netserver LC3 and Storage System 6 problems

[David Hall_7]

I have a recycled LC3 and Storage system 6 combo. I can get the LC3 to see only on drive in the 3rd bay, and nothing from the SS6. I have used the Navigator CD to reconfig the array and can't even see the drives there either. It has a Netraid 3si card in it.

Help please,

David Hall

[Martin Breidenbach · Accepted solution]

You did connect the internal drive cage and the ss6 to different SCSI channels ?

If you use the internal 3rd connector of the 3si then don't use it; it has problems.

[David Hall_7]

Yes... I have the internal cage on 0 and the SS6 on 1.

[Martin Breidenbach]

OK, that configuration should work.

So we have to find out what's wrong - 3si controller, hard drives, drive cage backplane, scsi cables, termination...

To diagnose this problem - can you test the internal and external drive cage by connecting them to the onboard SCSI controller (one at a time) ?

When the system boots you should get a prompt to press ctrl-m. If you do you get the NetRAID express tools, a diagnose and config tool.

[David Hall_7]

OK... I diconnected everthing SCSI and started over. I connected the internal drive cage to the integrated SCSI port, when I do that and it boots it reads
SCSI ID 0 - HP HDD
SCSI ID 1 - HP HDD
SCSI ID 3 - HP HDD
during the POST. But when I continue on to the HP Navigator CD all it reads is the Drive on ID 3, no matter what cable is used on what SCSI channel that is the only drive it ever sees. I thought maybe two bad drives so I tried a combo of 6 different drives with the same result. I do see another SCSI port on the back of the drive cage, are both of them supposed to be connected?

[Jake ~zippo~]

There should be two options for you as follows:

1.Connect internal hard drive cage to integrated SCSI ports,and connect the SS6 to NetRAID 3si adapter.At this time,you will find just one disk during POST.If you want to configure disk on SS6, you have to press Ctrl+M geting into NetRAID configuration utiliy(Express tools) to implement RAID.You can also install the OS first on internal storage sysem and then set up RAID.

2.Connect internal hard drive cage to 1st Channel of RAID adapter and connect SS6 to 2n channel,that means you could only check you Hard disk and configure it with Express tools.When you chooes this options ,you must configure the RAID first and then install OS.

P.S
If you are supposed to install W2k,you'd follow the normal installation procedure.

If you want to install NT,you'd make the driver on floppy disk first and then install the NetRAID 3si Raid controller's driver(press F6 to stop searching any driver while NT installaiton processing).

My english is very poor,If you have any concern,post it ASAP.

[Martin Breidenbach]

LC3 drive cage SCSI connectors:
The 2nd connector is used when no RAID controller is there. In that case a SCSI cable from motherboard onboard SCSI goes to the drive cage and a cable from the drive cage goes to the SCSI cdrom. If you've got a RAID controller then the drive cage is connected to the RAID controller and the CDROM is connected to the onboard SCSI controller.

BTW drive #1 is left, #0 in the middle and #3 right.

Install NetRAID 3SI, connect drive cage to the 1st channel. During self test when prompted to press CTRL-M do so. In NetRAID Express menu clear NetRAID configuration, then check menu objects-physical drives. How many drives does it show ?

[David Hall_7]

When I enter the CTRL M menu it sees all 3 drives, I can format them and Verify them. But when I boot with the HP Navigator CD I try to config the Array and it pops up an error that it cannot get the drive sizes, I hit ok 3 times and it sees nothing on any of the SCSI channels. Bad Netraid Card maybe?

[Jake ~zippo~]

Hi David,

You can also use Express Tools(Ctrl+M) to configure RAID.What happened?

Jake

[Martin Breidenbach]

So NetRaid Express tool works but NetRaid assistant doesn't... strange.

Which version of Navigator cd do you have ?

If you can configure the array using NetRAID express tools you could try to install the operating system and then use the latest version of NetRAID assistant for that os to monitor etc.

BTW you could try a firmware upgrade, just in case.

[David Hall_7]

Where do I get firmware updates? I have probably the oldest known version of HP Navigator CD. Can I get an updated version somewhere?

[David Hall_7]

I fiiiiiiiiiinally got it to work. I had to flip the jumper on the motherboard and clear the board, then put the drive cage on the NetRaid Channel 3 and like magic it works. Still havent connected the SS6 yet though. Also, can I daisy-chain the SS6 with another SS6?

[Martin Breidenbach]

Beware: the internal connector of SCSI channel 3 of the 3si has problems. HP knows about these problems but there's no solution. Channel 1 and 2 internal connection is ok. All 3 channels work properly with external connections.

The problem with channel 3 internally connected to drives is that it seems to work ok but you may experience drive failures (and the drives are ok).

I've got an email from HP somewhere which describes that situation.

Firmware/driver link for LC3:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?locale=en_US&pnameOID=15811&taskId=135&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=50443&cc=us

Firmware/driver link for 3si:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?locale=en_US&pnameOID=62475&taskId=135&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=62473&cc=us