Re: LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i hangs system at boot
On Tue, 29 May 2012 20:49:32 -0500
Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
> On 5/29/2012 7:09 AM, Ramon Hofer wrote:
> > On Sun, 20 May 2012 21:37:19 -0500
> > Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
> >
> > (...)
> >
> >> Does the mobo BIOS show the disk device? If not, does the 9240
> >> BIOS show the disk device, RAID level, and its size?
> >>
> >> What we need to figure out is whether this is a BIOS problem at
> >> this point or a Debian installer kernel driver problem.
> >
> > I have finally found some time to work on the problem:
> >
> > I set up a raid1 in the hba bios. I couldn't install onto it with
> > the supermicro mb.
> >
> > Then I mounted the lsi hba into my old server with an Asus mb (can't
> > remember which one it is, must have to check it at home...). It
> > (almost) works like a charm.
> > The only issue is that I can't enter the hba BIOS when it's mounted
> > in the Asus mb. But when I put it back into the Supermicro mb I can
> > access it again. Very strange!
>
> This behavior isn't strange. Just about every mobo BIOS has an option
> to ignore or load option ROMs. On your SuperMicro board this is
> controlled by the setting "AddOn ROM Display Mode" under the "Boot
> Feature" menu. Your ASUS board likely has a similar feature that is
> currently disabled, preventing the LSI option ROM from being loaded.
Very interesting! I didn't know that.
The values I can choose for the "AddOn ROM Display Mode" are
"Keep current" and "Force Bios". I have chosen the Force Bios option.
And I have disable the two options you describe below.
In the supermicro the hba's init screen isn't displayed at all now.
On the other hand in the asus I saw the init screen when the attached
discs are listed I just can't enter the configuration program with
ctrl+h although the message to press these keys is shown.
I'm now able to boot into the 2.6.32-5 kernel.
It takes quite a while until the megasas module was loaded (I suppose:
the over-current messages are shown for a while ~2 mins and then it's
boot normally until the login prompt.
When I leave it alone I get the message:
INFO: task scsi_scan_0:341 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this
message.
After booting the first time this evening I installed the bpo 3.2
kernel.
When I try to reboot the stable kernel the system hangs after the
message "Will now restart."
After a while the above message about the blocked task appears again.
The bpo kernel 3.2 seems to fail. The two over current-messages are
shown and then this message:
http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=XqVunR9e
When I load the stable kernel it stop for a while again after the
over-current message then finally gets to the login prompt. After a
while I got this message:
http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=w409KaFN
> > But apart from that I could install Debian onto the raid1. Then I
> > set
>
> This was on the ASUS board correct? Were you able to boot the RAID1
> device after install? If so this indeed would be strange as you
> should not be able to boot from the HBA if its ROM isn't loaded.
No I wasn't able to boot the kernel installed to the RAID1. Grub was
loaded but only because I've installed it to the disk directly attached
to the MB's SATA controller.
But when choosing the RAID1 kernel it stopped (can't remember the
message anymore). I thought I haven't set the boot option for the raid1
in the hba bios properly.
> > the bios to use the disks as jbods and installed Debian gain to a
> > drive directly attached to the mb sata controller.
> > With the original squeeze kernel the disks attached to the hba
> > weren't visible. But after updating to the bpo kernel I can fdisk
> > them separately and put it into a raid5 (in the end I want to apply
> > the 500G partition method Cameleon suggested).
>
> This experience with the ASUS board leads me to wonder if disabling
> the option ROM and INT19 on the SM board would allow everything to
> function properly. Try that before you take the board to the dealer
> for flashing. Assuming you've deleted any BIOS configured RAID
> devices in the HBA BIOS already and all drives are configured for
> JBOD mode, drop the HBA back into the SM board, go into the SM BIOS,
> set "PCI Slot X Option ROM" to "DISABLED" where X is the number of
> the PCIe slot in which the LSI HBA is inserted. Set "Interrupt 19
> Capture" to "DISABLED". Save settings and reboot.
>
> You should now see the same behavior as on the ASUS, including the HBA
> BIOS not showing up during the boot process. Which I'm thinking is
> the key to it working on the ASUS as the ROM code is never resident.
> Thus it is not causing problems with kernel driver, which is
> apparently assuming the 9240 series ROM will not be resident.
Maybe I wasn't clear about that. The hba BIOS seems to be loaded in the
asus as well but I just can't enter its setting with ctrl+h.
Does all of this tell us anything :-?
> This loading of the option ROM code is what some would consider the
> difference between "HBA RAID mode" and "HBA JBOD mode".
Well then it seems as if I want to use Linux software raid I would
better keep the setting to disable the loading of the option ROM :-/
> >> Did you already flash the C7P67 BIOS to the latest version? I
> >> can't recall.
> >
> > I have tried to do that but it was quite strange.
> > I created a freedos usb stick with unetbootin and copied the files
> > for the update from supermicro into the stick. I did exactly what
> > the readmes told me. But when I did it the first time there was no
> > output of the flash process and the directory where the supermicro
> > files were located on the stick was empty.
> > When I tried to do the procedure again it complains that I have to
> > first install version 1.
>
> Unfortunately flashing mobo BIOS is still not always an uneventful nor
> routine process, even in 2012.
Yes, I've had issues with both times I tried to do that (now and about
a year ago with an Intel mainboard) :-(
Maybe this should tell me something ;-)
> > I will now bring it to my dealer who can do the BIOS update for me.
> >
> > And I will write to Supermicro if they are aware of the issue.
>
> Try what I mention above before doing either of these things.
I've already mailed both of them on Monday.
The dealer tells me to do anything on my own.
But Supermicro is very helpful. They described how to flash the bios
before they knew about the problem I have with the v1.10 that the BIOS
updater wants me to install first.
They even attached the zip. Unfortunately it wasn't complete (the
installer complained about a missing file).
They're also helping me to install v1.10 but again I can't find a .ROM
file which I should rename according to their instruction in the mail.
So I asked again this evening...
Hopefully I can flash v1.10 to the Supermicro tomorrow and then update
to the newest version.
Maybe I then am already able to boot :-)
Or I try the steps you described about a week ago again and keep the
load option ROM setting off.
If this doesn't help neither I will try the newest firmware from lsi
which has just been released on May 21, 2012.
Is this a good idea or do you have a better advice?
Best regards
Ramon
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