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Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

 
George Vardikos
Frequent Advisor

P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

Hello,

 

We have 2 P4500G2 units which use the VSA for storage. We had the need to separate the storage LAN from the other LAN interfaces, so we bough 2 x 6-port GBE adapters (6CGNIC-E-B). We installed them them on the units. In one of the P4500's we are able to boot, however in the other we can't seem to get past the BIOS POST screen, not even login to BIOS.

When we remove the HP RAID controller we can access the BIOS and boot the server, however when we connect the Lava NIC the system hangs at BIOS POST. When we connect an HP 4-port GBE adapter everything works great.

We tried both cards on both servers and the one server works, while the other doesn't. It seems like an IRQ conflict (boy, that brought memories of more than 15 years), but how can we tell what is the issue? I get nothing at screen.

 

Any ideas would be helpful!

Sincerely,
George Vardikos

Sincerely,
George Vardikos
11 REPLIES 11
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

are these physical storevirtual servers or are you running a hypervisor w/ the VSA software solution?  If you are running the physical san appliances you really should stick to the list of supported NICs unless your system is 100% out of maintenance as you can run into BIOS issues or other strange things such as what you are mentioning here.

 

 

Maybe your cards aren't running the same/latest firmware and that is the problem.  If you are set on using the cards, I would try updating the BIOS for both first.  

 

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

George Vardikos
Frequent Advisor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

Hello,

 

We use VSA for these 2 storages. The cards don't have firmware on them to upgrade, and it's kinda strange that both cards work on the other P4500 G2.

 

Once again, the problem isn't that the SAN softwate doesn't recognize the cards, I can't get past the BIOS POST screen if I have both the RAID controller and the NIC card. If I insert only the NIC card, it goes past the POST screen.

 

Sincerely,

George Vardikos

Sincerely,
George Vardikos
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

VSA = the virtual storage appliance which runs as a virtual machine on a host.  If you are doing that, then the issue is not with the SAN and with the physical server or the hypervisor and you should look to those support groups for help.  The VSA program will accept any storage or networking presented to it from the Hypervisor.

 

If you are talking about the hardware SAN and not the VSA software, and you can't figure out the BIOS settings yourself and you are up to date on the hardware BIOS on the hardware, then you are likely out of luck unless the card you put in is on the HCL for the SAN...  there is a reason they publish an HCL and this is why.

George Vardikos
Frequent Advisor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

Hello,

 

We have 2 x Storageworks P4500 G2 each with 48GB RAM and run VSA on them. We utilize other 2 x Storageworks P4500G2 with Lefthand directly, but in these 2 we run VSA.

 

The problem is that in one of the units we can't seem to have any of the cards go past the BIOS POST screen (I see the screen with CPU/RAM, the controller initiating and after that nothing). It is very strange because the cards don't work on one of the units. On the other unit they both work (and VSA recognizes them).

 

Sincerely,
George Vardikos
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

are you saying the POST for the VSA or the POST for the hardware hypervisor?  If its the POST for the physical machine you need to contact the hardware provider for that machine to sort it out as the VSA has nothing to do with booting of the physical machine or any physical nic.

George Vardikos
Frequent Advisor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

Hello,

 

I'm talking about the BIOS POST screen (the hardware POST screen). Since they work separately but not together, I suspect this is an IRQ issue and I was wondering if anyone has ever come across it.

 

 

Sincerely,
George Vardikos
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

I"m lost.  If this is for the VSA software, physical BIOS has nothing to do with anything and you need to work this out with the hardware providers.  If this is a Physical P4500 that is having a problem, then unless the car is on the HCL list, HP will not give you the time of day, but I guess it couldn't  hurt to try calling them to see if they could help, but I doubt they will.

George Vardikos
Frequent Advisor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

Hello,

 

Forget the VSA, I'm talking about hardware incompatibility issues with the RAID controller. I know that since the card isn't in the HCL list HP will not help me, that's why I'm asking in the forums to see if anyone has ever encountered this issue before and managed to solve it. In the P4500 where they do work, they go past the BIOS POST screen and manage to boot to VSA, in the P4500 there they don't work, they get stuck after the RAID controller initialization with no error whatsoever.

 

 

 

Sincerely,
George Vardikos
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: P4500 G2: IRQ issue with network card?

can you figure out the difference between the two systems? Are BIOS versions identical? Are the settings identical? Your 100% sure the card doesn't have a BIOS onboard? Likewise, the Raid card BIOS? I'm usually a proponent of DIY and whitebox items, but I can't say I would sleep too well with having these cards in TWO of my systems. Given the time already put into these cards, are they really worth the savings over getting even two used cards that are actually on the HCL?