LSI 9300-16i $129 obo

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itronin

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Nov 24, 2018
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No I am not
that's key.

Example, if you were having this problem and using an expander backplane and you were seeing these errors on one raid group I'd expect to see it on another array and could indicate controller or cables or expander backplane.

If you are having this issue and you are directly connected form the controller to the drives you might try changing out the cables between the controller and the HDD's with known good cables.

stop. before you do that:

You wan to keep the port to hdd mapping the same and just change out the cables. If the problem disappears it is probable that you have a bad cable. If the problem stays then either its the controller port(s) or you changed one bad cable for another.

If you have known good cables use those... if you are not having issues with yoru SSD's and you have the same number of cables in use between the HBA and the SSD's you could take the SSD array offline and use those between the HDD's and their current ports since based on your report I'd call those known good cables.

I don't recommend swapping the cables between your HDD's and SSD's as you run the risk of corrupting your SSD's... or if that array is not in service you can - but to verify what's wrong, only change ONE thing at a time and test. Don't simply move the cable connections from your SSD's to your HDD's as you are changing both the cables *and* the ports on the HBA - if the problem resolves you still won't know if it is cables or HBA.

if you are using an expander (or something like a controller in a disk shelf - which is really a kind of expander) then troubleshooting will be a somewhat different process.

could the controller ports, but I've seen/experienced more bad cables than bad - sort of works HBA's. could also be the drives. I've seen more bad drives than bad SAS cables or bad HBAs...
 

undecided

New Member
Jan 28, 2023
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that's key.

Example, if you were having this problem and using an expander backplane and you were seeing these errors on one raid group I'd expect to see it on another array and could indicate controller or cables or expander backplane.

If you are having this issue and you are directly connected form the controller to the drives you might try changing out the cables between the controller and the HDD's with known good cables.

stop. before you do that:

You wan to keep the port to hdd mapping the same and just change out the cables. If the problem disappears it is probable that you have a bad cable. If the problem stays then either its the controller port(s) or you changed one bad cable for another.

If you have known good cables use those... if you are not having issues with yoru SSD's and you have the same number of cables in use between the HBA and the SSD's you could take the SSD array offline and use those between the HDD's and their current ports since based on your report I'd call those known good cables.

I don't recommend swapping the cables between your HDD's and SSD's as you run the risk of corrupting your SSD's... or if that array is not in service you can - but to verify what's wrong, only change ONE thing at a time and test. Don't simply move the cable connections from your SSD's to your HDD's as you are changing both the cables *and* the ports on the HBA - if the problem resolves you still won't know if it is cables or HBA.

if you are using an expander (or something like a controller in a disk shelf - which is really a kind of expander) then troubleshooting will be a somewhat different process.

could the controller ports, but I've seen/experienced more bad cables than bad - sort of works HBA's. could also be the drives. I've seen more bad drives than bad SAS cables or bad HBAs...
Thanks you, very insightful but one issue with your suggesion is that this happened on 6 hdds, two times on a different set of hdds and twice on the same set. All those drives are on 3 looms of 4 sata plugs each (6 got into HDD and 5 into SSDs). Each loom goes into one socket on the HBA. In fact some of the SSDs are on the same looms as the HDDs. That's why I concentrated my question on whether the 9300-16i requires the extra pciex power. At this point I am planning to plug that extra power in and test with it and see how it goes. My only concern was frying something so I wanted some confirmation that I can use that 6-pin pciex that usually was reserved for older GPUs. All the HDDs are new.
 

Markess

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2018
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Northern California
ok, so I have it up and running with the extra pciex power plugged in, let's see !
I don't see that you ever mentioned what kind of PCIe slot you have this plugged into? I assume its physcially X8 or x16, but do you know for sure it its x8 or x16 electrically? There's a lot of motherboards floating around out there with slots that are x8 or x16 physically, but x1, x2, or x4 electically.

Normally, a PCIe slot only provides up to 10w (x1) to 25w (x4 through x16). Devices (like GPUs) that can register themselves as "High Power" devices can draw more power of course (rangin from 25 watts in an x1 up to 75 watts in an x16 PCIe slot).

This HBA draws a maximum of 26 point something or other watts. So, if its plugged into a PCIe slot that isn't x8/x16 electically, or if its not successfully registering itself as a high power device (if its even designed to do that at all?), then you can have issues when its working hard. The fact that they put an auxiliary power connector on it makes me think that maybe they saw this eventually coming.

Its just a thought. Usually, its cables. But sometimes its something weird like this.
 

undecided

New Member
Jan 28, 2023
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I don't see that you ever mentioned what kind of PCIe slot you have this plugged into? I assume its physcially X8 or x16, but do you know for sure it its x8 or x16 electrically? There's a lot of motherboards floating around out there with slots that are x8 or x16 physically, but x1, x2, or x4 electically.

Normally, a PCIe slot only provides up to 10w (x1) to 25w (x4 through x16). Devices (like GPUs) that can register themselves as "High Power" devices can draw more power of course (rangin from 25 watts in an x1 up to 75 watts in an x16 PCIe slot).

This HBA draws a maximum of 26 point something or other watts. So, if its plugged into a PCIe slot that isn't x8/x16 electically, or if its not successfully registering itself as a high power device (if its even designed to do that at all?), then you can have issues when its working hard. The fact that they put an auxiliary power connector on it makes me think that maybe they saw this eventually coming.

Its just a thought. Usually, its cables. But sometimes its something weird like this.
It's a full x16 meant for GPUs so electrically it must be full x16. I bet the HBA is not asking for extra juice like GPUs do. I found another post on a different site where the user had similar issue and the extra pcie power fixed it. So far, (4hrs) no problems.
 

gsambolin

New Member
Jan 30, 2024
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OK, I think I can confirm that the 9300-16i absolutely needs the extra pciex power. With the extra power, no more errors. Thanks everyone.
Would you mind sharing the cable you used? If you have a picture of it readily available.
Thanks in advance
 
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gsambolin

New Member
Jan 30, 2024
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It's the PSU PCIe 6 pin cable. All modern PSU's have them.
Fritz thanks sorry for the NUBE questions just trying to avoid blowing my card which is due to arrive Friday. My PSU EVGA to be exact, has the 6 pin connections labeled SATA or PERIF. I think those will work but I am trying to preserve them for actual perifs and Sata connections I need. I have cables that came with the PSU that are VGA 8 pin to 6 pin +2. The 6 pin end of the VGA looks just like the end of the 6 PIN end of the PERIF cable. Without having the LSI card in front of me. Do you believe that cable will work? Again my apologies for the nube ?'s
 
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Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Fritz thanks sorry for the NUBE questions just trying to avoid blowing my card which is due to arrive Friday. My PSU EVGA to be exact, has the 6 pin connections labeled SATA or PERIF. I think those will work but I am trying to preserve them for actual perifs and Sata connections I need. I have cables that came with the PSU that are VGA 8 pin to 6 pin +2. The 6 pin end of the VGA looks just like the end of the 6 PIN end of the PERIF cable. Without having the LSI card in front of me. Do you believe that cable will work? Again my apologies for the nube ?'s
As I understand it, there is no standard governing PSU expansion cables. This means that if you use an expansion cable from on PSU on another psu you are likely to destroy whatever you are connecting. As long as the expansion cable you're using came with the PSU, you're safe. I learned this the hard way.
 
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Markess

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May 19, 2018
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Fritz thanks sorry for the NUBE questions just trying to avoid blowing my card which is due to arrive Friday. My PSU EVGA to be exact, has the 6 pin connections labeled SATA or PERIF. I think those will work but I am trying to preserve them for actual perifs and Sata connections I need. I have cables that came with the PSU that are VGA 8 pin to 6 pin +2. The 6 pin end of the VGA looks just like the end of the 6 PIN end of the PERIF cable. Without having the LSI card in front of me. Do you believe that cable will work? Again my apologies for the nube ?'s
I assume you have a modular PSU (cables are removable)? If so, don’t confuse the end of the cable that goes to the PSU with the end of the cable that does to the device(s). All the modular cables in your EVGA PSU will have a rectangular connector the end that goes to the power supply. The device side of those SATA/PERIF cables though, will be SATA drive or 4 PIN “molex” connectors.

So you need to check which cable fits the card on the DEVICE side of the cable. If you look close, the shape of the individual pin housings (square or curved) will differ between cable types and cable ends to make it harder to make a mistake. From the posts here, I think you will need a VGA cable. Assuming it fits, on the device side, you’ll just need the 6 pin part of the connector, and the extra 2 pins just hang off to the side unused.
 
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gsambolin

New Member
Jan 30, 2024
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I assume you have a modular PSU (cables are removable)? If so, don’t confuse the end of the cable that goes to the PSU with the end of the cable that does to the device(s). All the modular cables in your EVGA PSU will have a rectangular connector the end that goes to the power supply. The device side of those SATA/PERIF cables though, will be SATA drive or 4 PIN “molex” connectors.

So you need to check which cable fits the card on the DEVICE side of the cable. If you look close, the shape of the individual pin housings (square or curved) will differ between cable types and cable ends to make it harder to make a mistake. From the posts here, I think you will need a VGA cable. Assuming it fits, on the device side, you’ll just need the 6 pin part of the connector, and the extra 2 pins just hang off to the side unused.
Markess thanks, yes I am very clear on which end is which. And to your point
1. My cables yes are removable from the PSU
2. If you can see from pic attached. I have a ton of VGA slots I am not planning on using. This is a 1000 watt unit but I will be using most of the SATA and PERIF ports.
3. I am leaning to what you said the VGA 8 pin that ends out with a 6 pin +2 connection, Is the one I am thinking I will need.

Stay tuned card arrives tomorrow and first this will be to connect the extra power.
Gsam
 

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vvu

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It's been a few years mine is still working fine. I installed the PCI power recently during rebuild of my server with a new motherboard. I had no issues without it but I figured I'd add a fan and external power "while I was in there".

Giving this a bump since cards are as low as $50 on eBay now. There are a few people in this thread who needed the external power but overall everyone appears happy once they got their systems dialed in.

I would not hesitate to buy another one if I was building a new system.