I have just rebuilt my system - a 24 Bay system built around a Norco 4224 case. Previously I had a Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H motherboard and two Supermicro SASLP cards running the .15 Firmware.

 

This all worked fine until I started to use 4 TB drives. At that point I ran into a strange set of problems involving what seemed like interactions between the MB and the cards (documented here http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26391.msg230767#msg230767 but not really relevant to this post.)

 

I decided to replace the motherboard both to resolve this issue and for other reasons. I replaced it with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 MB, but after doing so I ran into similar problems with the 4 TB drives. I intend a long detailed post describing these problems in case others are interested but in this post I'm just exploring what my alternatives are.

 

Since the problem seems to be related to having two Supermicro cards and drives larger than 2 TB (I haven't tried 3 TB drives but I suspect they would act the same as 4 TB drives), my first thought is to replace one of the Supermicro cards with an IBM M1015 card.

 

My question going in is are there any particular reason why these two cards would conflict with each other? The board has two x16 slots. When both are populated, they both run at x8. So from a slot point of view I don't see any problem. Has anyone successfully run a system with one M1015 and one Supermicro SASLP?

 

Also, regarding the M1015 card, I'm a little unclear if they are all the same or are there different cards marketed under that name. IOW, if I buy based on price at eBay can I assume that one is like the next from a hardware point of view?

 

Oh, and one more question: Has anyone used these M1015 cards attached to 4 TB drives?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

 

Harry

I'm using multiple 3TB drives on my 2xSASLP cards....  0.15 firmware on both

I'm using multiple 3TB drives on my 2xSASLP cards....  0.15 firmware on both

 

Chris,

 

Thanks. That's good to know, but there is no question that I've got a problem and it's been persistent over two different motherboards. Perhaps I was hasty in assuming the threshhold was anything over 2 TB as I haven't tried anything between 2 TB and 4 TB. Or perhaps there is some similarity between the two boards I've tried that your board doesn't share.

 

But 4 TB drives definitely cause problems with both motherboards when using two supermicro cards. It's an obscure problem and only shows up on one SAS connector of the four SAS connectors on the two boards. That would say a defective board of course, were it not for the fact that swapping cards makes no difference - the problem occurs on whichever board is in the x8 slot (ASRock board) or the x4 slot (Gigabyte board).

 

And, swapping the cable that attaches to that SAS port, moves the problem to a different row of the Norco case. It is always the lower SAS connector on the card in the x8 or x4 slot that presents problems when a 4 TB drive is attached to it. I suppose it is also possible that the problem is the Norco controller, but if it is, then it is not a matter of a bad backplane board, because I can make the problem appear on whichever row of the case I choose.

 

Here's a picture of what occurs during POST

 

.

 

Unraid does continue on and boot, but under most circumstances (more on that later) the drive doesn't show up as a drive in mymain.

 

As I said, I'm in the process of documenting what I've observed in some detail. I hope you'll read it and let me know if I'm missing something.

 

But, for now, I'm more interesting in switching than fighting this problem any more. Hence my question about the M1015.

 

 

Harry

 

I understand,  and hopefully when I move to 4TB drives I wont have problems...  I hope you find the solution,  looks like it will help me in the future :selfish:

A quick search of the forums reveals a user 'sheppp' using this configuration:

 

unRAID 5.0-RC11 ----- Norco RPC-4224 CH, X9SCM-F-O MB, E3-1230 Xeon CPU, Kingston 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 RAM (2 8GB sticks), CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W PS, SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 RC (x3);    -WD 4TB 7200 Black (x1),  -Hitachi 4TB 7200 (x8)

 

So that suggests there is no issue with SASLP's and 4Tb drives.  I am wondering if you have either a motherboard-specific issue, or if you have missed a setting somewhere.

 

There is certainly no issue with M1015's running alongside SASLP-MV8's - I have one MV8 card that I had in my build for a time alongside 2x M1015's.  In saying that, I don't have any 4TB drives as I can't justify the cost per GB at this stage.

 

Have you disabled int13 on each of those SASLP's?  Not that I expect an immediate difference/fix, however it is recommended by many to do this.

 

 

 

 

I decided to replace the motherboard both to resolve this issue and for other reasons. I replaced it with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 MB, but after doing so I ran into similar problems with the 4 TB drives. I intend a long detailed post describing these problems in case others are interested but in this post I'm just exploring what my alternatives are.

 

I had the ASrock Z77 Extreme 4 MB in one of my unRAID arrays for a while with 8x4TB drives attached to the MB and they worked fine.  It also worked with 2 Adaptec 1430sa cards with 4x4TB drives attached to each controller.

 

Also, regarding the M1015 card, I'm a little unclear if they are all the same or are there different cards marketed under that name. IOW, if I buy based on price at eBay can I assume that one is like the next from a hardware point of view?

 

I think so, IBM has several part numbers but the board is basically the same.  Many don't come with the right bracket, make sure you order one of those too if you need it.

 

Oh, and one more question: Has anyone used these M1015 cards attached to 4 TB drives?

 

I also built an ESXi box in a Norco4020, using supermicro MB with M1015s.  I just added my first two 4TB drives on the M1015 today, which is passed through to an unRAID guest.  They are preclearing for the next couple days.  So far so good, they were recognized no problem. 

 

I had the ASrock Z77 Extreme 4 MB in one of my unRAID arrays for a while with 8x4TB drives attached to the MB and they worked fine.  It also worked with 2 Adaptec 1430sa cards with 4x4TB drives attached to each controller.

 

 

I haven't had any problems with 4 TB drives on the Motherboard SATA ports either. I'm preclearing one right now and have another operating as my parity drive.

 

Also, regarding the M1015 card, I'm a little unclear if they are all the same or are there different cards marketed under that name. IOW, if I buy based on price at eBay can I assume that one is like the next from a hardware point of view?

 

I think so, IBM has several part numbers but the board is basically the same.  Many don't come with the right bracket, make sure you order one of those too if you need it.

 

 

Thanks. I'll make sure I order with the full size bracket I need. I may also have a few laying around just in case.

 

Oh, and one more question: Has anyone used these M1015 cards attached to 4 TB drives?

 

I also built an ESXi box in a Norco4020, using supermicro MB with M1015s.  I just added my first two 4TB drives on the M1015 today, which is passed through to an unRAID guest.  They are preclearing for the next couple days.  So far so good, they were recognized no problem.

 

Thanks. That answers that!

 

But, I'm still wondering about possilbe conflicts betwee this M1015 with a Supermicro SASLP card. There is no reason I have to think this is or could be a problem, but it would be nice to know that someone had succeeded using a setup with a Supermicro SASLP and an IBM M1015 card, if possible. I realize you probably have no experience with such a setup but is there any reason to believe it could be a problem?

 

Thanks for all the help. Your earlier post regarding this ASRock board was a factor in my purchasing it. It's a great board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick search of the forums reveals a user 'sheppp' using this configuration:

 

unRAID 5.0-RC11 ----- Norco RPC-4224 CH, X9SCM-F-O MB, E3-1230 Xeon CPU, Kingston 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 RAM (2 8GB sticks), CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W PS, SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 RC (x3);    -WD 4TB 7200 Black (x1),  -Hitachi 4TB 7200 (x8)

 

So that suggests there is no issue with SASLP's and 4Tb drives. 

 

 

BetaQuasi,

 

Sorry, I missed your post when I responded to JimmyJoe.  Thanks for the confirmation.

 

I am wondering if you have either a motherboard-specific issue, or if you have missed a setting somewhere.

 

The exact same problem occured on two different motherboards - one from Gigabyte and one from ASRock. I've been using these Supermicro cards for more than two years on the Gigabyte board without any problems. The problem only arose when I started using a 4 TB drive. I have disabled INT13 and tried the .21 firmware, but that installs RAID functionality that won't allow unRAID to boot.

 

I'm convinced I'm not making any mistake, but I appreciate your question (really!) The interaction is so weird that it hardly seems possible, but I've been over it troubleshooting, swapping cards, swapping connectors, and it is what it is. The lower SAS connector on whichever card is in the x8 or x4 slot (x8 on ASRock, x4 on Gigabyte) won't POST a 4 GB drive, regardless of which Norco backplane it is connected to. At this point, even if it is my error I'm happy to switch. Just want the problem solved.

 

 

There is certainly no issue with M1015's running alongside SASLP-MV8's - I have one MV8 card that I had in my build for a time alongside 2x M1015's.  In saying that, I don't have any 4TB drives as I can't justify the cost per GB at this stage.

 

 

That's the confirmation I was looking for! Many thanks. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of conflict having them in the same box. I'm gonna go ahead and order a card. Now to figure out how to flash it 

 

Many thanks.

 

Harry

 

 

I have flashed about 10 cards now using these instructions:

 

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/

 

There is also mention in that thread of an easy way to create a bootable DOS USB stick using the HP Disk format utility and a win98boot setup.  Works a treat.