ASRock x79 Extreme 11, LSI Controller Not Working

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510
I have a new PC with this MOBO. I have two SSDs connected to the Intel SATA3 controller and they work fine. But I have tried all day to install additional hard drives, and the system doesn't see them (not BIOS or OS).

I have Windows 8.1 Pro. The LSI Controller is enabled in the BIOS. I have tried several different hard drives (WD & Hitachi) and different sizes (from 150GB to 4TB).

The slots are hot swappable, and the drive appears to be getting power (they are warm after being in the slot for a while). I have tried different slots, different LSI ports, different cables, but no joy.

Device Manager says the LSI device is working properly and the driver is up to day.

Running out of ideas!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510


I don't seen anything like a LSI Configuration Screen during boot. The only reference to LSI is on the Advanced/Storage Configuration screen in the UEFI Setup Utility. See boot screens link below.

boot screens

EDIT:
Perhaps it would help to state my goal. I want to install two pair of mirrored 4TB Hitachi hard drives. These are for storage of raw and edited HD video. From what I have read, I had planned to using OS mirror (RAID 1). I am not that concerned about speed for these drives. I will keep my working files on a 500TB SSD.

But the first step has to be getting the system to recognize the drives in the first place. Seems there is some secret here that I do not know :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510


Pressing TAB after turning on PC displays this screen. Pressing CTRL+C from there does nothing ... computer proceeds to UEFI Setup Utility. No sign of anything to do with LSI.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510


Well I made some progress. There is an option in UEFI for Bootable LSI Controller. When I enable that. The LSI Config appears during boot. From there I ...

    Selected adapter name and pressed ENTER. Adapter Properties screen appears.


    Selected RAID Properties and pressed ENTER. Select New Array Type screen appears.


    Selected Create IM Volume. Erase date warning appears.


    Pressed ENTER and it returns to Adapter Properties screen.


According to online info I found, it should have taken me to a list of available drives for the array, so I guess the LSI Config doesn't see the drives either.

I have two new, out-of-the-box 4TB Hitachi drives installed. All connections appears to be correct. See connections.

I assume the drives are good. The fan connected to the hot swap pc-board is running, so I assume the drives are getting power, but still the drives are invisible to everything??








 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510


Moderate success, but I might have been creating some expensive paper weights.

I disconnected the SATA power and Intel SATA2 data from my DVD burner. I connected these to each of the two Hitachi 4TB drives I had installed in the hot swap bays. Neither worked.

Then I tried two older WD 150GB drives that I thought were working to the same power/data. Neither worked. I think I had tried these in the hot swap too.

Next I connected an old green WD 1TB drive and it DID work. So, I tried it in one of the hot swap bays, and it didn't work. Then, I reconnected it directly to the Intel data and SATA power, and it was DEAD.

Seems perhaps something about the hot swap power is killing drives. Any thoughts?? Could the molex connectors I connected to the hot swap boards be the wrong voltage?

Here's the moderate success. I connected one of the two remaining, new Hitachi 4TB drives directly to the SATA power and an LSI data port, and it works as a stand-alone drive.

I am thinking I need to remove the hot swap boards from the slide-in bays and use direct connections for all the drives.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510

The PC was built by CyberPowerPC. My previous PC was built by them, and I have been using it for five years.

The case, which includes the hot-swap bays, is a CFI Pharaoh EVO. I didn't realize just how BIG the case was until it arrived, but that doesn't really matter.

When I first opened it up, the power was already connected to one of the hot swap PCBs (just to power the front-panel fans). All I did was connect a second molex on the same cable to the remaining PCB. So I assume the builder thought it was the right power.

However, the builder didn't use hot-swap for the two SSDs they installed even though that was an option. Maybe that should have told me something :no:

I'm not looking to blame anyone at this point, but I really would like the figure out what's going on. I just can't afford to risk any more HDDs!

UPDATE:

I had my remaining two 4TB drives running (direct LSI data, direct SATA power) and I simply restarted the PC, and one of the drives started clicking. It got very hot and now it is dead too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BHURST

Honorable
Dec 22, 2013
16
0
10,510
Well, I think I figured it out. At least I have two drives connected to the LSI controller that have been working for a couple of days. They are a couple of 1TB WDs that I pulled out of a external RAID bay I was not using.

I tracked all of the problems to a single cable from the power supply. This cable has several female molex connectors. The only thing it was connected to was the hot swap pcbs on the back of HDD rails.

I finally removed the pcbs from the rails, installed the HDDs, and made direct SATA power and LSI data connections to both. When I booted, I had the LSI configuration BIOS enabled, but I didn't really configure anything. I just noted that the drives were recognized by the LSI controller and exited LSI BIOS. I have since disable the LSI config during boot, and all is well.

The builder of my PC won't even respond to questions about what might be the problem with the molex cable. I don't know enough to decide if it is the cable itself, or maybe the wrong connection to the power supply. At this point, I don't think I'll need the cable so ...

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom