Dell Poweredge 2600 - Error During Startup

Hello

Invalid SCSI configuration; SCSI cable detected on connector SCSI B of the primary SCSI backplane, daughtercard not present.

However, there is no connection made on the SCSI B connector of the backplane. The SCSI A connector on the system board is connected to the optical drive and floppy. The SCSI B connector of the system board is connected to the SCSI A connector on the backplane.

The error is self-explanatory. You have the cables connected incorrectly. SCSI A goes to SCSI A on the backplane and SCSI B goes to SCSI B on the backplane. There is an optical drive connector on the system board. You have something other than the daughter card connected to SCSI B.

Thanks

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for taking the time to help me. I misspoke when I said that the SCSI A connector on the system board was connected to the floppy. The floppy and CD ROM are connected tp the system board via a separate ribbon cable like you said. The SCSI A connector on the system board is connected to the top two drive bays, and the SCSI B connector on the system board is connected to the SCSI A connector on the primary backplane and the other six drive bays. I have included a picture to better illustrate the cable arrangement. Does this setup look correct? I have experienced the error previously mentioned no matter how the integrated RAID controller is configured in the BIOS. Also, there is a blinking amber light on the front of the case.

Dell PowerEdge 2600, 2 Xeon 2.4GHz Processors, 3GB RAM, Perc4/Di

I get this error during startup no matter how the integrated RAID controller is configured in the BIOS:

Invalid SCSI configuration; SCSI cable detected on connector SCSI B of the primary SCSI backplane, daughtercard not present.

Can someone please take a look at the attached picture to make sure the SCSI cables are connected properly?

The SCSI A connector is connected to the top two hard drive bays, and the SCSI B connector is connected to the SCSI A connector on the backplane. Does this arrangement look correct?

It is my understanding that a daughtercard is not required for a 1x6 configuration of the drives. The CMOS battery had died previously. There is a blinking amber light on the front of the case.

I've had one or two of these PE2600s. May I suggest you try: Ctrlr-A to SCSI "Main Bay" (backplane) /and/ Ctrlr-B to "side / upper" bay. AFAIK and Remember, you can, then, in the BIOS decide /which/ "segment" (A or B) you want to be primary / boot(able).

HTH!

Tom C

Tom,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I tried to follow your instructions by switching the "Controller" or Planar / Motherboard side of the SCSI cables. That is, to switch the SCSI A and SCSI B connections at the system board side.

After switching the connections, the error message still displays. What does it mean, "Cable detected on SCSI connector B of the backplane" ? It does not appear to me that there is a connection made on that connector.

Thanks again for your help.

The SCSI A connector on the system board is connected to the top two drive bays, and the SCSI B connector on the system board is connected to the SCSI A connector on the primary backplane and the other six drive bays.

I don't know what those two drives are, but if you connect SCSI A and B to anything other than SCSI A and B on the backplane you will receive errors.

Thanks

Daniel,

Thanks again for all of your help. I connected the SCSI A port on the planar / motherboard to the SCSI A port on the primary backplane and then connected the SCSI B port to the 1 x 2 upper / side bay backplane. The error did not appear on the first boot attempt, but returned on all consecutive boot attempts.

**UPDATE** It seems that after changing the configuration of the SCSI cables, the first time the system is booted it does not display an error message. On subsequent boot attempts however, the original error message is displayed.

Here is a screen cap from a Dell service manual discussing the addition of a 1x2 drive bay into the 2600.

Also, it is worth mentioning that the activity lights on the Upper / Side drive bay hard drives do not illuminate when the system is on and are not recognized by the RAID configuration utility.

Later, I will test for power at the 1x2 backplane and post the results.

Well I thought that I had the problem solved, but the next time I booted the system the error reappeared. The most confusing part to me is that it says connection detected on SCSI B of the primary backplane, when there is no connection made. Could it be a problem with the backplane? To the best of my understanding, the server should be able to be configured in a 1x6 + 1x2 arrangement without the addition of a daughtercard. Please help

The factory build instructions indicate that SCSI A connects to the optional 1x2 drive bay and SCSI B connects to SCSI B on the backplane.

Thanks

Am I reading these wrong? It looks to me like SCSI B on the planar / motherboard connects to the optional 1x2 drive and SCSI A on the planar / motherboard connects to SCSI A on the 1x6 backplane. Regardless, the SCSI cables are in the orientation indicated in the picture. But still this error occurs!

Am I reading these wrong? It looks to me like SCSI B on the planar / motherboard connects to the optional 1x2 drive and SCSI A on the planar / motherboard connects to SCSI A on the 1x6 backplane. Regardless, the SCSI cables are in the orientation indicated in the picture. But still this error occurs!

I don't know what configuration that diagram is referencing. I would suggest that you connect the cables the way I have explained.

Thanks

Daniel,

I connected the cables as you suggested from the motherboard / planar SCSI connections to the 1x6 backplane SCSI connections, SCSI A to A and SCSI B to B. When I did, I got the following errors:

SCSI cable not present on connector SCSI A of the primary SCSI backplane

Invalid SCSI configuration; SCSI cable detected on SCSI B of the primary SCSI backplane, daughercard not present

Also, the hard drive activity lights did not light up on all hard drives as it only recognized one of the hard drives in this configuration

So I switched the cables back, and the first time it booted it didn't generate the error. But on all consecutive boot attempts it was back to the original error.

Are there supposed to be any LEDs lit on the 1x2 backplane? I tested the power at the 4 pin Molex connector and it tests good.

Thanks for your help.

I connected the cables as you suggested from the motherboard / planar SCSI connections to the 1x6 backplane SCSI connections, SCSI A to A and SCSI B to B.

When you have the 1x2 backplane SCSI does not connect to SCSI A on the main backplane.

The factory build instructions indicate that SCSI A connects to the optional 1x2 drive bay and SCSI B connects to SCSI B on the backplane.

Thanks

Daniel,

With SCSI A connected to the optional 1x2 backplane, and SCSI B connected to SCSI B on the 1x6 backplane, still the same error persists. Also, in this configuration, only one channel of the 1x6 backplane is recognized and only those hard drives illuminate.

How should I proceed?