Help with Dell Poweredge 6400 Server

S

SudburyOntario

Gawd
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
575
So I was trying to install Debian while it keeps telling me that my scsi drives are not there.

I spent the most part of my day trying to configure the controller card to put the drives online ( it's my first server ) While I am for the most part sure that everything is now proper... I do think that my drives are just no good. When confirming the main drive as the logic drive, it errors than my lights go offline orange.

I called around before christmas to find some scsi ultra 320 hdds but to no avail. I just need something like a 5gb or so to make sure this server works 100% before making a further purchase.

I just tried using the ide controller cards I have here ( regular pci ) Altho the boot mode detects the card and hdd, it does not allow for usage within an installation :(

Help is welcome, thank you.
 
You need the driver for the controller card, amazed Debian dosent have it written in.
 
Even if I am installing anything else.. it still doesn't pick up the hard drives via controller cards. I'm going to try for a small scsi drive just to load an os onto it.

Anyone nearest Ontario, Sudbury.. have one to spare ? Or borrow for assurance testing ?

Thank you.


If everything would just work on the ide controller or sata controller even.. I would just change out the whole thing to sata drives. ( cheaper )
 
The 6400 is quite a beast, Perc3i scsi controller I believe. Anyways, find out what controller you have (It will say "Dell PERC3I SCSI controller. Press Ctrl+F4 to enter config" or something along those lines.

To switch to IDE/SATA you would have to remove the backplane for the SCSI drives and either re do that, or mount the drives in the 5 1/4 drive spots.
 
Okay it says here.. Adaptec AIC-7899 SCSI Bios build 25307, Press Ctrl + A for SCSI Select Utility

.. I'm going to open it up in a minute to see the backplane
 
Okay so I took out the controller card which is < Series 471 REV C2 2000 American Megatrends > with 128mb ram chip + battery

The backplane where the scsi drives plug into is < Dell PWB 5403R REV A00 UL94V-0 >

And the part attached to the back of that is.. < PWB 6693R REV A01 UL94V-0 >

Does this help ?
 
Wait.. I'm not sure your on the same idea as I am.. I'm trying to get the server to run from another controller card aside the scsi one. Those hdds are dead so it's useless to me ( they do pick them up but I'm sure when a drive shows "error" that it's no good. ) All aside, the ide controller card for instance which is a normal pci card, shows up in the boot menu, sees the ide hdd's but when the OS is installing, it says the hard drive cannot be found :confused:
 
wow lol.. I feel bad about this but I can't get it to take my other controller cards at all so lets see what scsi can do !

As for the actual card ( mind me I'm new with the server section ) It's in the screen and shows this

Fw supports 8-Span 40-Logical Drive
FwVer =1.92
BiosVer =3.31
DRAM =128MB
Adapter Type : PERC 3/QC

I just set it to the default setting.. and wow does it ever emit a high pitch noise when that is selected lol
 
lol
Perc/3 is a good thing, most distros should have support.
I was just following up on your "borrowing a scsi drive to test" with my suggestions :).
 
lol, it's all good. I'm currently running the hardware diagnostics program.. I'll let you know what happens in a bit. If your an ace with this stuff, perhaps speaking via msn messenger would be easier ? it's my name at hotmail.com
 
Umm.. I wouldn't suppose a Fail is a bad thing ? eek !

Embedded Server Mgnt - ESM2 BackPlane Sensor Check
Test Results: Fail
Error Code 1700:0424
Msg: Critical error on entry 91 of 120. SMB event was reported for BP SCSI termination A External Voltage sensor with a value of 0000h.
 
Picked up 2 hard drives.. 73gb cheetah and she's running server 2003 perfectly. All four processors reported for duty :)
 
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