[SOLVED] HBA not recognized in some PCIe slots

[n0stalghia]

My HBA (LSI 9207-8i) is not recognized in some of my PCIe slots.

 

The HBA is connected to two HDDs. The array is working just fine when the HBA is in the PCIe slot PCH - SLOT 5 - PCI-E 3.0 x4 (in x8 slot), but when I put it into any of the other two slots (CPU - SLOT 6 - PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16 slot) and CPU - SLOT 7 - PCI-E 3.0 x8), the drives don't show up in unRAID.

 

Motherboard is Supermicro X11SSL-F.

 

Anybody ever had anything similar before? I've went through the BIOS several times and can't find any settings that might affect this...
 

EDIT: Since this is not a unRAID issue, I decided to post it here; please move the topic to the correct forum if this is not the right place.

Edited May 4, 2020 by n0stalghia

[JorgeB]

It should work on any slot, and by coincidence I have the same board with a 9207-8i in one of the CPU slots, make sure both bios and LSI firmware are up to date and reset CMOS on the board.

[n0stalghia]

Could you look up the BIOS and LSI firmware versions for your hardware? 

 

I agree that it should work, there is no reason for it not to, but I've had this issue since Day 1 of this system (been running with the HBA in PCH slot for a year now because PCI x4 is enough for now, but decided to take another look at the system and try to resolve the issue)

 

The CPU also supports up to 16 lanes (Intel Celeron G4920), so it should be working, but yet it doesn't

 

EDIT: could the be a faulty motherboard, maybe?

Edited May 4, 2020 by n0stalghia

[JorgeB]

17 minutes ago, n0stalghia said:

Could you look up the BIOS and LSI firmware versions for your hardware? 

Latest for both r2.3 for board and 20.00.07.00 for the LSI.

 

18 minutes ago, n0stalghia said:

could the be a faulty motherboard, maybe?

Unlikely, unless nothing works on those slots, make sure you do a CMOS reset.

[n0stalghia]

So, I updated both things to the same version you're using and took the CMOS battery out (the time in the BIOS did reset, so I assume it worked).

 

Unraid still doesn't see HBA/drives. From what I can piece together in Tools > System Devices, the slots are loaded correctly:

 

[8086:1901] 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 08)

[8086:1905] 00:01.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor PCIe Controller (x8) (rev 08)

 

so I'm not sure where the issue is. Is there some BIOS setting? Maybe something in motherboard's settings (the ones accessible via IMPI?)

EDIT: I have a spare PCIe WiFi card from TP-Link, I'll try it in both slots to try and test if the motherboard is faulty

Edited May 4, 2020 by n0stalghia

[JorgeB]

Also is that a real LSI or some crossflashed controller form Dell or other brand? These can sometimes require disabling SMBbus on PCIe.

[n0stalghia]

Should be a real one, here's the Amazon link. 

 

Anyway, I tried my WiFi card. When in the PCH x4 slot, this showed up in Tools > System Devices:

 

[168c:002e] 03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

 

When in the CPU x8 slot, this entry was missing. 

 

May I assume that the board is faulty at this point or could there be other reasons for this not working?

[JorgeB]

Most likely faulty of nothing works there.

[n0stalghia]

On 5/4/2020 at 3:18 PM, johnnie.black said:

Most likely faulty of nothing works there.

Just got another X11SSL-F, still no device working in the two PCIe slots. Processor incompatibility? It’s a Celeron G4920 

[JorgeB]

20 minutes ago, n0stalghia said:

Processor incompatibility?

I missed you are using a Coffee Lake CPU, those boards only work with Skylake/Kabylake CPUs, surprised it's even booting.

[n0stalghia]

15 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

I missed you are using a Coffee Lake CPU, those boards only work with Skylake/Kabylake CPUs, surprised it's even booting.

Hell, it’s running for a year already, fascinating.

[n0stalghia]

xckd 979 mitigation:

 

I installed an i3-7350K into the machine, and indeed, the slots are working as intended now. It does indeed seem like the chipset/CPU incompatibility was the issue.

 

Thanks for the help Johnnie Black! Wouldn't have solved this without your help.

[JorgeB]

👍