Only sees 1 HDD of 6 when connect DL380P 12xSFF backplane to LSI 9207-8i

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Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Hello STH, I recently bought a 12xLFF backplane detached from the DL380P with a SAS expander chip. When I tried to connect it to the LSI 9207-8i I used before, I found that after entering Windows Server 2016, only one of the 6 hard drives I inserted was recognized. The strange thing is that in the bios interface I can see all the hard drives. I tried to enter the setting interface of the HBA card and found that although the expander chip and all the hard disks can be recognized normally, the positions of all the hard disks are displayed as "bay 0". This confuses me, I don't know what the specific problem is, I want to ask for your help.

I currently have a few guesses:
1. Do I need to use the HP version of the HBA card for normal recognition?
2. Is it because of some problem with the SAS expander chip that all HDDs are assigned to one address, so that the system can only recognize one HDD?
3. Is it possible that the system cannot be recognized due to a problem with the system? (Because I still can't solve this problem after turning on MPIO)

BTW, there are some photos I took. (I only inserted three HDDs when I took the photo)

1.JPG4.JPG2.JPG3.JPG
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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update: I updated the firmware of 9207-8i to 20.00.07, but the problem still exists, I can only see one "slot 0" in the BIOS and in the MegaRAID, and the BIOS shows that all HDDs are also in "slot 0" ". Is this what's wrong with the expander chip?
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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In Windows are the drives Intiitalised ie GPT or MBR ?, Disk Management can show this
Windows won't see drives until initilised
Also grab MSM app for windows from Broadcom
Install and it will show controller + drives attached
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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In Windows are the drives Intiitalised ie GPT or MBR ?, Disk Management can show this
Windows won't see drives until initilised
Also grab MSM app for windows from Broadcom
Install and it will show controller + drives attached
yes, all HDDs have been initialized to GPT because they have been connected via Fan-out Cable before. The MSM App is also installed through the Windows version downloaded from Broadcom, but after entering the software, I can only see the HP's Expander chip and a "SLOT 0" in the topology, even if I have inserted three hard disks.
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Grab a live Ubuntu CD/ISO and boot to that
What can it see ?

If drives there, then probably a WIndows issue
If no drives just the expander could be that then, but odd it works before OS

How is your system setup, is the Expander in a DL380 or have you taken it our and in another system
Could a IO cable be missing, normally not just power and SAS cables to to back plane also the IO/Drive light cables from Mobo
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Grab a live Ubuntu CD/ISO and boot to that
What can it see ?

If drives there, then probably a WIndows issue
If no drives just the expander could be that then, but odd it works before OS

How is your system setup, is the Expander in a DL380 or have you taken it our and in another system
Could a IO cable be missing, normally not just power and SAS cables to to back plane also the IO/Drive light cables from Mobo
Strange things happened. When I started with the installation image of Ubuntu Server 22 on the machine, I could identify the three inserted HDDs( I only used three hard disks for testing ), but when I switched to the installation image of Windows, this problem appeared again (only one HDD could be recognized). Is this Windows its own problem?

In addition, I just used this 12xLFF backplane on a whitebox. The other hardware is not HP's. That Expander chip is integrated on the hard disk backplane, not a separate Expander card. For details, I post some photos below, below the heat sink on the circuit board is the Expander chip.

I don't know exactly where the problem is now. The situation is clear now that all the HDDs inserted in the BIOS are all assigned to "Slot 0", but the BIOS and Ubuntu can recognize them, and once it is to Windows, it will not work. Is this still because the physical slot address conflicts makes Windows unrecognizable? Or must HP's HBA card be correctly identified and allocated?


6.JPG5.JPG
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Do the 2x SATA ports work on the exander ?
I think they are near the power connectors, these would go to the rear 2 bays on a DL380

Also have a looksy here for more things DL380 G8 Expander/backplane stuff

Try swapping cables round on both 9207 and expander, try dfferent cable
Try swapping HDDs round is it away just one drive showing, is it the frst drive on Backplane or always the same drive no matter where it is ?
Try Server 2k19 ISO
 

simoncorner

Member
Apr 25, 2020
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Things to check. Have you got both SAS cables connected to the backplane?
Are you mixing SAS and SATA? I would try and use all the same for testing.
Do you have access to a HPE RAID card? The only query here would be if it will work in a non-HPE motherboard, I'm sure there are internet searches that will help there.
How are you powering the backplane?
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Do the 2x SATA ports work on the exander ?
I think they are near the power connectors, these would go to the rear 2 bays on a DL380

Also have a looksy here for more things DL380 G8 Expander/backplane stuff

Try swapping cables round on both 9207 and expander, try dfferent cable
Try swapping HDDs round is it away just one drive showing, is it the frst drive on Backplane or always the same drive no matter where it is ?
Try Server 2k19 ISO
Okay, I will try to swapping HDDs round to see if always the first one can be seen in OS. I changed the position to insert them before, but only one HDD will be displayed in the OS. I haven't noticed whether the HDD that is the first in physical order is recognized.

Since I do n’t have extra SFF8087 cables now, I need to buy an extra to try to see if it is a cable problem. I don't think it's a problem with cables, but it's worth trying.
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Before that, I tried single-line connection, double-line connection, and switching interface connection, but this problem has always existed. Since I currently only have one SAS HDD, I only use SATA HDD for testing.

For RAID card, my current guess is whether the content of the Expander chip cannot be recognized because I use a non-HP HBA card? But I don’t have any HP RAID card now, so I can’t test it. I had the idea of buying an used H240, but I was worried that H240 might not be correctly recognized and started in whitebox.
 

mobilenvidia

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Sep 25, 2011
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Before that, I tried single-line connection, double-line connection, and switching interface connection, but this problem has always existed. Since I currently only have one SAS HDD, I only use SATA HDD for testing.

For RAID card, my current guess is whether the content of the Expander chip cannot be recognized because I use a non-HP HBA card? But I don’t have any HP RAID card now, so I can’t test it. I had the idea of buying an used H240, but I was worried that H240 might not be correctly recognized and started in whitebox.
Then wouldn't all the other people with the DL380 G8 12bay drive chassis mod have the same issue as you ?
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Then wouldn't all the other people with the DL380 G8 12bay drive chassis mod have the same issue as you ?
I saw a similar problem in the Free NAS forum, but he could only recognize one on the Free NAS and the other OS was normal. He solved this problem by replacing the HBA card, but I am not sure if I can solve this problem in the same way. I may need to check whether it is a software problem.
 

Eric.014

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Apr 17, 2022
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Update: Problem solved, yay! I replaced my 9207-8i with an HP H240 HBA card and the problem was solved immediately. I thought there was something wrong with the cable or the Expander chip. So I replaced the cable with a new one and even changed the backplane, but as long as the backplane connected to 9207-8i, the problem still exists. It seems that this is just a HP hardware compatibility issue, there is nothing wrong with using official HP hardware.

Post two pictures of the installation. Thank you all for your help!
7.JPG
8.jpg