Hello all. I'm having an issue discovering my drives using the ICY DOCK MB975SP-B cages.  I have 3 cages and I can't get any one of the bays to discover so I highly doubt it is a defect in the cage.  I'm probably missing something stupid and since I used to be a sysamin I feel pretty dumb.

 

I have a Supermicro X10SL7-F with the LSI 2308 controller (flashed to IT mode).  The motherboard has 8 SAS ports (LSI controller) and 6 more SATA port on board.  I also have a Syba PCIe card with 2 SATA ports.  All of those various controllers/cards are hooked up to the ICY DOCK cages and I cannot get a single bay to be recognized when a drive is inserted.  If I plug the SATA cable directly into the drive bypassing the cage it works fine.

 

What the heck am I missing? lol

 

Thanks.

Do you have all the power connectors hooked up?  There was an older model icy dock cage that had 2 connectors and I remember both had to be connected or else drives not detected...

Sorry, forgot to mention that.  Power is connected and SATA cables ate also connected.  Get a power led on the ICY DOCK when I insert the drive. 

Double-check your connections -- if all the power cables and all the SATA cables are connected, and you're sure the drives are seated securely (re-seat them to be sure), then it certainly should work.    Are you hot plugging the drives, or doing it with power off?

 

I've reseated them several times when I tested the connections without the ICY DOCK.  Everything is definitely connected, that's why I thought I was missing something stupid.  It definitely feels like it's seated when I insert the drives in the cage and I don't think it would completely close if it wasn't. 

 

If this was 1 cage I would think there was an issue with the cage, but it's 3 cages.

 

Is there anything specific in the BIOS settings that would need to be different for enclosures versus hooking the drives up directly?

I know this is obvious, but just to be sure:  Do you have SATA cables connected to all 5 of the ports on the Icy Docks; and do you have power connected to all of the power inputs?

 

The BIOS doesn't "know" how you've connected the drives -- the Icy Docks are just a convenience that allows the drives to be more easily plugged in or unplugged.

 

Note that these enclosures require THREE SATA power connectors -- all 3 must be connected for proper operation.  In addition, there's a small power switch for each drive at the top of the enclosure in front (where the indicator lights are).

 

 

Everything is connected and the power switches are on in the front (even get the blue led when a drive is inserted).  I will double check all the connections again though.

I guess if you got all 3 Icy Docks at the same time it is always possible they came from the same defective batch?  I agree that it does seem unlikely, though, that they would all be defective.

If you connect one of the drives directly to the exact same SATA cable going to the Icy Dock, is it recognized? Verifying would tend to exclude things like a disk controller issue and bad SATA cables.

 

Are you certain you have installed the disks into the caddies (if Icy Dock's have caddies) properly. Are you sure the drives are firmly plugged into the slot. I have single disk Icy Dock (caddy-less) and it is a little tricky to get the drive securely connected and the door closed.

I have the 973 version. The blue LED's are power buttons, make sure they are turned on. See attached picture.

As mr-hexen noted, the power buttons are the blue LED's.  I suspect that the issue is you simply haven't turned on the drives.

 

... Are you certain you have installed the disks into the caddies ...

 

As a quick Google will confirm, the MB975SP-B are Tray-Less cages.  No caddy involved.

 

 

I had a similar issue with a different cage where the LEDs were also power switches and they were all off from the factory.

Sorry it's been a while, I put this on hold due to frustration.  I was working on this again today and plugged everything direct, not using the enclosures and it worked.  I find it hard to believe that all 3 enclosures are bad, but maybe so.  All blue lights are lit up so power is getting to everything.  Since I used the same cables for everything I know the cables are ok.  Just really weird this would happen on all three.  I think I might buy another enclosure (different brand) to test and see.  Any recommendations?

When you use hot-swap cages you're adding an additional connection plus a circuit board to the path between your controller and the drives.    Every connection and every "wire" (a circuit board trace in this case) represents another potential point of failure.

 

Have you by any chance shipped this system with the drives installed?  That is a frequent source of issues with hot-swap cages, as the stress of vibrations while holding the (relatively) heavy drives can cause micro-fractures on the circuit boards.

 

If that's not the case, then it's indeed VERY strange that you'd get 3 defective cages.  IcyDock provides a 3-year warranty on these, so they should replace them without issue as long as you're the original purchaser.  If they weren't damaged by shipping them loaded in a system; they may have been poorly packed when originally sent to you and had a bit too much "bouncing around" for the circuit boards to survive.

 

 

... I think I might buy another enclosure (different brand) to test and see.  Any recommendations?

 

r.e. buying new enclosures.  IcyDocks are good enclosures -- I'd just get them replaced under warranty.  But there are many other good units -- SuperMicro, Norco, iStar, etc.

 

Sorry it's been a while, I put this on hold due to frustration.  I was working on this again today and plugged everything direct, not using the enclosures and it worked.  I find it hard to believe that all 3 enclosures are bad, but maybe so.  All blue lights are lit up so power is getting to everything.  Since I used the same cables for everything I know the cables are ok.  Just really weird this would happen on all three.  I think I might buy another enclosure (different brand) to test and see.  Any recommendations?

 

I've never used Icy Dock's, but have used a lot of enclosures. They each typically have some sort of locking mechanism. Unless the drives are locked, they do not work. Some have a key, and the key must be locked. I agree it is unlikely they have all failed.

 

I would suggest focusing on one drive and one enclosure. Do the unimaginable - read the manual cover to cover. Make sure everything is plugged securely. If the drive is installed on a tray, re-examine the installation. Could be that you've not installed it right and are using the wrong screw holes. Or upside down. Misinstallation in the tray has been my personal #1 source of problem. Also plug both power connectors if there are two to hot power connectors. Make sure you don't have a bunch of splitters in the chain. Turn on the server. Listen to see if the drive spins up. If lights on the cage come on but the drive does not spin up, that is evidence that some lock has not been engaged. If you still can't get it to work, see if you can call Icy Dock support for assistance.

 

Although Gary is right that these types of units add more components to the failure chain, experience here with these cages has been extraordinarily positive. I have never helped on a problem that was traced back to a bad drive cage, and I've helped literally hundreds of users with problems. But that doesn't mean yours are not from a faulty run and they really are bad. Good luck!

Does running rescan-scsi-bus after connecting the device make any difference?

So it turns out all three cages were bad.  Ugh.  Thanks for the feedback everyone.

So it turns out all three cages were bad.  Ugh.  Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

Glad you got it resolved.    Just out of curiosity (you never answered my earlier question) did you ship these cages with the drive's installed?    I've seen several cases where this resulted in defective connections in the cages.

 

No, this was a new build.

Strange.  I suspect they were simply poorly packed and suffered too much vibration/movement in shipping.