HP Smart Array B320i RAID Cannot Find Drives

[whbf-tv]

Issue:  The newly refurbished DL360e Gen8 cannot see any hard drives, have reset all back to factory settings in BIOS, have ran the HP Smart Array B320i nRAID Controller with no success.  Have went into HP ROM-Base Setup Utility HP ROM-Base Setup Utility,  primary array controller cannot been configured with ORCA. Cannot create logical drive, choose RAID, add physical drives to it also when loading the operating systemit shows no drives.  

The below message is what is being received and where I end up cannot get into ACU or ADU as these are not listed.

HP Dynamic Smart Array B320i RAID Controller v4.8 detects 0 Logical Volumes 1785-Drive Array Not Configured.  Run Array Configuraiton Utility.

1709-Drive Array - One or more attached hard drive could not be authenicated. (All are HP Drives Confrmned)

Smart Array will not control LEDs to these drives. Run ACU or ADU to learn which could into be validated.

Press F5 to run Smart Storage Admin.

[whbf-tv]

Does anyone have any ideas on this, it is bare bones and I cannot load Storage Administrator or create logical drives.  HP Smart Array Stopping Point

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Please verify the type of drives that you have been trying to add on the server. Sas or sata?

HP Smart Array SAS License Key is required to support SAS drive.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c03326739 

You may test with SATA drives to narrow down the issue.

Also 1709-One or more attached hard drives could not be authenticated could be seen if there is non-HPE drive installed or drives installed with 3rd party caddies. HPE smart carrier drives would come with caddies installed.

[whbf-tv]

Thanks so much for your reply and suggestions, however, after attempting to follow up on HP Smart Array SAS License Key and requirement to support SAS drive the stopping point was login information.  The login page will not accept the credentials I have for this forum. Can I get access and or can the resource for licensing HP drive authentication be provided in a different manner.   Enclosed is the challenge page(s) I am receiving.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c03326739

[whbf-tv]

To explore your input concerning the hard drives, enclosed is an image of the current hard drives which, are all HP confirmed.  Also the caddies that are accompanying also seems to be a legitimate working design and caddy model.  that being stated, the original HP ProLiant Server came with two 500GB Hard drives 7200rpm SAS.  The drives that were added after this are 1TB 72000rpm SAS which are deemed as compatible and at the time before completely blowing away the server and starting from "Bare Metal" approach is when the issue on drive recognition developed. 

Enclosed is the HP drives for inspection and suggestion on how to get past and or get the Smart Array to see and provide a pathway to create volumes and load the OS. 

Also enclosed is another error when attempting to run Intelligent Provisioning. 

Thanks for your continued support!

[whbf-tv]

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Please be informed that if the SAS license is not installed, SAS drive will not be detected at all. However here I understand that the drives are detected but you get HP drive authentication messages.

You can verify from Array Configuration Utility or Smart Storage Administrator if all the drives are detected and how many drives have the authentication error. You should be able to check if SAS license is installed or not. For testing purpose please install one or 2 drives and verify.

Please check the link below to verify "Maximum Internal Storage" to ensure we are not exceeding the recommended configuration.

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04128167.pdf

If Array Configuration Utility or Smart Storage Administrator shows SAS license installed but the drives are still not detected, please check the cabling from the controller to the HDD backplane.

If drive authentication error is not seen on all the drives but few drives, please swap the drives around to check if the error follows the drive or remains on the slot.

For the intelligent provisioning error please re-install IP from below web-link.

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_a2b2caf8066e4a8b82a966d628

[whbf-tv]

After placing Intelligent Provisioning install on a USB it ran the install however, produced the following errors in order. Used HP USB Key App, looked at some solutions such as:  

convert in.png out.png

mogrify *.png

However, it does not recognize these commands as this is just what I could find on the subject.  That being stated, I do not believe that there is any licensing or anything left on the hard drives for restoring and recognizing drives.  What would be the process of getting this going the server is a hand me down from our corporation company.  What in your opinion would it take to take this up and running, as this is a crashed system no way to load anything, nu GUI, no hard drives, HP Storage Administrator not working.  If licensing could be obtained from our corporate company is there a process for successfully loading licensing and configuring, if not, what needs to be done?

[whbf-tv]

If licensing was already purchased could that be chased down by serial numbers?  Also if everything is wiped is this still valid for exisitng licensing? 

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Please try re-installing Intelligent provisioning from iLO by mounting the ISO image.

Since Intelligent provisioning or Smart Storage administrator doesn't work, we are unable to check the exact status of the drives (whether not detected at all or detected but they are throwing authentication error)

You can boot offline from HP Smart Storage Administrator (HP SSA).

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_321a88714bff4279abf175b9bd

Once you are in SSA, please check the exact issue. i.e. if the drives are detected or throwing authentication error.

You may have to Contact Licensing Support to see if they can assist you retrieving the lost license.

https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/documents/10180/14684/sw_license_activation_quick_start_guide

[whbf-tv]

WHY IS THIS SO INCREDIBLE HARD JUST TO SEE A F*CKING HP HARD DRIVE!!!!!  There is no reason why this should be this hard just to boot the server and load an OS and see a hard drive!  No reason what so ever! 

I have loaded and flashed the Intellignet Provisioning time and time again to 1.7 I have loaded HP Smart Storage Administrator offline and I always. always, always, end up in the same place!

Should AHCI SAtA Controller be turned off in BIOS?   When I press F5 it loads however, I never see any kind of GUI, I never see anything different.

Finally once again, your sending dead links, I was able to find re-installing Intelligent provisioning from iLO by mounting the ISO image.  

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO FIX THIS?????

 

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Thank you for the additional information and sorry about the links as there was an extra space at the end, they have been corrected now.

I understand that Intelligent provisioning has been re-installed successfully however you are still unable to access Intelligent provisioning (F10) or HP Smart Storage Administrator offline (F5). This looks to be an issue with the NAND chip on the system board.

I can see the B320i controller getting initialised on the post but the unassigned drives won't be listed on the POST screen. They can be checked from HP Smart Storage Administrator.

Alternate method to access HP Smart Storage Administrator : 

Web-link for offline from HP Smart Storage Administrator (HP SSA). Please boot from this iso to access SSA to check if the drives are detected. SSA will also give you options to configure the array.

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_321a88714bff4279abf175b9bd

Please refer the installation instructions