I'll pop in a third once I get it to work just to see what happens. Only two slots are currently populated as to add more would just seem to drain energy for no purpose.
My BIOS is upgraded to most recent and set to support RAID. I have the key installed from the 667MHz motherboard, which I got to work with older CPUs. I have the cache RAM installed. It doesn't report any problems with the cache RAM, but I know incompatibilities are a major problem with the cache. I'll give you the specs on the cache RAM if you think it's important.
There is no PERC 5 installed as there currently are no external cards installed. The drives are all SCSI.
A new question:
I am not receiving the Ctrl-M prompt on boot. Could the key not be compatible with the 800MHz motherboard? Could to message not appear due to the wrong cache RAM? How should I debug that?
I think my problem is the SCSI BIOS is not loading. It's not a system BIOS problem, but may be a problem with an incompatible key or wrong RAM. Will the SCSI run without a cache RAM chip installed?
Thanks again for all your help.
theflash1932
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March 4th, 2014 12:00
"The Windows 8.1 limit is two physical CPUs"
This is why I asked :) I'm guessing it will shutdown when you boot Windows with 4 CPU's (you can't populate only 3 slots), citing licensing restrictions. Let me know exactly what it says though :)
"My BIOS is upgraded to most recent and set to support RAID. I have the key installed from the 667MHz motherboard, which I got to work with older CPUs. I have the cache RAM installed. It doesn't report any problems with the cache RAM, but I know incompatibilities are a major problem with the cache. I'll give you the specs on the cache RAM if you think it's important.
I am not receiving the Ctrl-M prompt on boot. Could the key not be compatible with the 800MHz motherboard? Could to message not appear due to the wrong cache RAM? How should I debug that?"
You need to enable the Embedded RAID in the BIOS Setup (F2), under Integrated Devices ... its default is off/disabled. If you can enable RAID in the BIOS, then the installed RAID hardware (memory, key, battery) is sufficient (RAID cannot be enabled without all the RAID hardware). The key and memory should be compatible with this PERC 4e/Di.
toscrawford
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April 3rd, 2014 16:00
Update:
My Dell 6850 has a PERC 4e/Di SCSI controller with 256MB cache and 5x72GB 15K Hard Drives in RAID5. After bashing my head against the wall with two defective cache memory sticks, I yanked a working chip out of my primary 2850. Now my 6850 works and has Windows 8.1 installed (I tested 7 ultimate and that worked too). Dual processor, dual core, hyperthreading for 4 cores and 8 threads. I have a third but not a forth CPU, so I can't test quad processor. That said, I'm quite sure it won't work (still registers two-CPUs) as I've tried it before with older CPUs (not with Windows 8.1).
Bad cache ram can result in no Ctrl-M prompt, no hard drive spin up, locked computer on boot before setup, enter setup ok, enter Ctrl-M ok, create logical drives ok, initialize logical drives, fail on Windows installation format or fail on Windows installation setup post format. Not much fun to debug, particularly when BOTH of the chips you are testing are bad.
The Perc 4e/Di cache chip I got to work is labelled as:
256MB 1RX8 PC2-3200R-333-12-A0
256MB, DDR2, 400, CL3, ECC, REG
Brand just has an M with a circle around it. Made in USA.
Next is to do some frame modifications to fit a long card in the 8x slot, burn out the back of the 8x slot with a very hot regular screwdriver (yes, I've done this before) and install an ATI 9850 video card. This will also require frame modifications to allow the double-wide card to properly stick out the back.
But even before that I need to swap the cache ram back into my primary computer to see if I fried my primary RAID array.
I write this on my now working 6850 only three-years in the making. Not exactly worth the effort, but my 2850 did not have CPUs compatible with Windows 8.1 while the high-end 3.4GHz Dual Core XEON in the 6850 is compatible and seems to run just dandy on 16gb ram.
Windows Experience Index:
2.8
7
7
7.2
6.9
2.8 (Stock on-board graphics before Windows Update)
3
0 (nice, a zero)
3
TRUE
TRUE
6.2
Not too bad for a machine with 2004 copyright CPUs, stock graphics and obsolete disk subsystem. Pity it took me so many years to get operational.