P812 controller cannot see 3TB drives after updating firmware past 5.14B?

[etank52]

I've got two P812 raid controllers I'm testing out and getting identical results.  I'm using the P812 card in an HP DL380 G8 server as well as a home-built supermicro board.  I've got 3 arrays I'm trying to configure.

Four 8TB drives in a raid5 (internal 8087 to mini sata break out cable)
Fifteen 6TB drives in a raid50 (1 spare, 14 live - 8088 to 8088 EMC disk shelf, single cable, sata drives)
Four 3TB drives in a raid5 (8088 to mini sata break out cable to rosewill hotswap bay)

The controller can see almost all drives all the time on 5.14, but occasionally after rebooting it will lose one of the 6TB drives and I have to rebuild the array... I was staying on this firmware as I heard the external ports on the P812 did not work on non-HP systems after version 5.14 - but today I took the plunge and updated it to the latest firmware I can find 6.64B and now, the 6TB and 8TB drives are rock solid and it even identifies the bay on my EMC shelf, but the 3TB drives will not work no matter what I try... 

So I broke out my test DL380 system, put in the same P812 card, pulled the 3TB drives off the supermicro box, and connected them via the same 8088 to minisata breakout cable in a rosewill hotswap enclosure, and sure enough, if I downgrade to 5.14B, I can see the 3TB drives just fine - but if I upgrade the firmware to ANYTHING past 5.14B, the 3TB drives no longer exist in Smart Storage Administrator.  

I tried to downgrade my supermicro box back to 5.14B so I could get the 3TB volume running again but immediately it refuses to even see one of my 6TB drives again... The flakiness here is pretty rough and I'm not sure why or what is happening - would really appreciate some insight if anyone has anything to lend to the conversation.  TIA.

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Since 3TB drives do not work with 812 card with 5.14B firmware, seems like a compatibility issue with the drive model. 

Also please check if the 3TB drives are 3Gb/s or 6Gb/s. You can test latest firmware with 6Gb/s drive.

Having said that it is recommended to use HPE branded drives for better compatibility. 

Please test with supported HPE drives (3TB) on the DL380p Gen8 to further narrow down. 

[etank52]

No offense, but why would there be such compatibility issues with a standard HGST Enterprise HD?  It's labeled as a Dell enterprise drive - but find it frustrating that HPE hardware is so picky with compatibility.  If I use any broadcom megaraid/LSI controller it can see and utilize the drives just fine - in the same server.  I realize this controller is EOL, but finding it frustrating that drives that were out and available when this card was mainstream are not supported.  It's not like I'm trying to use a new 18TB drive with the card and expect compatibility, though as an HBA/Raid controller, all drives SHOULD be supported IMHO or else you're not doing your job correctly as a controller.  

I switched to an HPE smart array 822 raid controller and it can see and use the 3TB drives just fine, even on the most recent firmware on an external port.

I've got four P812 cards and non of them can see or use the 3TB drives after the 5.14 firmware version - just wonky stuff.