unRAID & 2 LSI Cards

[Keek Uras]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone can give me some insight on how unRAID handles having two RAID cards? I have been trying to run 2 but the secondary card is not seen by the OS.

 

unRAID version 6.11.1. My motherboard is a Super Micro X8DTL. The BIOS is on the latest revision available (2.1b). My primary card is an LSI 9211-8i. My secondary card is an LSI 9206-16E, which I’ve connected to a DAS with 8 drives. I’ve rebooted, reseated, tried different power on order (server then DAS, DAS then server). I’ve even bought a second 9260 because I thought it was the card, but I have the same results. I’ve attached diagnostics. Any words of wisdom or possible oversights on my part are extremely appreciated.

 

~K

repository-diagnostics-20221016-1010.zip

Edited October 16, 2022 by Keek Uras
Misspelled word

[Frank1940]

24 minutes ago, Keek Uras said:

My secondary card is an LSI 9260-16E, which I’ve connected to a DAS with 8 drives.

 

My Googling suggests that this card is strictly a RAID card and can not be used in the IT_MODE or  JBOD

 

Also found this:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/12114-lsi-controller-fw-updates-irit-modes/page/68/#comment-918838

 

[Keek Uras]

23 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

 

My Googling suggests that this card is strictly a RAID card and can not be used in the IT_MODE or  JBOD

 

Also found this:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/12114-lsi-controller-fw-updates-irit-modes/page/68/#comment-918838

 

Sorry, that was a typo. It's a 9206. I've corrected my post. Thanks.

[JorgeB]

It's not a problem using multiple LSI controllers with Unraid, your second controller is not being detected, this is a hardware issue.

[Keek Uras]

9 hours ago, JorgeB said:

It's not a problem using multiple LSI controllers with Unraid, your second controller is not being detected, this is a hardware issue.

Thanks, that's why I attached diags hoping someone could help me figure out what the issue actually is. 2 new cards in a row don't work. I guess it could be the PCI slot but that's not a common point of failure.

[JorgeB]

8 minutes ago, Keek Uras said:

that's why I attached diags

The diags only show the HBA not being detected on a hardware level, like if it's not installed, not much we can do with that, try a different PCIe slot if available or try the HBA in a different computer to make sure it's working.

[Keek Uras]

2 hours ago, JorgeB said:

The diags only show the HBA not being detected on a hardware level, like if it's not installed, not much we can do with that, try a different PCIe slot if available or try the HBA in a different computer to make sure it's working.

Well, that's unfortunate. The other PCI-E 2.0 slot is occupied and the other 2 are PCI so it won't work there.  I just bought this board barely 6 months ago, I guess I may have to look for another board.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Keek Uras

[Frank1940]

Try this before starting down that route.  Change the setting so that the array does not auto start.  Settings  >>  Disk settings 

 

Shut the server down.  Pull the working LSI card.  Put the new card into that slot.  (The one that contained the working LSI card)  Now reboot the server.   In the GUI, go to   Tools  >>>  System log     Use the browser search function to find the string    LSI      You should find it that string if the card is working.  If you don't find it, I would suspect that the LSI card is bad.

 

I would also suggest that you capture the diagnostics file while in this configuration and post it up. 

[Keek Uras]

Turned out it was the board. Thanks for the input folks!