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I need some serious help w/this SCSI adapter! *Got help!...still need brains though ;))

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
I wanted to title the thread "Newbie Dumbass Can't Figure it Out For Himself" but didn't think the Mods would like that. 😉

LSI Megaraid Elite 1600, 256mb of cache memory (it only sees 128 of it though...it's limitation)

It boots great and I can get into the Menu. That's the problem: once I'm in there...I'm lost.

It's got like 9 different menus, each with 9 submenus...and depending what menu your'e in, the F-keys do different things. 😕

Onto the problem.

I made it look for drives. It found both of them (both connected on the same cable/channel, btw). Read their firmware, capacity and all that. So, IOW, the adapter and the drives are all working fine and communicating w/each other.

I looked for an option to make a drive the boot drive; couldn't find it. It told me "Logical drive must be configured before making Live"

OK, I thought I configured the drive...it DOES see the two drives attached to it, so I don't get it.

Does this "Ferrari" not support booting from a single drive? I will be striping two drives, when my other, hopefully firmware-matching-to one of the drives I've already got, other drive gets here tomorrow. For now, I just want to boot off it with a single drive.

I tried saving the configuration and it won't boot. Won't see the drives when Windows would normally load. I even went in and reset the adapter to default settings. Nada.

I apologize for all these SCSI threads, but all the topics ARE kinda different...and I'm a dumbass....so....help? 🙂 Thanks, AT! 😎
 
You had better send it to me so I can troubleshoot it. I'll lend you my $38 LSI Logic U160 card in the meantime. Expect troubleshooting to take... oh, two or three years. :evil:

Ok, but seriously... this is a RAID card. Try defining an array. With one drive, I'd think you could start a RAID1 array with one drive, and then... leave it with one drive. A RAID1 has to work with one drive or what would be the point? Yeah. If you want, I can download the manual (assuming it's downloadable) and read it for any brainstorms... 😕
 
Hi mechBgon,

"Troubleshooting", huh? 😀 Heheheheh. You get an "E" for Effort! 😉

I honestly haven't read the manual as in-depth as I should...it is not n00bie-friendly. More on the Shuttleteam level of understanding.

😕<--me reading the manual
rolleye.gif
<--me halfway thru the manual
:disgust:<--me not long after halfway thru

/closes Adobe reader

I need to print the thing out so I can have it to reference while I build the array. It would help if I had a printer, though.
rolleye.gif
I may put it on a floppy and take it to Office Depot...I'm sure they can print it, no?
 
That, or wait for shuttleteam to show up 😀 My expectation is that the array is going to have to be defined first, and then it will be an entity that can be made bootable.
 
CTRL+M to get to MegaRAID utility.

You want to create a new array. Select available drives (ONLIN) by tagging them with the space bar. If the defaults are ok (you really want adaptive read ahead, cached i/o and write back cache with 64KB stripe size though) accept changes. Initialise drive and you're ready to go. It will be bootable UNLESS there is an evil IDE drive in your system with a partition set to active.

Cheers!
 
[Gollum] Master! Master! *jumping around excitedly* Smiegel has been good....Smiegel is LEARNING....good Smiegel!!!! [/Gollum]

😀 That's pretty good if I do say so myself. 😀

As always, thank you, Shuttleteam.

I will use your suggested configuration. I have no bootable IDE drives in this box. I have an IDE stripe on the 3Ware card, but it's just got four partitions on it for storage; no OS.

So I guess booting from a single drive is not possible on this adapter? I mean, one or two days isn't going to kill me...but I'm dying to run that COSBI benchmark on a single drive on this adapter...just to see if it would make a difference.

Side Note: I'm sure you remember me mentioning that the two MAS drives I have are different firmware and capacities, right? While poking around in the Megaraid bios, I hit something and it told me "This drive is bigger than the second drive; it will be truncated."

That's one darn smart adapter!! I haven't even USED the thing yet and already I can see how right you were about this card being "in a whole other category." 🙂

I'm hoping the drive I get tomorrow matches one of the two I have now, firmware-wise.
 
Yes you can boot off a single drive.

Just tag it by itself. The controller will treat it as a RAID0 logical disk.

Cheers!
 
Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Yes you can boot off a single drive.

Just tag it by itself. The controller will treat it as a RAID0 logical disk.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

OK, "tagging it" would be done in the Configuration screen, right? After I tag it...do I go to one of the other menus and make it "online?"
 
A drive should always be ONLINE. Otherwise it's either failed or part of an array. You will know if it fails because the cards have an alarm. Try booting without the SCSI drives connected to hear the incredibly loud, annoying alarm! :Q

Once the drive is highlighted, you accept this configuration and accept the parameters. NOTE: using ARA/CIO/WBM even on a single drive results in nearly identical *desktop* performance as a bucketload of drives! That's the beauty about these true hardware controllers. Anyways, make sure those parameters are correct and accept. Your logical drive is now ready for initialisation.

Cheers!
 
$185, shipped. Got it on Ebay. Do a search on "Megaraid" and you'll turn up at least a dozen cards. I got lucky in that mine came with the extra ECC cache memory DIMM already on the card. That saved me about $50 over a card w/o it.

The reason it's was "cheap" is b/c it's not the latest and greatest. The Megaraid 1600 family are all U160 cards; max transfer rate of 160MB/s. What's out now are U320 cards. Those are PCI-X, 133MHz cards...they require those $800 server boards, AND dual Xeons, 4 Gigs of ECC memory, etc.

Remember, you need the motherboard AND the drive configuration (multiple drives per channel) AND the CPUs AND the memory to actually do anywhere near 300MB/s. That's Enterprise Class hardware, there. :Q Big buckaroonees. So, all the resellers are unloading the "OLD" stuff at very reasonable rates. IMO, now is the time for Joe Average to get into SCSI.

/coming down to the poor, working man's level, where I'm at.....

Even U160 will more than max out the PCI bus on a standard motherboard. But, even if you get "only" 120MB/s....think about that number for a minute. :evil: Sweeeeeeeeeet.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say "Thanks for introducing me to this fine drug" to mechBgon; it's all his fault. He gave me the first taste free...now it's costing me money...hmm. Sounds oddly familiar! :Q 😉 There really is no comparison, performance wise b/t IDE and SCSI. You have to see it for yourself. Seek time is EVERYTHING. *waits for somebody to start posting Raptor numbers* Whatever. It ain't SCSI. 😛

After I got hooked, Shuttleteam led me along The Luminous Path of Knowledge to Ever-Increasing Thirst for Speed. He's a SCSI Encyclopedia with feet. 😀 W/O his sage advice, I'd have mis-configured my hardware into a frothing pile of busted, sparking junk. Thanks, pal! :beer:
 
Well, Michael, my 5 drives are all here, now I just need my controller and new cable. Dues Wed or Thurs. And you saved me having to play around with the menus by Asking Shuttleteam first..... You want new pictures of my second 486 case with the 5 drives in it ? I didn;t want to worry about the 430 watt Antec and 10 spindles to power up, and a 9800pro !, so I put the 5 drives in an old 486 case, and put a 5 inch (or so) fan in the back. It's also about 1 1/2 inches thich and pushes a LOT of air. Should keep those 5 drives cool..... I will let you know how mine goes, and you need to update me with sone benches SOON !!!!
 
I'd be remiss if I didn't say "Thanks for introducing me to this fine drug" to mechBgon; it's all his fault. He gave me the first taste free...now it's costing me money...hmm. Sounds oddly familiar! :Q😉
Click to expand...
LOL... the consummate salesman, that would be me 😉 Don't ever let me start talking you into any bicycle upgrades...

🙂 ~ now, MichaelD, the Chris King hubs are definitely pricey, at about $375 per pair, but they are engineered SO nicely... I mean, compare their clutch-engagement setup against your garden-variety Shimano rear hub... we're talking 72 teeth for an average engagement latency of (360° / 72) / 2, or 2.5°. Compare that to Shimano's 10°, which one would YOU rather sprint on? And these puppies are U.S.-made! 😎 And they come in colors! 😀 Now, which color would YOU prefer... remember, you can split the colors front/rear too...

:evil:
 
MARK:

Will do on the benchies update. My other MAS drive comes in tomorrow. I hope it's firmware is a match for one of the drives I've already got. The cables/terminators get here Thursday. I happen to be off on Friday, so Thursday's gonna be a LATE night! 😀 I better see GOD when I run those benchmarks! I'm hoping, anyway.... ; )

mechBgon:

Ooooh, shiny metal parts!!! You should PM Fausto1 with those links...he probably already owns a dozen of them, but pics like that would make him [austin powers] absolutely randy, baby!!! Yeah!!! [/austin powers] 😀

Oh, they come in colors, too? Hmm...I could mod one into the side of my LianLi...make it a fan holder or something....😀


 
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