My new server is just a few weeks old and everything seems to be working fine.

 

When I cold boot the server there are numerous ATA and ACPI errors in the log. I am having a hard time deciphering these errors.  

 

Two data drives are on a PCIE Sata card, the rest are on the onboard SATA. 

 

Could someone take a look and see if this is something I should be concerned about?

 

Thank you!

tower-syslog-20170318-2222.zip

As to the ACPI issues, I don't see anything very unusual, but since your motherboard BIOS is from 2013, I'd recommend checking for a newer one, *might* help.

 

The second parity drive appears to have a loose connection, might check all of its connectors, both ends of any connected cables, power and data.

 

The kernel thinks it sees something on the last 2 SATA ports, but gives up trying to identify them.  You have IDE emulation turned on for your onboard SATA drives.  When you next boot, go into the BIOS settings and look for the SATA mode, and change it to a native SATA mode, preferably AHCI if available, anything but IDE emulation mode.  It should be slightly faster, and a little safer, if you do connect anything to them.

 

Once those last 2 ports are using the native SATA AHCI option, then we should be able to see what's there, if anything.

Thanks Rob.

 

I do have AHCI SATA mode set in BIOS, but I'll double check to see if I missed something.  I'll also check, maybe replace, the 2nd parity drive cable(s).

 

As far as the last two SATA ports, I think I know what the problem is.  This particular motherboard has 6 on-board SATA ports.  Adjacent to these 6 ports there is space on the motherboard for another 2 sata ports, but no physical connectors.  So there must be another variation of this motherboard that actually does have an extra two ports.  The kernal must be able to see the underlying circuitry for these two extra ports.  But again, there are no physical connectors for them.

 

OK, that could explain it.  But that indicates poor device management in the BIOS, which should KNOW those ports aren't there, aren't available.  That's more impetus for finding a newer BIOS.

 

By the way, you said you saw 6 SATA ports.  The syslog however indicates the 6th one may not be working.  The kernel designated it as a DUMMY, which generally means there's a port there, but the BIOS says it's not operational (which is what it *should* have said about those other 2 ports!).  More reason for an updated BIOS!

On the 6th SATA port I have a cable set up but no hard drive attached.  That's where that error is coming from.

 

I'll look into the BIOS, I think I am one short of the latest.  I'll install it and see if anything changes.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, BradJ said:

I'll look into the BIOS, I think I am one short of the latest.  I'll install it and see if anything changes.

 

Post a syslog after you install it, and I'll compare the 2 for changes.

 

On the 6th SATA port I have a cable set up but no hard drive attached.  That's where that error is coming from.

 

I'm a little hesitant to agree.  A dead unconnected cable should not be visible.

Edited March 19, 20179 yr by RobJ
add note

I verified I was on the latest and last BIOS for this motherboard. I'm glad I was on the latest because MSI only provides a windows utility (exe file) to update.  MSI does have some newer BETA versions which I am hesitant to try.  Although one says: " 01.Add solution to fix System hang up ¡°A2¡± with some hard disk. ".  Maybe this is whats happening with me?

 

Anyway, I cleared my CMOS because I doubt I did that when I upgraded to the latest bios many years ago.  I ensured AHCI was set for the SATA ports.  I also enabled Hot Plug Capability just to see if it changes anything.  I also re-seated the SATA and power plugs for the 2nd parity drive.

 

From what I can see, nothing has changed. Please let me know if you see anything different.

 

So, if the system acts normal and performance is good just live with these errors on this particular board?

tower-syslog-20170319-1235.zip

There's nothing important that changed, so yes you can just live with it.

 

You clearly changed something in the BIOS, because its memory layout changed, and several other small things changed too, like the CPU being slightly faster, but not enough to be detectable!  Two changes did NOT happen that we wanted, but may not be important.  The 2 phantom ports are still there, and in IDE emulation mode, but who cares as you can't use them anyway.  The Parity2 drive still appears to have a loose connection on boot, with exactly the same errors as last time, so nothing you did changed that.  The only other possibility is a power draw issue to the drive - you can check that by spinning all the drives down, waiting a few seconds, then spinning them all up at the same time (the Spin Up button), and checking the syslog for the same error messages.  If none, guess you'll have to live with it.

 

As to the BIOS betas, all new software and all upgrades of any software are beta until they have been tested on your own machine.  If there aren't adverse reports about them, and you have used your motherboard tools to backup your current BIOS, then it should be safe to try one of them.

No errors at all during the simultaneous spindown/wait a minute/spinup process.  I'll keep my eyes on the log and if anything weird happens on that Parity2 drive, I'll replace the cable. BTW: the only CPU setting I changed was "Enable C1E Support" which was not enabled before.

 

So for now, I'll just live with the bootup errors and check the log periodically. 

 

I want to say Thank you Rob. I appreciate your time and troubleshooting logic.

 

 

You are very welcome!   (I often forget to say that, not very good at the social niceties!)