2 Smart Array P400's issue with 2 diff. PC's

[Bryan Mroch]

First off, I'm knowledgable with RAID arrays and controllers and their use, but this has been vexing me for a couple days now;
I've got two HP Smart Array P400 controller cards without BBWC's, straight from the box[came with two DL380G5's we ordered, and didn't need for production servers- so they came home with me :) ]
I have tried both cards(PCIe x8) in an HP DC5850 PC and an HP DC5750 PC's PCIe x16 slots.(according to the PCIe framework, I know this should be no issue)
With either card in either PC, the system will fire up, show HP BIOS, and then of course the Smart Array will fire up and intialize.
I can create and delete arrays on both cards in both systems, but nothing past this point.
With either of the cards plugged in, I cannot get into the motherboard BIOS, as the RAID card has to initialize before it will flip back to motherboard BIOS. Can't get into BIOS, can't boot from CD to possibly upgrade firmware on the cards(motherboards running latest BIOS), etc.
And, right now, I'm eyeballing my wife's PC(HP DX5150) just to try it again on another system...I just dont have anything at home with an actual PCIe x8 slot.(even though this sHOULDNT matter)
Again, this is EITHER SmartArray P400 card in EITHER the DC5750 or DC5850 exhibits this behavior, I doubt I have two cards and two PC's that just happen to bad in all 4 total combinations.
I doubt it's a power issue; motherboard, CPU, DVD ROM and two hard drives for testing.
Tried different drives; Seagate SATA 1's, Seagate SATA 2's, WD Raptors and no drives at all.
Am I being a complete fool and missing something?

[Bryan Mroch]

OK, new development-
Distracted the wife and got her off of her PC, plugged one of the cards in, and it worked fine.
HP Splash Screen/BIOS,
SmartArray P400 intialized just like in the other two pc's,
but actually continued booting into Windows after not detecting any drives or arrays,
just like it should,
but still doesn't in the other two systems
:(

At least I can update the firmware on these cards from her machine and see what happens then.

[TTr]

I did the same experiment as you and got similar results. I used a generic PC, ASUS motherboard with Award BIOS. I got a little further than you, I could get into the orca, I had one SAS drive attached but orca could not see it. I was able to get into the PC BIOS setup but had to hit the "delete" key repeatedly as soon as I hit the power on button.
I started windows and was able to see the card and even installed a 32-bit driver that was for the windows2000 server (or was it for w2003, I don't remember)r. I created a couple of LUNs using the ACU and played around a little.
I concluded that PC BIOSes do not interact well with these cards. I have not gone back to play anymore with it. Maybe I 'll try again one of these days.