Found a poweredge r710, need help.

[Radium_Angel]

2 hours ago, herorareheart said:

Wait sorry that's wrong, it looks like I only updated the BIOS and firmware for the system and not the RAID controller, the RAID controller is on old firmware. I'm finding this a bit difficult, all this server stuff is pretty new to me. When I boot up the system at various times I'm given options to enter several different configuration utilities, the systems, the RAID controllers, the network controllers, the IDRAC6s, I'm going to go through and double check what version the firmware's and BIOS's are for all of them and install/reinstall the latest version of everything. I should probably clarify that to update the server firmware and BIOS I followed this YouTube tutorial to do it through Dell's FTP server but that doesn't work anymore. The tutorial had links in the description to an ISO I could download and burn to a DVD that would update it for me and I just used that, is there a better way I could be doing it? I just did it mainly because it was easy and I was unsure how to do myself.

Yeah, welcome to the fun of Server configuration and ownership. 

The big FW to update is of course the iDRAC, and BIOS.

The system can be working perfectly fine, but with the RAID controller degraded/mis-configured, you will have all manner of issues.

Reset system to RAID 5 if possible, I think you'll find performance on the Perc controllers to be happier with that.

Check also the "Advanced settings" and see what setting would be best for your application.

As long as the FW of all the various parts are up to date, it doesn't really matter how you got it there, just that you did.

3 hours ago, herorareheart said:

Yes I did:

And I missed that part, sorry about that.

Are you certain that's not a network latency issue? My MC server knowledge is....limited.

 

Did you run MemText86+ on all the RAM? I'm curious if it's still good.

Also, pop the lid and post of some pics of the inside, I want to ensure a few things.

[Jarsky]

12 hours ago, herorareheart said:

That's what I just did, should I do it again?

 

When you say you just did the update, did you update the Lifecycle Controller / System firmware update? 

The error would indicate something connected to the PCI-E bus has a problem, could be outdated firmware. 

[Radium_Angel]

17 hours ago, Jarsky said:

 

When you say you just did the update, did you update the Lifecycle Controller / System firmware update? 

The error would indicate something connected to the PCI-E bus has a problem, could be outdated firmware. 

Yeah, my concern is the RAID controller itself is bad, which would certainly cause issues with the hard drives.

[HeroRareheart]

On 6/13/2019 at 10:09 PM, Jarsky said:

 

When you say you just did the update, did you update the Lifecycle Controller / System firmware update? 

The error would indicate something connected to the PCI-E bus has a problem, could be outdated firmware. 

8 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Yeah, my concern is the RAID controller itself is bad, which would certainly cause issues with the hard drives.

Well I was trying to boot into everything and check Firmware versions, BIOS versions, etc, to see if its all up to date but now the thing has started freezing completely if I sit in the Unified Server Configurator for to long. I have no idea what got updated and what didn't, I used this ISO burned to a DVD to update everything which I obtained through this tutorial. I tried pulling the HDD's before turning it back on to see if somehow that stopped the freezing issue, it didn't. I'm also getting a new error upon entering the USC, photo posted below, and searching hasn't helped clarify it.

I still haven't checked the RAM with a 3rd party utility, haven't had a good chance to do that. Here are pictures of the inside:

I hope that's what you needed.

[Jarsky]

Pretty sure thats not an error, just informational. 

 

How about if you pull out the PERC (Raid) card? Its the PCI-E card with the 2 SAS cables connected to it. 

And maybe run Linux Live or something just to see if its working ok with the card disconnected. 

 

 

[Radium_Angel]

7 hours ago, herorareheart said:

error

I suspect a bad RAM module. You need to test that before we go any further. Bad RAM can cause all manner of issues.

 

Also, pull out (you don't need them) all the extra network cards, they are just cluttering up things, the built-in ones are more than sufficient.

 

 

[HeroRareheart]

7 hours ago, Jarsky said:

How about if you pull out the PERC (Raid) card?

maybe run Linux Live

15 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I suspect a bad RAM module. You need to test that before we go any further

Also, pull out (you don't need them) all the extra network cards.

Alright when I get back from submitting my passport application I'll just pull out everything and see how it runs. I'll leave the network cards out for now and figure out someway to run a RAM test, could I do that with Linux Live somehow?

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, herorareheart said:

Alright when I get back from submitting my passport application I'll just pull out everything and see how it runs. I'll leave the network cards out for now and figure out someway to run a RAM test, could I do that with Linux Live somehow?

All you need to do is create a bootable Memtest86 USB drive. Go to their website, there should be instructions there.

 

Many Linux Live USB's also have Memtest preloaded, but you'll have to check whichever one you might choose. Some options include UBCD (Universal Boot CD), Hirens Boot Disk, Puppy Linux, etc.

[Radium_Angel]

4 hours ago, herorareheart said:

RAM test,

The easiest way is visit https://www.memtest86.com/

 

Download the ISO and make a bootable CD with it.

Don't fiddle with live linux distros unless you know what you are doing. Let's keep to the basics...

[HeroRareheart]

3 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

I suspect a bad RAM module. You need to test that before we go any further.

32 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Many Linux Live USB's also have Memtest preloaded

Thanks, I've burned a CD of UBCD 5.3.8, removed the network and RAID cards, and i'm running memtest86 from it.

 

58 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

The easiest way is visit https://www.memtest86.com/

 

Download the ISO and make a bootable CD with it.

Don't fiddle with live linux distros unless you know what you are doing. Let's keep to the basics...

Oops, a tad late for me to do that, its been testing for 3 hours now. Still not done btw but no errors so far.

[dalekphalm]

45 minutes ago, herorareheart said:

Thanks, I've burned a CD of UBCD 5.3.8, removed the network and RAID cards, and i'm running memtest86 from it.

 

Oops, a tad late for me to do that, its been testing for 3 hours now. Still not done btw but no errors so far.

Assuming it's on loop mode, you'll want to test the RAM for at least 12 hours (ideally 24). If it's doing a timed test, it might finish on it's own.

[HeroRareheart]

On 6/15/2019 at 7:59 AM, Radium_Angel said:

I suspect a bad RAM module

19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

you'll want to test the RAM for at least 12 hours (ideally 24).

The test has been running 20ish hours now and completed 2 full passes with no errors, so its not the RAM. I assume next step is to test the RAID controller and HDD's, but how do I tell if the controller or the HDD's is causing the issue? I have no other computer I can plug a SAS drive into and im not sure if the servers controller takes SATA drives.

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, herorareheart said:

The test has been running 20ish hours now and completed 2 full passes with no errors, so its not the RAM. I assume next step is to test the RAID controller and HDD's, but how do I tell if the controller or the HDD's is causing the issue? I have no other computer I can plug a SAS drive into and im not sure if the servers controller takes SATA drives.

SAS is backwards compatible with SATA (but *not* the other way around). 

 

This means you can plug a normal SATA drive into your RAID controller. The cables/caddy will fit. 

 

However, SAS has a “bridge” between data and power, so you can’t plug a SATA cable into a SAS HDD. 

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, herorareheart said:

HDD's

Pull a drive, find out who makes it, use that manufacturer's drive tests...

RAID controller is harder to test. Start with drives, report back

[HeroRareheart]

15 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Pull a drive, find out who makes it, use that manufacturer's drive tests...

RAID controller is harder to test. Start with drives, report back

Problem, I have 0 way to hook up a SAS drive to any computer in my house without using that RAID controller, I have to diagnose the RAID controller first somehow...

16 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

SAS is backwards compatible with SATA.

If I took a known good SATA drive that doesn't spit out any errors and hooked it up to the RAID controller would that be an acceptable method to see if the RAID controller works? If the drive is good but spits out errors when plugged into the RAID controller that should tell me if the controllers bad right?

[Radium_Angel]

53 minutes ago, herorareheart said:

If I took a known good SATA drive that doesn't spit out any errors and hooked it up to the RAID controller would that be an acceptable method to see if the RAID controller works? If the drive is good but spits out errors when plugged into the RAID controller that should tell me if the controllers bad right?

This is correct.

[HeroRareheart]

On 6/17/2019 at 10:15 AM, Radium_Angel said:

This is correct.

Sorry I let the thread die, life decided to get in my way. I took out all HDD's and put one know good SSD into the raid controller then made a RAID 0 out of it. Instantly got a drive failure error for the slot it was in upon running diagnostics. It was a SATA SSD not a SAS one but that should not matter, I assume this points to either the RAID card or the riser its plugged into being faulty.

[dalekphalm]

6 minutes ago, herorareheart said:

Sorry I let the thread die, life decided to get in my way. I took out all HDD's and put one know good SSD into the raid controller then made a RAID 0 out of it. Instantly got a drive failure error for the slot it was in upon running diagnostics. It was a SATA SSD not a SAS one but that should not matter, I assume this points to either the RAID card or the riser its plugged into being faulty.

Almost certainly the Card itself. Risers are mostly just PCB traces. You could take the riser out and closely examine it for scorch marks, etc, but if it looks good, it likely works fine.

 

You could also try to remove the riser w/ the case open, and plug the Card directly into the slot - unsure if it'll fit even with the case open.

 

Or you could pop the riser into your Gaming PC, and plug something into it, like a network card or low-end GPU.

 

But alas, I think you have a bum RAID Card.

[Radium_Angel]

37 minutes ago, herorareheart said:

RAID card

You'd be amazed how cheap old RAID cards on ebay. You're likely to find and identical one for under 20$ there.

[Radium_Angel]

38 minutes ago, herorareheart said:

riser its plugged into being faulty.

Sorry, this could be also, but again, super cheap on ebay. 

[HeroRareheart]

On 6/20/2019 at 1:01 PM, dalekphalm said:

But alas, I think you have a bum RAID Card.

On 6/20/2019 at 1:32 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Sorry, this could be also, but again, super cheap on ebay. 

So I got one off eBay listed as the exact card in my server and I got sent a completely different one that will fit but has NONE of the same connectors as the old one. I can't plug the cable for the

 

drives or the stupid little weird wire into it, could I just buy adapters for the cables? If not I think I'm about done with this thing and I'll throw it in the "Crappy Dell" pile downstairs.

[Radium_Angel]

2 hours ago, herorareheart said:

could I just buy adapters for the cables?

Possibly...I'd have to see the connectors to be certain.

2 hours ago, herorareheart said:

If not I think I'm about done with this thing

If you do decide to do this, I'll buy some of the parts off you (RAM, drives, etc)

[HeroRareheart]

On 7/12/2019 at 10:59 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Possibly...I'd have to see the connectors to be certain.

If you do decide to do this, I'll buy some of the parts off you (RAM, drives, etc)

Alright I'll grab photos of the parts ASAP.

[geo3]

Is there an onboard SATA header? You could try removing the RAID card entirely and running off a normal SATA drive, at least as a diagnostic step. 

[DeaconFrost]

It's been my experience that desktop OSes don't run on legitimate server hardware as well as a Server OS.  If you search some forums, you can get legitimate Windows Server 2016 licenses for pretty cheap.  Or, go with a compatible Linux build.  Check that you are using the latest BIOS as well.