Re: [H] Server died again #5

2008-10-04 Thread DHSinclair

Greg,
I would be like to answer. Fact is I do not know what my rebuild rate is. 
Old records I have for 2004 show that a rebuild took about 5hrs and change 
for about 23GB.


[Obs#1]
ATM, I think I now see a complete meltdown. While the bios level SMOR shows 
me that the 2 old drives are optimal and that the new Quantum drive is 
also optimal, the bios SMOR command Rebuild does not seem to do anything. 
(yes, thinking bad A-3200S controller!)


[Obs#2]
The controller, 3200S, does not seem to add the new drive to the current 
array. Perhaps because it reads the new drive as 'smaller' than the 
remaining 2 drives of the old array. When Post gets to the I20 portion 
(raid), I now see what looks suspiciously like 2 separate arrays.?


Controller: 0xFA00 IRQ7 3200S FW320P

Drive: 0 (0,5,0) QuantumAtlas10k3_18_SCA  fw=120P
c:2213 h:255 s:63  16.96GB

Drive: 1 (0,6,0) Adaptec COSMO (the name I assigned to the array!) fw=320P
c:4462 h:255 s:63  34.18GB {this equates to the 2x IBM 18.4GB old drives}

If I let POST complete, I now get the black screen w/blinking cursor and 
msg: Operating System not found.  {I read this to confirm that NO Rebuild 
has taken place in the past 22hrs! And/or the 3200S is truly dead!}


[Obs#3]
I have tried to do a Repair W2KServer install 3 times now. Each fails 
indicating Repair can not find a hard drive/volume to use.

I accept this as I may be Toast; as you suggested before! No harm, no foul.

[Obs#4]
I have been to the Repair Console. I have tried both FixBoot and FixMbr. 
While both seem to work and may be trying to do something, I see no 
improvement. Suspect this is because the array is still not whole/back 
together?


I am now ready to just spend Saturday afternoon putting my original U160 
cable back in, and, using Create to start all over at square 
one. :)

unless there may some last test to try.?

[Obs#5]
..I do have enough new Quantum drives to just replace all the drives 
and just try and Create/Build a new array to prove this 3200S actually can 
do this task. If not, it is clear that the 3200S is indeed Toast!


And then, I can lick my wounds, and, plan for a new server case, SATA 
controller, and, cheaper drives. :)

Is this a good test?  Time is not an issue; I have lots of time! LOL!

I have confirmed which data I will loose. Bummer, but not life-threatening.
Thank you,
Duncan

At 00:49 10/04/2008 -0500, you wrote:

What's your rebuild rate? Most cards I've seen default to 20%, which will
take about 40 billion years to complete.

Even at 80% rebuild rate, my Areca 12x500GB RAID6 array takes about 8 or 9
hours to complete a rebuild. However, during the rebuild, you should be able
to use the drive as normal.

Greg

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of DHSinclair
 Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 7:34 PM
 To: Hardware Group
 Subject: [H] Server died again #5

 New drives in hand. One installed in the failed position.
 Server booted and held at the bios prompt (ctrl+A) for the raid
 array.
 All 3 drives NOW read optimal.
 In bios, I gave the RAID REBUID command. (at ~1400hrs, my time).

 It is now ~2020 my time. All I have witnessed (seen, heard) since is
 that the Activity LEDs (yellow) of all three drives of the RAID array
 blink ON
 every ~10 seconds. It is just a 'blink.'
 I do accept that my raid card only has 32MB of SODIMM RAM. But
 still..

 Greg, you may just win this hand!  OK, if I leave this machine alone
 all
 night,
 will I have coffee in the AM with a re-built array, maybe?

 I can accept even a RAID controller that is toast! (if so, the next
 question is:
 does anyone have a cheap A-3200S for sale) LOL!

 Sometimes, this hobby is just way too much fun! Yagotztaluvitsometimes!

 Pull no punches here, please. I can always just start over.
 I still have the bios-level command of CREATE :)
 Thank you,
 Duncan




[H] Server died again #5

2008-10-03 Thread DHSinclair

New drives in hand. One installed in the failed position.
Server booted and held at the bios prompt (ctrl+A) for the raid array.
All 3 drives NOW read optimal.
In bios, I gave the RAID REBUID command. (at ~1400hrs, my time).

It is now ~2020 my time. All I have witnessed (seen, heard) since is
that the Activity LEDs (yellow) of all three drives of the RAID array blink ON
every ~10 seconds. It is just a 'blink.'
I do accept that my raid card only has 32MB of SODIMM RAM. But still..

Greg, you may just win this hand!  OK, if I leave this machine alone all 
night,

will I have coffee in the AM with a re-built array, maybe?

I can accept even a RAID controller that is toast! (if so, the next 
question is:

does anyone have a cheap A-3200S for sale) LOL!

Sometimes, this hobby is just way too much fun! Yagotztaluvitsometimes!

Pull no punches here, please. I can always just start over.
I still have the bios-level command of CREATE :)
Thank you,
Duncan



Re: [H] Server died again #5

2008-10-03 Thread Greg Sevart
What's your rebuild rate? Most cards I've seen default to 20%, which will
take about 40 billion years to complete.

Even at 80% rebuild rate, my Areca 12x500GB RAID6 array takes about 8 or 9
hours to complete a rebuild. However, during the rebuild, you should be able
to use the drive as normal.

Greg

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of DHSinclair
 Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 7:34 PM
 To: Hardware Group
 Subject: [H] Server died again #5
 
 New drives in hand. One installed in the failed position.
 Server booted and held at the bios prompt (ctrl+A) for the raid
 array.
 All 3 drives NOW read optimal.
 In bios, I gave the RAID REBUID command. (at ~1400hrs, my time).
 
 It is now ~2020 my time. All I have witnessed (seen, heard) since is
 that the Activity LEDs (yellow) of all three drives of the RAID array
 blink ON
 every ~10 seconds. It is just a 'blink.'
 I do accept that my raid card only has 32MB of SODIMM RAM. But
 still..
 
 Greg, you may just win this hand!  OK, if I leave this machine alone
 all
 night,
 will I have coffee in the AM with a re-built array, maybe?
 
 I can accept even a RAID controller that is toast! (if so, the next
 question is:
 does anyone have a cheap A-3200S for sale) LOL!
 
 Sometimes, this hobby is just way too much fun! Yagotztaluvitsometimes!
 
 Pull no punches here, please. I can always just start over.
 I still have the bios-level command of CREATE :)
 Thank you,
 Duncan