Can't get drives to show on LSI3008 controller on SM Epyc board

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Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
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Chico, CA
Hi folks, there is probably a very simple fix that I am unaware of but I can't get my new H11 Supermicro Epyc board with 7402p CPU to work with any SAS drives. This is what I've done so far:

  • Plugged in a single Hitachi 12Gbps SSD to the built in LSI 3008 SAS controller. No go, the bios shows the controller but not the drive.
  • Swapped SAS cables, no change, also swapped ports on the motherboard, no change.
  • Swapped drives, no change
  • Plugged in a spare LSI 3008 add in card, plugged the Hitachi drive into it, the Avago BIOS shows both LSI 3008 controllers but not the drive.
  • Plugged the spare add in card into my test bench with the same cable/drive, everything works as expected, drive shows up in the BIOS and in windows.
Given the AIC 3008 works in my testbench but has the same issue as the built in 3008 controller I'm expecting there is some setting I need to adjust somewhere to get the drives to show. The BIOS for the board has been updated to the latest version. Here is an image of the boot process, notice no available drives even though one is plugged in.

20200104_143945-min2.jpg
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
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Chico, CA
I've read about that but I'm not sure it applies (correct me if I'm wrong). The same drives work fine when connected to the 3008 AIC in another computer, they don't show up when I use the same AIC in the Supermicro board. That leads me to believe it has something to do with the SM board. I either received a bad board or there is a setting somewhere I need to change.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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That is super strange. Normally when I see that it is a backplane/ cable issue but you tested multiple cables.
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
429
115
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Chico, CA
Yeah this is a strange one. If it's a bad onboard controller I would expect the AIC version to work, but it doesn't until moved to another machine. It's like there is an incompatibility with that specific controller but I would have expected SM to do at least some testing. I've updated the firmware on the internal controller to the latest version but not change.
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
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115
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Chico, CA
I haven't yet. I can't seem to find my four port sata cable. I'll try as soon as I find it to see if some micron drives will show up. I may call SM and see if there is a some known issue with the drives I'm using or if there is a setting I need to change.
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
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That MPT BIOS is fairly old. Tried updating?

Note: Also, in case you missed it (and it really shouldn't matter), you're running in IR mode, not IT mode.
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
429
115
43
Chico, CA
Yep, updated the firmware on the built in controller and I'm fine with IR mode, I plan on running raid 10 so that is actually a plus.
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
429
115
43
Chico, CA
Spoke with an SM tech today, he was as baffled as I was. He's going to ask the AMD engineer if he's seen anything like it. As a last ditch effort before getting the board replaced I've ordered a shorter break out cable to see if my 1M cable is just not good enough to run SAS 12Gbps.
 

Jeff Robertson

Active Member
Oct 18, 2016
429
115
43
Chico, CA
Some of the 12Gbps HDDs have the “power disable” feature. Not sure of the SSDs. Check if you can rule that out
Ok, I can admit when I screw up. I assumed the power disable feature wasn't in play here and I was completely wrong. I plugged a molex to sata power splitter inline and viola, the hitachi SSDs appeared... No idea why they were working on my testbench with the same cables but I'm just going to consider this a win and move on.
 
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