ML310 G4: Memory initialization failure

[Anders Blomkvist]

I have a ML310 G4 SATA server that I want to install an extra SATA controller in - an Adaptec AAR-1430SA PCIe unit.
The primary boot device is a RAID device on the embedded SATA RAID controller. This new Adaptec controller will only have extra disks for temporary backupfiles and thus I have disabled the BIOS on the Adaptec controller.
The controller is successfully identified by the system but when it tries to boot from the primary boot device it fails with the following error and then reboot:

Couldn't initialize memory

As I said, I've disabled the BIOS on the new controller, I've tried different PCIe slots and even set a unique IRQ for the controller in the server BIOS but still it fails with this error. It doesn't matter if I have the disks attached to the controller or not, the system won't boot anyway.

As soon as I remove the controller the server boots correctly.
I can't find any information on this errormessage, does anyone have any idea what might be the problem and how to correct it?

[Mi6t0]

It is possible, that this controller is not supported on the server.

These are the supported for the server:

HP 8 Internal Port SAS HBA with RAID
NOTE: RAID 0, 1.

347786-B21
HP Smart Array E200/128 BBWC Controller
NOTE: RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5.
411508-B21
HP Smart Array P400/256MB Controller
NOTE: RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5.

405132-B21
HP Smart Array P400/512MB BBWC Controller
NOTE: RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5, 6.

411064-B21



Check the quickspecs here:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12570_div/12570_div.html

[e4services]

Not matter what was said about "Supported Devices", this does not mean it would not Work. It sounds more like a OS problem than a system problem since you can get a POST and actually try the things you are trying.
When you say you "disabled the BIOS on the Adaptec controller" do you mean you remove it from the Boot Strap in the Adaptec BIOS? Since if the Adaptec BIOS does not load (seeing it load at boot on the display scanning for devices), attached devices would not be usable.
I do not know what OS is on the Boot device, the SATA drive, but I would next try a Boot CD like BART or Ultimate Boot CD to check thing out. Then may be try repairing the OS with the controller installed.

[Anders Blomkvist]

I've disabled the BIOS in the Adaptec controller configuration so that it will not load and interfere with the BIOS from the embedded controller which has the primary boot devices. AFAIK, disabling the BIOS on the controller will only render those devices to be unavailable as boot devices but it will still be able to address those devices, although I could be wrong.

Anyway, it seems You might be right that this is an OS issue and not a hardware issue:

C:\>findstr initialize ntldr
.Couldn't initialize I/O
..Couldn't initialize memory

C:\>

So this seem to be an error coming from the W2K3 OS loader and not the system.
Unfortenately, I still can't figure out the reason for it...

[Anders Blomkvist]

Found that this message do come from the NT loader and mean that the amount of free RAM below 640K is <512KB which is the minimum requirement for the NT loader to run.

Seem that when installing a second controller, even with it's BIOS disabled, the controller allocate memory which causes this to happen.

Gosh, I had hoped that tweaking the system for maximum lowmem was a thing of the passed :)

[Jaron_aus]

Hi
I have the same issue mentioned however I cannot find that setting in the BIOS. Is anyone able to help?
Thanks