Question

PCI-E not recognizing tape drive

Asked by: chipbunker

Experts,

I have 2 Dell poweredge 2950's one has a PCI riser and the other has a PCI-E riser. I have bought an LSI PCI-E SCSI controller (Dell Part Number 341-7044) to run the external tape drive that is currently running on the Adaptec SCSI card on the PCI machine.

When I connect the tape drive to the PCI-E card machine and boot it. The controller says that there are no supported devices attached.

What does PCI-E support or not support for devices.

Thanks

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Asked On
2008-08-19 at 13:41:43ID23661122
Tags

Dell

,

powervault

,

112t

,

SCSI card

Topics

Removable Backup Media

,

Hard Drives & Storage

Participating Experts
1
Points
125
Comments
19

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Answers

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:06:44ID: 22263888

It's unlikely to be down to the bus, it's much more likely to be a problem with either the adapter itself, or the cabling/termination/tape drive. If the latter are all working ok then I suspect the problem is in the adapter. I'm not that familiar with LSI's gear, but Adaptec's host adapters show you what's attached at boot time, and also have a configurable BIOS... I would assume the LSI does something similar. If you can, get into this, and check the settings.

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:09:22ID: 22263910

I can get into the LSI BIOS but not sure what it is I am looking for.

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:13:32ID: 22263940

What's the SCSI ID of the tape device? And what IS the tape device... it's definitely LVD or SE, I assume (ie, not HVD).

Check to see that the adapter isn't set to do something odd on that ID... like run at 5Mb asynchronous narrow : )

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:18:16ID: 22263970

Its is an external tape drive Powervault 112T (older one) The SCSI id is 6 the controller bios shows nothing at that ID

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:21:20ID: 22263998

the settings on all ID's in the bios are the same IE
160 MT/sec
320 MB/sec
16 data width
yes scan id
etc etc

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:26:09ID: 22264060

And you've tried swapping cables/terminators? And resetting the tape drive (switching off and back on)?

What's the actual drive inside the Powervault 112T? Is it definitely LVD or SE, and not HVD?

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:28:10ID: 22264070

Actually, I've just looked up the specs for the 112T and it's definitely LVD, so you should be fine on that front.

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:29:09ID: 22264081

the drive is a powervault 110T DLT vs 80

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:30:04ID: 22264085

So the only thing left - if you've swapped cable/terminator and reset the drive - is try setting the transfer speed in the LSI BIOS from 320 to 160, 80 or even 40, rebooting, and seeing if the adapter recognises it.

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:30:46ID: 22264093

I will try those, hang on.

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:35:56ID: 22264138

nope,  My guess is that this card will not support this device. I read somewhere that the LSI card is not backward compatable. but not compatable with what?

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:39:22ID: 22264160

So you can't set the card to a lower speed?

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:41:10ID: 22264175

I did, it did not change anything, I tried 20,40,80 and 160

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 14:59:38ID: 22264291

Looks like a kaput card. Do you have any other SCSI devices to test it with?

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 15:04:53ID: 22264327

I tried different tape drives (same model 110) internal/external etc and I get the same thing. This is the only PCI-E card we have so I cannot swap that.  I guess I am looking for confirmation that this tape drive should work with this card, or do I need a different card or tape drive.

 

by: TapeDudePosted on 2008-08-19 at 15:11:07ID: 22264378

I really, REALLY doubt it has anything to do with the fact the card uses a PCI-bus. The fact that the speed of the card can be set to lower than 320 means that it IS designed to work with earlier SCSI devices. If the drives are recognised on the other machine, using the same cables & terminators, then I'm 99% sure it's a bad card. If it's new and you bought from a reputable dealer they should replace it.

Good luck, I'm off to bed...

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-19 at 15:12:03ID: 22264388

thanks for your help

 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-21 at 13:30:43ID: 22284047

OK, the problem was a broken pin on the cable. The PCI-E card recognized the drive as soon as a new cable was used.
Points to TapeDude for his time and assistance.


 

by: chipbunkerPosted on 2008-08-21 at 13:32:24ID: 31488181

cable broke the pin when it was removed from the working machine so even though we were using the same equipment it was different. PCI-E card was good cable was bad.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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