Dell R710 RAID PERC H700 Foreign Configuration(s) issue

Question

Hey all.

Just getting around to setting up my server from it setting some 2 years without plugging it in or running it at all.

Now prior to it sitting I did have it running for awhile and I know it does run as it sits today but there seems to be some configuration issue with it now?

error

This R710 that i have is the 6 x3.5" version. They consist of:

0-240GB SSD 2-Seagate 6TB HDD 4-Seagate 6TB HDD
1-Seagate 6TB HDD 3-Seagate 6TB HDD 5-Blank

I am running the above with a H700 raid PCIe card with Cache Memory of 1GB.

Upon startup the lights look like this:

r710l
Drives 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all lite up solid green. However, drive 0 does not have any lights on at all.

I took out the 256GB SSD in drive 0 and hooked it up to my external USB adapter on my other computer and it came up just fine with all the files on it being correct and not corrupted. I also hooked up a regular HDD to drive 0 and it gave me a solid green lite without that error.

The below image is what it looks like when I tested out drive 0 with a 320GB HDD.

raid1

The RAID with the 256GB SSD looks like this:

raid2

So before I do anything on the server I would like an expert on this to let me know what I need to do in order to boot to my Windows Server that's on the 256GB SSD. The 6TB drive(s) have a lot of stuff on them that i do not want to erase or destroyed by losing the raid 5 array.

I tried pressing 'F' but it didn't seem to do anything but continue on? And it comes up each time i reboot. Sometimes the drive blinks orange really fast and other times its just off. Am i missing something?

Here are some screen shots of the RAID controller config:

raid6

raid5

Oddly enough when I hit F5 (on the VD Mgmt screen) to refresh it starts blinking the 256GB ssd...

It has shown up once.... But then I did a Initialization and i chose OK when i wanted to choose Cancel...Hence I had to clone the SSD with the image I made prior to doing all of this. Ever since doing that it has not shown up on the list.

It was suggested to create a new VD without Initialization should fix the issue but It doesn't seem to be selectable. Its grayed out.

raid7

raid8

raid9

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Stealthrtt,

From my understanding you are not able to boot, is that correct? If you're not, then from what you have shown, you would need to return to the H700 controller BIOS. From there you will Ctrl-N over to Foreign View, then hit F2, select Foreign Config from the menu and then Import, then confirm.

Now only do this if the Virtual Disk is not currently able to boot. In the case that the Virtual Disk was still able to boot you would select clear from there.

Now if the Import fails to resolve it, what you were referring to is called a Retag. A retag is deleting the Virtual Disk, then recreating it exactly as it was previously, but then do not initialize the Virtual Disk (would destroy data).

Let me know if this helps.

stealthrtt · Answer

Well..... after a long long battle I finally won

1) Shutdown.
2) Unplug.
3) Take drive 1,2,3 and 4 out.
4) Go into the RAID config and create a new VD since the ssd shows up finally

5) Steps 1 and 2 again.
6) Place drive 1,2,3 and 4 in.
7) Boot and it should have my original RAID 5 intact.

Reboot with your windows server on a bootable usb drive.
9) Proceed to install windows....

10) Once the above step is completed and it counts down to restart be sure to take out the USB.
11) Windows login screen should come up

Wow... that took a lot. I wish i knew what happened that made the SSD not be recognized since all it did was site in storage few a 1 year or so.

But of all of the above I'm most happy to see this

Networking General

Dell R710 RAID PERC H700 Foreign Configuration(s) issue

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