Has Perc 3-DC controller failed?

Question

After adding a new SCSI interface card to our 4400 Server, the system began to hang right after the 'Reading Configuration' line of the RAID controller during boot. We could not access the RAID BIOS, system bios, boot from floppy or CD, or anything else (unless we remove the PERC controller card, of course, which really doesn't help much in troubleshooting). The controller scans the channels, and appears to spin up the drives before the system locks. We have removed the SCSI card we added, disabled all the other SCSI BIOSes which load prior to the RAID controller, and reset the NVRAM. Disconnecting the cable to the drive array also is no help. The system continues to hang before the boot process begins. As you know, RAID controllers are expensive. Anybody have a suggestion on something to try to verify the controller has failed before we replace it.

pcmeiners · Answer

Raid adapters rarely fail....   Move the adapter to another slot.   Remove all adapters and reset the the bios config, either with the CMOS jumper or removing the CMOS battery, then replace the adapters one at a time.   Place the raid adapter in another machine.   Unlikely the raid adapter is bad, more likely the IRQ the adapter is getting is not sharing properly with another device. Aside from the Scsi adapter, suspect the NIC interface of not sharing properly.

warwizard55 · Answer

Try reseating the DIMM on the controller, if you've disconnected the SCSI cable at the controller end, and the controller still hangs, I'd call that a bad controller card.

warwizard

Message Edited by Warwizard on 12-12-2005 12:50 PM

cbranch_4f01bd · Answer

Thanks for that input. I tried those 2 suggestions, to no avail.

I'm pretty sure the card is bad, we're just not entirely convinced, since the card is recognized by the system, and it appears to partially work. The LEDs light properly. Does anybody know if the RAID configuration is stored on the discs as well as the controller? (possibly the configuration is corrupt, but clearing the controller's NVRAM had no effect)

warwizard55 · Answer

Yes the RAID config is stored both on the controller and on the drives.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Has Perc 3-DC controller failed?

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