esxi 6.5u2 - nvme disk only shows up IF another disk exists (ie sata or otherwise)

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Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Have you guys checked for newer firmware for the p3700? I assume you did but just to be sure
 

sth

Active Member
Oct 29, 2015
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yeah, I updated to latest p3700 in the one that I could get to boot into windows to update. The other gets warm when connected but is never recognized.
Ive got two HGST NVMe's inbound to verify....
 

james23

Active Member
Nov 18, 2014
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thanks Rand_ yes , am running the latest FW on p3700. (its the same FW version on both the pcie and the 2.5" p3700 's i have).

(FWIW , supermicro said there are no FW updates for my backplane, although i now think this is a issue with the p3700 more than anything else)
 

sth

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Oct 29, 2015
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my two HGST NVMe drives won't be here until next week sadly. Had hoped they would turbo their way to me for the long weekend but sadly no luck.
 

sth

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Oct 29, 2015
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Postman delivered my HGST NVMe today so I got a chance to try them, both appear to power up correctly, green LEDs and a brief flash of a yellow LED but neither are recognized in the BIOS or in ESXi.
I'll raise this with supermicro this week, see if they can provide any support.
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Neither of you has per chance a non p3700 intel nvme ssd? ideally p366/3500 ?
- its quite interesting its a p3700 for both of you while the non intel works fine - maybe its an intel problem not a SM one...
 

sth

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Oct 29, 2015
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I forgot I had some Samsung based m.2 format sticks I can pull out tomorrow to try, this will require swapping out the supermicro PCI card and replacing it with a Asus.
My logic based on S3700s failing and HGST Ultrstar HUSMR7696BDP3Y1 failing is this is more likely Supermicro or ESXi related.
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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well to totally wrap up this issue, supermicro support today confirmed to me they *ARE* able to reproduce this issue, but will not be fixing (i would understand a bit more if the p3700 wasnt such a relevant and popular drive, and still amoung the fastest with high WE):

Hi XXX,

I was able to reproduce the Intel P3700 U.2 NVME issue that you were seeing. Since Intel P3700 NVME is EOL, so we don't plan to debug and fix the issue. If you plan to use Intel NVME for your system, please consider Intel P4600 or the new Intel P4700 series.

I will go ahead close the ticket by the end of the day.

Best Regards
XXX (supermicro support rep name removed)
-----

edit: on a side note, an something ive been wondering for awhile now, does a p4700 exist?? if not, than what is the current gen intel nvme drive with super high write endurance? (other than optane)

R.I.P p3700, one of the best nvme drives in the history of the world. :cool:
 
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Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Sorry to hear that.
Understandable from their point of view but annoying ass sh*t for the customer :(

And nothing much to be found on P4700, its not official yet... but maybe they know more ?;)
 

sth

Active Member
Oct 29, 2015
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they also closed my request today, not because the p3700 was EOL but because the HBA wasn't listed as supported on X10SDV platforms.
 

james23

Active Member
Nov 18, 2014
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a update (unfortunate). I got 2x 1.6tb intel p3605 u.2 NVMe drives a few weeks ago (for another server), and decided to try them in this system / backplane, just to see.

SAME issue as the p3700 (warm boot = OK , cold boot = does not show up).

(as i desribed earlie in the thread, a 960gb HGST u.2 nvme i have in this server, does NOT have , and that remains true).

:(

(not to to bad actually, the rare times i do a cold boot, i just reboot esxi once it comes up, or i do that F11 boot override, then ctrl-alt-del , workaround)