I'll do as you advise and try the steps you recommend asap, I'll post the outcome here afterwards. Hopefully it'll put a light on my problem, or at least confirm that it is a hardware failure.
I believe the Scsi Backplane may have failed, which in turn may have caused damage to the hard drives. These suggestions should help find the source of the problem.
1. Try the hard drives in another machine to see if they are detected. This will verify the hard drives are still functional.
2. Try the Perc 2/dc in another machine to verify the validity of the controller. (I really doubt this is the problem, but it is worth a try)
3. Try connecting the Scsi Backplane to the onboard Adaptec AIC-7899 controller (make sure it is turned on in the System BIOS) and see if hard drives are detected. When disconecting the cable(s), check carefully for bent pins or other damage to the cable. If no (good drives from step 1) drives are deteccted at this point, the Backplane has failed.
There may be an error message, "System Backplane firmware out of date" at the next boot. To resolve the error, you will need to re-flash the System BIOS and ESM Firmware. This error may happen any time the system bios is upgraded or the cable from the motherboard to the hard drive backplane is disconnected.
I've now done some testing and can report a good and a bad thing.
The good ting is that i've found the problem. Turns out it was i broken disc that was causing all this stir. I've now retired that disc.
The bad thing is that that disc had a nasty habit of destroying system beckplanes whenever it had a chance, which left me with yet another broken backplane. While I was performing step 1 that disc killed that backplane too (at least it helped me find the problem).
So my next question is: Are these backplanes still available as spare parts?
The backplane we had was ok. It seems that the backplane was cabled to the AIC7899 instead of the PERC 2/DC.
It was a good learning experience.
To my surprise Dell authorized a return of the unneeded part when I called to explain what happened.
I've ran a few different setups & RAID options on it with 2k server eval while waiting for the boss to fund a 2k3SBS purchase, and it seems to be a solid machine. I even failed a drive, silenced alarm, removed it & reinstalled and rebuilt just fine in R5 config. We'll probably try to setup RAID 10. If I understand correctly there will be a performance improvement and still have redundancy. 50% capacity will not an issue.
I've read of a couple 2k3 server issues with older PE's.
Would we be better off to go with 2k server on this PE6450? Tag is CGVNJ01
The PowerEdge 6450 is validated for Windows Server 2003 provided you have all the latest firmware(s) and Dell provided drivers. Win2003 has drivers native, but they cause problems with the Dell OpenManage products.
I have seen a few issues with Scsi timeout error messages with the Perc 2/dc. This is believed to be a reporing error and not a true problem. A driver revision or registry patch is in the works.
dnedne
3 Posts
0
June 4th, 2004 11:00
Thank you for your reply!
I'll do as you advise and try the steps you recommend asap, I'll post the outcome here afterwards. Hopefully it'll put a light on my problem, or at least confirm that it is a hardware failure.
Regards
//dne
DELL-Mark A
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
June 4th, 2004 11:00
I believe the Scsi Backplane may have failed, which in turn may have caused damage to the hard drives. These suggestions should help find the source of the problem.
1. Try the hard drives in another machine to see if they are detected. This will verify the hard drives are still functional.
2. Try the Perc 2/dc in another machine to verify the validity of the controller. (I really doubt this is the problem, but it is worth a try)
3. Try connecting the Scsi Backplane to the onboard Adaptec AIC-7899 controller (make sure it is turned on in the System BIOS) and see if hard drives are detected. When disconecting the cable(s), check carefully for bent pins or other damage to the cable. If no (good drives from step 1) drives are deteccted at this point, the Backplane has failed.
There may be an error message, "System Backplane firmware out of date" at the next boot. To resolve the error, you will need to re-flash the System BIOS and ESM Firmware. This error may happen any time the system bios is upgraded or the cable from the motherboard to the hard drive backplane is disconnected.
Thanks for using the Dell Community Forums!
dnedne
3 Posts
0
June 5th, 2004 21:00
Hi again,
I've now done some testing and can report a good and a bad thing.
The good ting is that i've found the problem. Turns out it was i broken disc that was causing all this stir. I've now retired that disc.
The bad thing is that that disc had a nasty habit of destroying system beckplanes whenever it had a chance, which left me with yet another broken backplane. While I was performing step 1 that disc killed that backplane too (at least it helped me find the problem).
So my next question is: Are these backplanes still available as spare parts?
Best regards
//dne
DELL-Mark A
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
June 7th, 2004 10:00
There are 2 SCSI Backplanes available for the PowerEdge 2400:
4126D 1x6 SCSI Backplane (1" thick hard drives)
1147D 1x4 SCSI Backplane (1.6" thick hard drives)
Dell spare parts can be reached by phone at 1-800-357-3355.
sgergen
3 Posts
0
June 7th, 2004 17:00
What are the part number(s) for the backplane on a PE6450 w/4 hot-pluggable 18GB SCSI drives?
Also what part number are the drives for the 6450?
I believe we are having the same problem as described above.
My boss on a side job I do bought this used at an auction and we'll need to get a parts list together to get it working.
I have already downloaded all the docs & original configuration, but am unable to locate parts ordering/price info online. What do I need to do?
Thanks,
Steve.
DELL-Mark A
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
June 7th, 2004 17:00
These are the part numbers you need. Dell spare parts can be reached by phone at 1-800-357-3355.
123PH  SCSI Backplane
0659U  SCSI Backplane Daughtercard
340-9303  18GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,15K
340-9302  36GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,15K
340-7884  36GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,10K
340-8481  73GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,15K
340-7897  73GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,10K
340-7916  146GB,U320,SCSI,1IN,10K
Thanks for using the Dell Community Forums!
sgergen
3 Posts
0
June 22nd, 2004 22:00
An update,
The backplane we had was ok. It seems that the backplane was cabled to the AIC7899 instead of the PERC 2/DC.
It was a good learning experience.
To my surprise Dell authorized a return of the unneeded part when I called to explain what happened.
I've ran a few different setups & RAID options on it with 2k server eval while waiting for the boss to fund a 2k3SBS purchase, and it seems to be a solid machine. I even failed a drive, silenced alarm, removed it & reinstalled and rebuilt just fine in R5 config. We'll probably try to setup RAID 10. If I understand correctly there will be a performance improvement and still have redundancy. 50% capacity will not an issue.
I've read of a couple 2k3 server issues with older PE's.
Would we be better off to go with 2k server on this PE6450? Tag is CGVNJ01
DELL-Mark A
2 Intern
•
2.5K Posts
0
June 23rd, 2004 15:00
The PowerEdge 6450 is validated for Windows Server 2003 provided you have all the latest firmware(s) and Dell provided drivers. Win2003 has drivers native, but they cause problems with the Dell OpenManage products.
I have seen a few issues with Scsi timeout error messages with the Perc 2/dc. This is believed to be a reporing error and not a true problem. A driver revision or registry patch is in the works.
Dell Server System BIOS, A13
FileName: PE6450-BIOSA13.exe [521 KB]
Dell ESM Firmware, PowerEdge 6450, A57
Filename: PE6450-ESMA57.exe [405 KB]
American Megatrends (AMI) PERC2/DC, Firmware, v. 1.06, A00
Filename: p2dc106a.exe (611 KB)
Perc 2/SC, 2/DC, Driver, Win2003, v.6.35.2.32, A02
FileName: PERC2-W2K3-6.35-A02.exe [124 KB]