Adaptec RAID Extender (82885T) Not Recognized

[TheKrizzz]

All - I would appreciate a sanity check after troubleshooting this for (too) many hours.

I am building a new server and using an Adaptec 8805 RAID card (which supports 8 drives) plus an Adaptec 82885T RAID extender to add an additional 4 drives.

The main card works perfectly, but the extender is not recognized no matter what I do. Here are the details on my testing:

• Tried 2 different RAID extender cards (I always buy a backup).
• Extender cards shows activity lights.
• Motherboard BIOS is flashed to the newest version (10/2023).
• When I attach drives to the extender, they are not seen in the Adaptec BIOS Raid Utility.
  • Tried 2 different drive cables.
• The card itself is not seen in Windows 10/11 (tried both).
• Tried every PCI-X Slot on the motherboard.
• Verified every slot on the motherboard works by using other cards to test.
• Tried in a different motherboard. Still not seen by Windows.

The only thing that seems possible is that BOTH of the cards are bad, but I find this incredibly unlikely.

Is there anything you can think of that I might be missing?

TIA.

 

[TheKrizzz]

One additional point. There is no cable connecting the main card to the extender. I can't find any documentation that says there should be a direct link, but I'm wondering if maybe there should be and that might be the problem.

 

[gregsachs]

I haven't used this specific unit, but looking at the web page it appears to be a sas expander card, so would need to be connected to your main raid controller. That topology "should" not matter, the expander should basically function like a switch, even with automatic "LAG" functionality if you do dual links to the Raid controller.

https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/aec-82885

I suspect that it only pulls power from the PCI bus; Intel and HP both have units like that I have used.
found this in the brochure:

 

[gregsachs]

ManuaL

https://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/user_guides/adaptec_sas_expander_iug_6_2016.pdf

Port G, which is the furthest from the back of the PC, should be used for the RAID connection, it doesn't support connection of drives.
(interesting note, due to the onboard power connector and external connectors, this card would also work well for a JBOD shelf)

 

[mattventura]

ManuaL

https://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/user_guides/adaptec_sas_expander_iug_6_2016.pdf

Port G, which is the furthest from the back of the PC, should be used for the RAID connection, it doesn't support connection of drives.
(interesting note, due to the onboard power connector and external connectors, this card would also work well for a JBOD shelf)

It can be different if your card has an OEM firmware on it. On both of mine, C-G are for direct attached drives, leaving A and B for HBA connection.

To OP: I would try it first with a pure HBA rather than a RAID card, so that you can see if the expander itself gets recognized as a SAS device (I'm not sure how to do that in windows, but in Linux you can just do `lsscsi`). It will never show up as a PCIe device, it only uses the slot for power.

 

[TheKrizzz]

@gregsachs @mattventura this is very helpful. The cards I bought are branded as Lenovo. So far, no luck in finding doc on Lenovo's site as to the port config.

If I am understanding you guys correctly, I need to connect a TBD port on the expander directly to the RAID card itself. From what I am reading, it looks like it's a "Mini SAS HD SFF-8643 to SFF-8643 Cable". The RAID card itself has only two ports, so I will be connecting to one of them, I assume?

Not trying to be dumb here, but there are a few other connectors on the board and I want to confirm that it is actually using the ports where the drives are normally connected.

@mattventura
I'm not sure what you mean by connect it to a pure HBA? Would there be a port directly on the motherboard or would I need a different add in card to test this?

Thanks again.

 

[mattventura]

If I am understanding you guys correctly, I need to connect a TBD port on the expander directly to the RAID card itself. From what I am reading, it looks like it's a "Mini SAS HD SFF-8643 to SFF-8643 Cable". The RAID card itself has only two ports, so I will be connecting to one of them, I assume?

Yes, that's it. The expander isn't a PCIe device, it just uses the slot as a convenient place to mount + power (you can also mount it somewhere else and use the molex 4-pin instead). You use that cable to connect the expander to your RAID card. It's like a network switch but for SAS. It does more or less the same thing as you'd find an an external JBOD enclosure.

 

[TheKrizzz]

Thanks again. I'll have my connector cables on Thursday. Fingers crossed, I'll get this thing up and running. Really appreciate the help.

 

[lab499]

I also bought the Lenovo version of this card on ebay "Adaptec 2283400-R AEC-82885T LENOVO 36Port 12Gb/s SAS Expander Card 82885T US".

For future googling reference, it was super easy to update the firmware in Linux:

My card was on build 25 (B025)

$ lsscsi -g
[0:0:0:0]    enclosu ADAPTEC  AEC-82885T       B025  -          /dev/sg2

I grabbed the firmware which comes with the tool from Adaptec - Bios Updates and Other

$ bash utility/linux/fw_tool.sh -f firmware/aec82885t.bin /dev/sg2
Firmware update finished!

The firmware didn't show as updated immediately, but after a power cycle we see it is now build 59 (B059).

$ lsscsi
[0:0:1:0]    enclosu ADAPTEC  AEC-82885T       B059  -          /dev/sg1

Some sha256sums in case the firmware files are only available on random fileshare sites in the future:

d4144ec91afe4fd1982233da6fcbb8b12aced3adbabc1b635ed13741faf43ca7  82885t_fw_b059.zip
5f9e35c056afd858044a6556403e83df375e63cd4b64757655210cded717498a  firmware/aec82885t.bin
fd593de7e7a75db91201abfcf29ab9c7663de2c1d026cfdc4f6fb6dbf54c7984  utility/linux/fw_tool.sh
f6071585b95c3cb73b87847f6f73f5797f1de36c7d0b9a809c5987033e2173b8  utility/windows/cygiconv-2.dll
a00a59fb9ae894c8b2781ff16dd23ba5e97672f5b1d6a16dbfa6571a885017a2  utility/windows/cygintl-8.dll
53ccf84b6650d8555633bbed1f5924755fd724778be8c7e03e88c41186892348  utility/windows/cygwin1.dll
e157d7e6de8922bf15b7ff0cdaa0ff36a7994843e0d20f4510911f132a8e5522  utility/windows/dd.exe
b993ad38b33c5a74d6db6258ff214f5dfe1fce98919a5139eb5c08f6f14410f5  utility/windows/fw_tool.bat
cf118ba7af330d021f20073064c2ee6b3a054a5073f36cf41dd4f6e0f2722fbe  utility/windows/od.exe
e9da363088a37fbc7924e069ff31c80784759b4c23088a24ab0c573a678df7bb  utility/windows/sg_inq.exe
73f4b337249b1bec7b6d3a655f25bd60aec1f16cbc18ca0784d0df2f964d212c  utility/windows/sg_scan.exe
1573b76b3efc74c7b6417ffe235fc98d60bf4b913ed415c4a6de2e6ddd154783  utility/windows/sg_ses.exe
81e8d81080f9ade09bab4d113b6e705c37812398f510f8a561f0ee9b5ac3a74b  utility/windows/sg_turs.exe
90e4f25e7c8bf3eaa08d6617026d795aec91f65858c24b357a1b602fc56b0b6a  utility/windows/sg_write_buffer.exe