ml350p Gen 8 Will Not Recognize eSATA Controller Cards

[Michael4000]

HP does not offer an eSATA controller card with Port Multiplier for the ML350p Gen 8 to my knowledge (nor has anyone been able to find one).  Therefore, I purchased a Startech PEXSATA2 PCI-e eSATA card, which has worked fine in other installations, including a ML350 G6.  However, in the ML350p Gen 8, the card would not come up in Windows Server 2008 R2 device manager.  I changed slots, and no change.  I called Startech Tech support, and they had no solution.

Next I purchased a SIIG SC-SA0M11-S1 PCI-e eSATA controller. Same situation!  Not shown in Device Manager.  I tried that unit also in different slots to no avail.

I called HP Tech Support, and they had no explanation.  I called SIIG, and they had no solution.

I put a video card in one of the PCI-E slots, and it worked fine.  I put the SIIG eSATA card in the same slot, and it did not show up at all.

I checked the BIOS, and the card does not appear.

I tested a Startech USB 3.0 card PEXUSB3S2, and it would show up in Device Manager, but the drivers would not load.

I'm out of ideas.  It is as if the system is blocking any additional controllers.  Any help would be much appreciated.

Michael

[Suman_1978]

Hi,

Just an idea, Have you tried to update the BIOS to see if that fixes the issue?

Other than that, I have no clue why it wouldant work.

Thank You!

I am a HP employee.

[mhunter]

Make sure Optional ROM is enabled in BIOS....

[Michael4000]

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@suman_AN wrote:

Hi,

Just an idea, Have you tried to update the BIOS to see if that fixes the issue?

Other than that, I have no clue why it wouldant work.

Thank You!

I am a HP employee.

---

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I did check the BIOS when I first started the build, and it was up to date.

Michael

[Michael4000]

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@mhunter wrote:

Make sure Optional ROM is enabled in BIOS....

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Hi,

I appreciate the idea.  Where would I find "Optional ROM" in the BIOS?  I looked through most of the menus, and could ot find it.

Thanks.

Michael

[Michael4000]

Update:

When I boot the server, I do see a message of Asmedia ASM106x, which is the SIIG eSATA controller chipset.  Also if I go into HP System Manager/HP Insight Diagnostic, it does show Slot 5 in use.  For some reason, it never shows up in Windows Server 2008 R2 Device Manager.

Michael 

[Michael4000]

SOLVED.

The reason the controller card did not show up was Windows Server 2008 R2 installed the default driver "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller" in the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" group in Device Manager.  I found this by power the system down, unplugging the controller card, restarting, and seeing what was left in the group.  That explained why Windows did not see did not display the device driver loading screen.  However, I never got a message saying the "New hardware is ready to use" on the taskbar either.

The Port Multiplier function (used for multi-drive enclosures) still didn't work, so I installed the SIIG drivers.

I downloaded the latest drivers from SIIG, and extracted the zip file.  Then in Device Manager, I right clicked on the "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller" and left clicked on "Update Driver Software".  I navigate to my extracted drivers, and installed them.

The rest of the drives in the enclosure immediately started loading.

Thank you to everyone who provided advice here.

Michael

[tomcoleman]

Hi there

I have 2 cards which have excatly the same issue

Im using this card here

http://uk.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/2-Port-PCI-Express-eSATA-Controller-Card~PEXESATA2

In windows it doesnt even come up with "new Device Detected" or even tries to ask for a driver to be installed nothing.

I did the same and went into device manager which doesnt show IDE/SATA controllers (like it did on yours)

All i see is the below

Any ideas?