Dell PowerEdge r720 doesn't detect my SSDs

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, joelleung said:

Boot from USB or network? how would I do that? It sounds like the most promising option now since I can't afford a new raid controller

Do you have a usb stick? Put a os on there and you can boot from it. network requires a pxe boot server.

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you have a usb stick? Put a os on there and you can boot from it. network requires a pxe boot server.

Yes I do, but don't I need another bootable drive to install an OS on it? Which wouldn't really be a problem as I have more than 1 USB stick, but how would I put an OS on it?
Also whats a pxe boot server? Apologies for my limited knowledge 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, joelleung said:

Yes I do, but don't I need another bootable drive to install an OS on it? Which wouldn't really be a problem as I have more than 1 USB stick, but how would I put an OS on it?
Also whats a pxe boot server? Apologies for my limited knowledge 

Put a linux live distro on the usb stick then you can play around on there.

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Put a linux live distro on the usb stick then you can play around on there.

Woah, what is that?

[joelleung]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Put a linux live distro on the usb stick then you can play around on there.

Also yeah, I have a hard disk sitting around too, could I plug that in the USB port and boot from there if I manage to get an OS installed on it?

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 hours ago, joelleung said:

Also yeah, I have a hard disk sitting around too, could I plug that in the USB port and boot from there if I manage to get an OS installed on it?

you need to configure a raid array before you can use any hdd.

[joelleung]

5 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you need to configure a raid array before you can use any hdd.

but from USB though, not the disk bays, is that possible? the same way you said I could boot from a USB stick

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, joelleung said:

but from USB though, not the disk bays, is that possible? the same way you said I could boot from a USB stick

You can use the usb ports as you like, no raid card needed. 

 

You need to make a raid array before using the hdds.

 

are you sure your drives are plugged in right? Try some different ones. You need them to appear in that menu at bootup to use them. 

[joelleung]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can use the usb ports as you like, no raid card needed. 

 

You need to make a raid array before using the hdds.

 

are you sure your drives are plugged in right? Try some different ones. You need them to appear in that menu at bootup to use them. 

Yea, I'm quite sure the drives are plugged in right because they used to work before, but I've still yet to check out each drive individually to see if they work. 

 

Also if USB connected storage mediums work then I think I'll boot from that

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 hours ago, joelleung said:

Yea, I'm quite sure the drives are plugged in right because they used to work before, but I've still yet to check out each drive individually to see if they work. 

 

Also if USB connected storage mediums work then I think I'll boot from that

Does the drive led turn on on the front?

 

 

[joelleung]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Does the drive led turn on on the front?

 

 

From what I last observed, I think it blinks once during start and doesn't turn on for the rest of the time that the server is on

[joelleung]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Does the drive led turn on on the front?

 

 

Just double checked, it only blinks once immediately after the system starts booting and never turns on afterwards

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, joelleung said:

Just double checked, it only blinks once immediately after the system starts booting and never turns on afterwards

Do you have anouther drive to cheap? Sometimes those servers are locked to dell branded drives.

 

 

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you have anouther drive to cheap? Sometimes those servers are locked to dell branded drives.

 

 

Another drive meaning storage mediums like SSDs or hard disks? in that case then no, not really... but keep in mind, they have worked before when linux was running on this server years ago

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, joelleung said:

Another drive meaning storage mediums like SSDs or hard disks? in that case then no, not really... but keep in mind, they have worked before when linux was running on this server years ago

with these exact drives? 

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

with these exact drives? 

Yup, same samsung 750 Evos

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, joelleung said:

Yup, same samsung 750 Evos

could be a failing raid card or some other connection issue. Not much I can do to help from here.

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

with these exact drives? 

Which is why I strongly believe that the raid controller is dead, I won't get confirmation until further testing which I can't do because I don't have the apparatus

I was thinking of testing each drives individually using an SSD enclosure and plug it into my own computer to see if it detects the drive, which if all of the drives can be detected it leaves them out of the problem, meaning that the raid controller can be the only thing wrong with the server (although I hope not because it is expensive as hell)

[joelleung]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

could be a failing raid card or some other connection issue. Not much I can do to help from here.

I see... well I'll try reseating and reconnecting the cables tomorrow morning and check if things still work, although I believe the cabling shouldn't be the problem because the drives did blink once at startup

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, joelleung said:

I see... well I'll try reseating and reconnecting the cables tomorrow morning and check if things still work, although I believe the cabling shouldn't be the problem because the drives did blink once at startup

often all the drive bays blink once at boot, since there is no light on after that there is something wrong.

[joelleung]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

often all the drive bays blink once at boot, since there is no light on after that there is something wrong.

But anything could be wrong along the path of how the drives connect to the whatever it connects to right? If so then I am not 100% certain that the drives are at fault, it could be the cables, or the raid card, or the connection between the raid card and it's socket

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, joelleung said:

But anything could be wrong along the path of how the drives connect to the whatever it connects to right? If so then I am not 100% certain that the drives are at fault, it could be the cables, or the raid card, or the connection between the raid card and it's socket

check the drives and replug all the cables. 

 

You can put those raid cards in anouther pc to try aswell.

[joelleung]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

check the drives and replug all the cables. 

 

You can put those raid cards in anouther pc to try aswell.

Put the raid card in another PC? I didn't know PCs could accept raid cards, I thought it was servers only... I'm dumb

Where would I plug it into though on a PC?

[joelleung]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

check the drives and replug all the cables. 

 

You can put those raid cards in anouther pc to try aswell.

And would it mean I need at least 2 drives in said PC as well?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, joelleung said:

Put the raid card in another PC? I didn't know PCs could accept raid cards, I thought it was servers only... I'm dumb

Where would I plug it into though on a PC?

It goes into a pcie slot.