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HP SAS Expander Card - Issues

B

Brad-Pea

n00b
Joined
May 6, 2017
Messages
11
Hi All,

Looking for a bit of help.

I have a LSI M1015 - Flashed with IR Firmware, all working fine.

I have a 24 bay case, so wish to expand my storage, I have purchased a HP SAS Expander card - HP 468405-001

Connected the backplane to the Expander card and connected the Expander card to the M1015 Card, but upon boot up I do not see the SAS Expander Card or any disk connected to it.

Is there something more I need to do to get visibility of this ? I am suspecting a faulty SAS Expander card, but looking for little help in identifying if possible.

Many thanks !
 
Not 100% sure on the case but pretty sure it is a xcase 424 rack

Just has a generic board in at the moment whilst i'm gathering and testing all kit; i3 processor, 8GB Ram

Motherboard only has 1x PCI-e 16x, which is what the M1015 is in at the moment, then has a PCI-e 1x - I have then used a 1x to 16x adapter to put the Expander Card in.
Have also tried the Expander in the 16x slot and the M1015 in the adapter, the M1015 is detected but not the SAS Expander.

This isn't how I am going to have it going forward, going to get a board with enough dedicated PCI-e lanes on it.

Could there be issues with the firmware on the Expander card causing it not to be identified ?

Thanks.
 
Its a board out of a HP Pro 3130 SFF - I can grab the specific model number if needed ?

I also tested the card on a HP Microserver Gen 8 - Plugged the SAS cable from the drives into the Expander, and a SAS cable from the Expander into the Onboard SAS Controller - but upon boot no drives were found.
 
i bet it's a power issue.

i had that problem too.

i ended up swapping the empty mother board i was using to power the sas expander for the motherboard that ran the actual server.

you could try to get a hold of one of these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-PCI...Card-Adapter-Power-Cable-Mining-/291945156135

that's going to eliminate any power issues.

i assume you bought the expander used, was it in working condition?

how new is the firmware on the card? (IBM)
 
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The M1015 or the expander card ?

Is it possible to firmware the expander card, I havent been able to find out how...
 
I'll have a look, I flashed it a while back so need to try and find the firmware again.

Do you believe it could be that the firmware is too old for the expander card?
 
Brad-Pea said:
I'll have a look, I flashed it a while back so need to try and find the firmware again.

Do you believe it could be that the firmware is too old for the expander card?
Click to expand...

possibly.

either that or bad cables.

did you try a different port on the card and the expander?
 
Ok, so taken a look at the card and its actually a SAS9220-8i

With that in mind, I don't suppose you can point me in the right direct to the latest firmware for IT / IR Mode ?

Tried cables and they appear to work OK direct to the SAS Card, also tried other ports.

Thanks.
 
Thanks - so now running FW Version 20.00.07.00-IR but unfortunately SAS Expander still doesn't appear to be detected.

Have tried other cables and other ports on the expander / sas card but. So at the moment SAS cable from backplane 1 into Expander Card, SAS cable from Expander into SAS Card. But no drives from the backplane are being shown.

Thanks.
 
Yeh thats what I was thinking - will look at swapping the expander out.

Would you suggest I look at another 2x M1015 cards ? Or keep with the expander idea ?

Ideally want 24 drives connected in the future ...
 
Keep with the expander idea - I have a M1015 and HP SAS expander and it works very well.

Did you flash the firmware of the expanders?

What colour is the circuit board of the expanders? It's not a dumb question - the early ones are yellow and can't be used this way, the later ones are green and work very well with the M1015.

If yours is green flash it with the latest firmware - you didn't state if you were using SAS or SATA drives, if you are using SATA the latest firmware doubles the transfer rate from 1.5Gbps to 3Gbps for SATA drives (SAS are 6Gbps on this expander).
 
Hi - thanks for the reply, firmware issue was my other thought of what the problem could be, I have not flashed the firmware of the expander.

The circuit board is green, I am currently testing with Sata drives but SAS could be an option in the future.

Could you provide me where to find the Expander firmware and a quick guide on what to do ? I will give that a go and hopefully it kicks into life !

Thanks.
 
Thanks ! I have an issue though, in that when I have the SAS card in and connected to the SAS Expander card, then issue lsscsi -g I do not see the Expander card listed.

Is there anything else I can try ? Can I try just the Expander in without the main SAS card or will that not work either ?

Thanks.
 
If you have another SAS card you can try, see if you can see the expander or anything distal to the expander.
 
The SAS expander does all the communication thru the cables - the x4 slot is strictly for power.

That means you have to hook the expander to some sort of controller to talk to it and check its firmware.

Given that it isn't talking to the M1015 at all you have either a bad reverse cable or a bad expander. Are you using 1 reverse cable or 2?
 
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