Need Help With WHS reinstall

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bellaireroad

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Jan 14, 2011
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Hello, I began having problems with my WHS server which I think are due to a failing system drive. The setup is SM X8ST3-F, using the onboard LSI SAS controller, flashed to IT mode. The SAS controller is ported into a HP SAS expander, then into a Norco 4220. there are currently 14 Hitachi TB drives running. This has operated flawlessly for 9 months. However, recently the server has been freezing up, requiring reboots, blue screening, and posting various error messages. Smart data on the system disc shows a critical number of bad blocks.

So I am trying to do a reinstall, and let the tombstones rebuild. Apparently, when WHS is reinstalled, it needs to see a drive with 0 address or it will try to do a fresh installation, and erase all data.

This is the problem. During the install, the setup will recognize the SATA drive as 0, and then ask for drivers for any other drives installed. When the LSI 1068e JBOD drivers are provided, all 14 hitachi drives are discovered, but the SATA drive is lost, and the setup defaults to fresh install, with no reinstallation option.

I have also tried to install the SATA in AHCI, thinking maybe that I could get the Hitachi drives discovered, and then give it the AHCI driver, but this won't work. the closest I have gotten is getting the SATA discovered as 0, with only 3 or 4 of the Hitachis discovered

anyone have any ideas or suggestons? thanks









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nitrobass24

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Dec 26, 2010
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I would connect your "NEW Sytem Drive" to the SAS expander.
Boot from CD
Load SAS Drivers
Perform reinstallation.
After system is reloaded tombstones are rebuilt. Reinstall the Windows SATA drivers for your mobo. Along with all of the other drivers (chipset, LAN, Gfx, etc.)
Reboot.
Shutdown.
Disconnect System drive from expander and connect to SATA.
Boot up.
Verify everything is working.
 

bellaireroad

New Member
Jan 14, 2011
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thanks, I gave this a try, and could not get it to work. After the drivers are loaded, the reinstall option is not available. Appears that setup is not recognizing the other drives as data drives,

I am wondering if something can be done in the bios. I noticed that the sata drive does not show up in the bios if the SAS drives are connected at the same time. I have tried configuring the adapter for diferrent BOOT options ie disabled, bios only, or bios/OS, but none of these options allow the sata drive to been seen in the bios when the SAS drives are connected.

However, it does show up in the setup process as the 0 address for installation, but when the SAS drivers are loaded, it is lost.
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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I am trying to recreate this with the same board. I actually use a boot drive on the ICH10R and then data drives on the 1068E. What BIOS version are you using?
 

bellaireroad

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Jan 14, 2011
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Hi Patrick, that is my setup as well, boot on ICH10r and data on 1068e. what I get as an identifier on the bios splash is 11/3/09 rev 1.0c, and at the bottom of the screen V32.67
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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This may sound dumb, but did you try changing the physical jumper to IT mode the LSI controller or flash it manually? That might be worth a shot as well as trying new BIOS. I am trying to figure out why ours are different.
 

bellaireroad

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Jan 14, 2011
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Hi Patrick, good question. I have done both, flashed the 1068e with firmware provided by supermicro tech support, and set the jumper for IT. This was done 9 months ago when the system was built.

I still don't understand why the disc on ICH10R does not show in the bios boot option screen when the SAS drives are connected. Simply pulling the HP expander card allows the SATA drive to appear as a boot option, but when the HP is inserted, the SATA drive no longer appears in the boot options.

Even so, it does appear on the bios splash screen, and appears initially windows setup. As mentioned earlier, it is no longer an option when the SAS drivers are loaded in windows setup when asked for.
 

bellaireroad

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Jan 14, 2011
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I'm going to close this thread. I have cloned the bootseagate 500 gig notebook drive to a WD 500 gig note book drive using G4L which makes a bit for bit clone. whole process took about 2.5 hours. The WD disc shows up as a seagate in disc management (in the console) and a WD in device manager, but I can live with that. No registry changes or other hacks had to be done. Every thing seems to be running properly.

As an aside, I noticed that when the CD drive (which was connected to the ICH10R to load WHS) was disconnected, the boot drive now shows in the bios - some conflict with the CD drive i suppose. The server does not have a CD connected permanently, so this is a nonissue as well.