DL380 Gen9 - No Disks found other than Storage Controller

[Lash1357]

Hi,

I am new to this and I just bought a refurbed

DL380 Gen9 
12 bay LFF on front
2 bay SFF on back
2 10G Ethernet
Smart Array P840 Controller

My first steps were with the SFF bays on the back. I added two SATA SSDs and was able to boot from USB and install Proxmox on the SSDs. (UEFI)
Then I changed the boot order to P840 controller and the boot directly to Proxmox went perfectly fine. Also the LFF bays seems to work that are also connected to the P840, I guess.

Since I am planning to use all the bay disks as passthrough in a VM in Proxmox I was planning to passthrough the whole storage controller. The boot disks shall be connected on a different port to be able to boot proxmox itself.

First, I took a SAS to SATA cable and connected the SFF bay on the back with SATA port 4 and 5 on the motherboard. The boot menu gives me no option to boot from the disks. I took a live USB and bootet from there and the two SSDs from the SFF bays that shall be connected directly to the motherboard's SATA, are not found!

I removed the big storage controller but still the same. No SATA disks were found in iLO, bios setup or Win2Go live USB.

Then I took an NVMe and an PCIe to NVMe adapter.
I pushed it to PCIe port 2 and similar problem. the NVMe is not recognized.

Could you please help me out. How does it come that I just can boot or use disks that are connected over USB or the big SAS conroller?
Am I missing something?

[Vinky_99]

@Lash1357 

Good day!

It seems like there might be several issues at play here. Let's break it down and troubleshoot step by step:

1. SAS to SATA Cable for SFF bays

>> Make sure the SAS to SATA cable is properly connected.
>> Confirm that the SATA ports on the motherboard are enabled in the BIOS.
>> Verify that the disks are properly powered and seated in the SFF bays.

2. NVMe Drive with PCIe to NVMe Adapter

>> Ensure that the PCIe to NVMe adapter is properly seated in PCIe slot 2.
>> Check the BIOS settings to confirm that the PCIe slot is enabled.
>> Verify that the NVMe drive is functional by testing it in another system if possible.

3. BIOS Settings

>> Confirm that the BIOS settings recognize the additional SATA and PCIe devices.
>> Check for any specific settings related to PCIe or SATA configurations.

4. Smart Array P840 Controller

>> Reinstall the Smart Array P840 Controller and confirm it's properly seated.
>> Check the Smart Array configuration utility during boot to ensure that all connected drives are recognized by the controller.

5. Firmware and Drivers

>> Ensure that the firmware for the server, storage controller, and other components is up to date.
>> Install the latest drivers for the storage controller.

6. Hardware Compatibility

>> Verify the compatibility of the SAS to SATA cable, PCIe to NVMe adapter, and NVMe drive with your DL380 Gen9 server.

7. Check Logs

>> Examine system logs for any error messages related to the disks not being recognized.
>> Check iLO logs for any hardware-related issues.

8. Passthrough Configuration

>> If you plan to use passthrough for the storage controller, make sure the necessary BIOS settings and configurations are set to allow passthrough.

9. Test Each Component Individually

>> Disconnect all unnecessary components and test each component individually to identify if any specific component is causing the issue.

****By systematically checking each component and configuration, you should be able to identify the root cause of the problem. If you're unsure about specific settings or configurations, referring to the DL380 Gen9 user manual can provide additional guidance.

If the issue persists, consider reaching out to the support for further assistance.

I hope the info helps! Let me know how it goes. 

[TVVJ]

Hello,

It would help of the cabling of the hard drives to the controller were to be reviewed and compared to that in section "Cabling" on page 155 of the HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Server User Guide to ensure they are correct.

Regards,