HP Netserver LH6000r -- Error 0076 -- i960 I/O Processor

[Jonathan Rosen]

I am getting an error during Bootup with the following text:

"0076-98: Could not configure the i960 I/O processors PCI subsystem ID's."

When I go to the details, it says this:

"The processor for the integrated HP Netraid is not responding. This problem will prevent operation of the integrated HP Netraid."

There are apparently two Netraids installed in my machine. The first is on the motherboard, and the second is an HP Netraid 3si PCI card.

Although the text says it is the integrated Netraid that isn't working, the error appears after the BIOS boots the 3si NetRaid card.

What is intersting is that I am running a RAID 5 array (3 drives), as well as another SCSI drive at RAID 0. Therefore, the card must be working. I am a little confused about whether the i960 processor is having problems from the 3si card, or from the integrated NetRaid that is on the motherboard.

Basically, I want to get rid of this annoying error message on boot up. Intel doesn't appear to have firmware upgrades for the i960RD version of the i960 processor. I have installed all the firmware upgrades that are on the HP website, and this error continues to occur. Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks,

Jon

[kris rombauts]

Jon,

verify the embedded Netraid cache setting and make sure it is set to 'Write Through' or check if a battery pack is installed if you really need 'Write Back' cache for the embedded Netraid, both of these have proven to fix/workaround this problem.

HTH

Kris

[Jonathan Rosen]

Thanks Kris. I will try that and let you know whether it works.

-Jon

[Jonathan Rosen]

Kris-
I tried to find the options you mentioned, but all I could find was the "Enable Write Back Cache" option in the AIC-7880 Host Adapter settings (Ctrl+M at startup). I tried setting this option to "No" instead of its previous setting, which was N/C (the three options were Yes, No, and N/C).

This didn't seem to have any effect on the i960 error message.

Please be more specific about where I can disable write back cache, or enable write through, since I am not familiar with where to set these options.

Thanks for all your help.

-Jon

[kris rombauts]

Jon,

if this server is running Windows, start the Netraid Assistant utility and their you can select per logical drive how the cache should be used (Write Back or Write Through).

If you don't have the Netraid Assistant utility installed , it can be downloaded from here:


http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?locale=en_US〈=English&pnameOID=19774&prodSeriesId=50440&prodTypeId=15351&basePartNum=COL3578&locBasepartNum=ns-12645-1&os=Microsoft+Windows+2000+Server&tech=Software++Storage+Controller


- start Netraid Asisstant
- select the embedded Netraid controller
- right click on a logical drive (i.e. LD0)
in the bottom part of the utility and
select 'change policy'
- put the Write Policy in 'Write Through'
- do the same for any eventual other
logical drives (if you have more then one
configured on the embedded Netraid)


CTRL M (not CTRL A !!) at startup should give you the Netraid controller ROM based utility (called Express Tools) and not the AIC7880 Adaptec setup since that one is the embedded Adaptec SCSI controller, this is not a raid controller.


Kris

[Jonathan Rosen]

I have three logical drives:

LD 1 = Single 9GB Ultra SCSI 2 Drive (Raid 0)
LD 2 = 3x 9GB Ultra SCSI 2 Drive (Raid 5)
LD 3 = 4x 9GB Ultra SCSI 2 Drive (Raid 0)

LD 1 runs Windows.

I set all LD's to the following parameters:

Write Thru
Adaptive Read Ahead
Caching I/O

I still get the i960 error when I reboot.

Thanks,

Jon

[kris rombauts]

Jon,

sorry to hear this did not solved the error message.

Just to clarify, the 3 logical drives, are they spread over the embedded and the 3Si PCI card or only spread over the channels on the 3Si PCI card ?
If only the 3Si is used then the embedded Netraid should not be enabled and as you indicated the messages might come from the 3Si then, so by disabling (if not used) the embedded Netraid and set it back to normal SCSI functionality (via the F2 SETUP at boot time) we can be sure where the error comes from.


Other things (one at a time) i would then try is :

- reflash the embedded Netraid F/W and BIOS, this can be done by reflashing the servers BIOS.
For the LH6000 the latest one is available here and it depends on the model you have (Ultra 2 or Ultra3 SCSI) whih one to choose from.


http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?locale=en_US&pnameOID=19774&taskId=135&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=50440〈=en&cc=us&swEnvOID=54


- clear CMOS config of the server and re-save the settings as they are now.

- upgrade the 3Si F/W and or move the 3Si
to another slot.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?taskID=135&pnameOID=62475&prodTypeId=329290&locale=en_US〈=English&prodSeriesId=62473&swEnvOID=54


Other then this, sorry i don't know how to get rid of this error message unless their is some H/W issue with the card(s).


Kris

[Jonathan Rosen]

I have tried most of the things that you mentioned. The only one I haven't tried is moving the 3si to another slot. I did read in the HP manual that the 3si was supposed to be in a certain slot -- I am not sure that mine is in the correct one or not.

Basically, however, I am not that concerned about it. I just want to clear it because it is annoying. It doesn't affect function though, and I don't really want to mess around with moving the board and risk having something happen that might jeopardize function.

Thanks,

Jon

[Jonathan Rosen]

I wanted to further update this post. I have tried switching off the Integrated Netraid in Bios, and this forces the boot of the Symbios logic SCSI functionality.

When this occurs, the Netraid 3si still comes up with the i960 error message.

Once booted into Windows, there is an unknown device that is loaded called "PCI Memory controller" which is obviously a result of switching off the Integrated Netraid and activating the SCSI controller.

Here is my theory: The Netraid 3si and the Integrated RAID/SCSI controller are in a conflict for resources.

That is why the PCI subsystem ID error message pops up -- they are conflicting with each other for PCI resources, and aren't able to resolve the conflict.

The PCI memory controller on the integrated board is a further symptom of this, and continues the conflict even when the integrated Netraid is switched off.

I think that the answer is probably simple, but hasn't been offered by HP. Update the system Bios to allow the complete switching off of the onboard SCSI/Netraid controller.

There may be some jumper setting I am not aware of that allows for this, but it should be doable within the BIOS. I suggest that HP update the BIOS to allow for complete deactivation of the onboard SCSI controller for the HP LH6000r motherboard.

This will allow those with add-on RAID controllers to avoid these problems.

Thanks,

-Jon