HGST 4u60 + Dell SC8000 adding drive issue

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denywinarto

Active Member
Aug 11, 2016
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Is there any limitations of using Dell SC8000 (A.k.a LSI 9208 16e rebranded) for more than 11 drives?
I'm using it at first along with HGST 4u60 and 10 drives and it works fine on my win server 2012 r2.
Soon after i added 1 more drive and it's detected.

But after about a year or so i added 12th drive, a brand new WD red 8tb drive,
and i couldn't get it to recognize through any means,
Explorer / disk management couldn't detect anything

I ran the sas2flash tool from SAS 9202-16e Host Bus Adapter

But i couldn't find anything related to adding new drive or drive limitations in the FAQs or the manuals.
It's strange cause i didn't have this issue when adding 11th drive.
Switching the new drive to another port in the chassis didn't help, so i suspect this is sas card issue...
 
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nthu9280

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2016
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San Antonio, TX
Sas2flash is the same for all 6Gbps LSI HBAs. What FW did you use? If you have the sc8000 16e card with 4xsff-8644 ports, it's 9206-16e with 2xSAS2308 chips in it. I don't know what chip 9202-16e has.

What does your sas2flash -list /-listall say? It should list 2 x 2308 (D1) for each of the 9206-16e you have in the system.

Also are you using any SAS expanders. I've read somewhere that Intel expanders have limitation on max # of drives but not that small.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 

denywinarto

Active Member
Aug 11, 2016
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Sas2flash is the same for all 6Gbps LSI HBAs. What FW did you use? If you have the sc8000 16e card with 4xsff-8644 ports, it's 9206-16e with 2xSAS2308 chips in it. I don't know what chip 9202-16e has.

What does your sas2flash -list /-listall say? It should list 2 x 2308 (D1) for each of the 9206-16e you have in the system.

Also are you using any SAS expanders. I've read somewhere that Intel expanders have limitation on max # of drives but not that small.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Code:
C:\9202-16e_Package_P20_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sas2flash_win_x64_rel>sas2f
lash -listall
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

        Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2308_2(D1)

Num   Ctlr            FW Ver        NVDATA        x86-BIOS         PCI Addr
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

0  SAS2308_2(D1)   20.00.07.00    14.01.00.06    07.39.02.00     00:03:00:00
1  SAS2308_2(D1)   20.00.07.00    14.01.00.06    07.39.02.00     00:05:00:00

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS2Flash.

C:\9202-16e_Package_P20_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sas2flash_win_x64_rel>sas2f
lash -list
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved
        Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2308_2(D1)

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS2308_2(D1)
        PCI Address                    : 00:03:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 500605b-0-09b5-2610
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 14.01.00.06
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 14.01.00.06
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2214 (IT)
        Firmware Version               : 20.00.07.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
        NVDATA Product ID              : SAS9206-16e
        BIOS Version                   : 07.39.02.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : N/A
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : SAS9206-16E
        Board Assembly                 : H3-25553-01A
        Board Tracer Number            : SV44340003

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS2Flash.
Nope, not using sas expander. These are my specs :

Motherboard : Gybagite GA B150m ds3h
Processor : Intel i3 skylake
Ram : 8Gb ddr4 corsair
SSD : Kingston 120gb + windows server 2012 R2 datacenter
SAS card : DELL SC8000 or A.K.A lsi 9206-16e

The other 11 drives work fine, so it's not a total failure of the card, the new wd 8tb is also detected on another machine so it's not hdd issue
 
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denywinarto

Active Member
Aug 11, 2016
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Well this is strange, even with LSI 9300-8e card my 12th disk still refuses to be detected.
I have updated the driver to the latest version, using windows 2012 r2 drivers here
SAS 9300-8e Host Bus Adapter

Do i need to flash it or something?
Code:
C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\9300_8e_Package_P15_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Window
s\sas3flash_win_x64_rel>sas3flash.exe -listall
Avago Technologies SAS3 Flash Utility
Version 16.00.00.00 (2017.05.02)
Copyright 2008-2017 Avago Technologies. All rights reserved.

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

Num   Ctlr            FW Ver        NVDATA        x86-BIOS         PCI Addr
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

0  SAS3008(C0)  14.00.00.00    0e.00.00.08    08.33.00.00     00:01:00:00

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS3Flash.

C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\9300_8e_Package_P15_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Window
s\sas3flash_win_x64_rel>sas3flash.exe -list
Avago Technologies SAS3 Flash Utility
Version 16.00.00.00 (2017.05.02)
Copyright 2008-2017 Avago Technologies. All rights reserved.

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS3008(C0)
        PCI Address                    : 00:01:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 500605b-0-0b9f-51ca
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 0e.00.00.08
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 0e.00.00.08
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2221 (IT)
        Firmware Version               : 14.00.00.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
        NVDATA Product ID              : SAS9300-8e
        BIOS Version                   : 08.33.00.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 07.00.00.00
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : SAS9300-8e
        Board Assembly                 : H3-35661-00V
        Board Tracer Number            : SV61122067

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS3Flash.
Edit : Flashed it to latest firmware 15.00,
Code:
C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\9300_8e_Package_P15_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Window
s\sas3flash_win_x64_rel>sas3flash.exe -o -b mptsas3.rom -f SAS9300_8e_IT.bin
Avago Technologies SAS3 Flash Utility
Version 16.00.00.00 (2017.05.02)
Copyright 2008-2017 Avago Technologies. All rights reserved.

        Advanced Mode Set

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

        Executing Operation: Flash Firmware Image

                Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum.
                Firmware Version 15.00.00.00
                Firmware Image compatible with Controller.

                Valid NVDATA Image found.
                NVDATA Major Version 0e.00
                Checking for a compatible NVData image...

                NVDATA Device ID and Chip Revision match verified.
                NVDATA SubSystem Vendor and SubSystem Device ID match verified.
                NVDATA Versions Compatible.
                Valid Initialization Image verified.
                Valid BootLoader Image verified.

                Beginning Firmware Download...
                Firmware Download Successful.

                Verifying Download...

                Firmware Flash Successful.

                Resetting Adapter...
                Adapter Successfully Reset.

                NVDATA Version 0e.00.00.08
        Executing Operation: Flash BIOS Image

                Validating BIOS Image...

                BIOS Header Signature is Valid

                BIOS Image has a Valid Checksum.

                BIOS PCI Structure Signature Valid.

                BIOS Image Compatible with the SAS Controller.

                Attempting to Flash BIOS Image...

                Verifying Download...

                Flash BIOS Image Successful.

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS3Flash.

C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\9300_8e_Package_P15_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Window
s\sas3flash_win_x64_rel>sas3flash.exe -list
Avago Technologies SAS3 Flash Utility
Version 16.00.00.00 (2017.05.02)
Copyright 2008-2017 Avago Technologies. All rights reserved.

        Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS3008(C0)
        PCI Address                    : 00:01:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 500605b-0-0b9f-51ca
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 0e.00.00.08
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 0e.00.00.08
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2221 (IT)
        Firmware Version               : 15.00.00.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
        NVDATA Product ID              : SAS9300-8e
        BIOS Version                   : 08.35.00.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 07.00.00.00
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : SAS9300-8e
        Board Assembly                 : H3-35661-00V
        Board Tracer Number            : SV61122067

        Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
        Exiting SAS3Flash.

C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\9300_8e_Package_P15_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Window
s\sas3flash_win_x64_rel>
still no difference, i'm beginning to think this is rack's issue.. It's been a while but IIRC do i need to access the rack using console cable?
 
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