SAS RAID Controller not working

[Frank-99]

I recently acquired a sas card but I can't figure out how to set it up properly!

 

I'm new to this and I naively started looking for some software, driver or utility to install, but later found a documentation pointing out the "ctlr+h" key combo at boot.

 

Problem is that when I try to do this (as shown in the picture below) right after it blinks "WebBIOS will be executed after POST complete", the screen turns black and it either reboots to windows or hangs indefinitely with the black screen doing nothing...

 

 

If WebBIOS means it needs netowrk (which I don't think) I'm connected through a working network card.

 

I've seen other SAS Controller cards with batteries and think it's just for protection in case of power loss, but mine in any case doesn't have it if even if I'm not sure it's the culprit...

 

This is my card:

It was advertised as "LSI 2208", and this is the Amazon link where I got it.

 

Unfortunately I had to wait around a month before trying it out as I had been busy at work and can't return it now, so I really hope I can manage it to make it work!

 

Thank you in advance

 

Edit:

In the boot screen picture it says there are 0 virtual drives, I'm not sure if it's related, but actually I have a SFF-8087 to 4 SATA cable connected to 4 drives, 2 of which have a windows software raid mirroring, and the other 2 are normal blank drives..

Edited March 4, 2021 by Frank-99
Extended description on setup of card

[Electronics Wizardy]

17 minutes ago, Frank-99 said:

2 of which have a windows software raid mirroring,

The raid card won't see or use these, all data will be lost when you set it up.

 

17 minutes ago, Frank-99 said:

n the boot screen picture it says there are 0 virtual drives

You need to manually setup virtual drives, so this makes sense

 

17 minutes ago, Frank-99 said:

roblem is that when I try to do this (as shown in the picture below) right after it blinks "WebBIOS will be executed after POST complete", the screen turns black and it either reboots to windows or hangs indefinitely with the black screen doing nothing...

 

Some boards don't like entering the bios config page. What board do you have? This is a much bigger issue for consumer boards.

 

Is this for bootable raid arrays? Id just use software raid in windows, it works much better.

[Frank-99]

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What board do you have?

gigabyte ga-970a-ds3p

 

If this is the problem, I have a second pc with the "msi x370 gaming pro carbon" board. Could I set the controller card on my second mobo if it's compatable with the second and not the first one, to then transplant the card? Would it keep the setup?

 

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Is this for bootable raid arrays?

No, just storage raid arrays, I have a ssd as my main boot drive.

 

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id just use software raid in windows, it works much better

I have no big problem using software raid as I don't use the processing power for anything else, the main issue is that I run out of sata ports and the card was ment to also extend my current capacity.. could I set the raid card to just read normal drives and not just virtual drives if I wanted to? So that in this case I could get the extra ports while not giving up the option for software raid.

[Electronics Wizardy]

25 minutes ago, Frank-99 said:

I have no big problem using software raid as I don't use the processing power for anything else, the main issue is that I run out of sata ports and the card was ment to also extend my current capacity.. could I set the raid card to just read normal drives and not just virtual drives if I wanted to? So that in this case I could get the extra ports while not giving up the option for software raid.

The software raid, esp for hdds won't use much cpu power at all. 

 

Id get a hba instead to add more drives, a raid card doesn't seem to make sense for your use, software raid works much better her.e

[Frank-99]

13 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The software raid, esp for hdds won't use much cpu power at all. 

 

Id get a hba instead to add more drives, a raid card doesn't seem to make sense for your use, software raid works much better her.e

I tried booting the card bios in all my sistems but it didn't work in any of them... There are similar cards advertised as both hba and raid controller capable, but I've read that I need to access the bios to configure them as just ports and not raid controller if it makes sense...

 

Are there any hbo cards that and are plug and play and have dual SFF-8087 ports?

I need these ports as I already have the cables and otherwise I'd need a ton of sata cables, plus with normal sata expansion cards I'd have too few connectors per card and I think also less bandwith as are all pcie x4 from what i saw...

And the plug and play thing is because I can't set them up through bios unfortunately as I said..

 

any suggestions on what to do or what card go for?

I don't have enough experience with these and wouldn't want to keep buying cards ubtill one finally works

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 hours ago, Frank-99 said:

I tried booting the card bios in all my sistems but it didn't work in any of them... There are similar cards advertised as both hba and raid controller capable, but I've read that I need to access the bios to configure them as just ports and not raid controller if it makes sense...

 

You don't need the boot menu to configure it, you can configure it in the os using their software.

 

2 hours ago, Frank-99 said:

Are there any hbo cards that and are plug and play and have dual SFF-8087 ports?

Here is a example https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dell-PERC-H200-IT-mode-6Gb-s-SAS-SATA-Controller-LSI-9211-From-US-Ship/192627137318?epid=1223070165&hash=item2cd978db26:g:xvYAAOSwbzNbF7MO

 

 

[Frank-99]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You don't need the boot menu to configure it, you can configure it in the os using their software.

My card didn't come with any software.. and looking online I found nothing useful or relevant, is it just for hba cards or should my card have such software too?

In that case, any idea on how I can get it?

I'd love to have an os utility but I just didn't manage to find anything that worked or installed properly..

But perhaps I'm just not informed enough to know what software to use, I tried searching with code and hardware id of my controller but I only found a japanese software that wont install, a lot of virus/fake downloads, and just plain dead ends...

 

Edit:

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Here is a example

Thabk you, I looked it up and I now know I have to look for "IT mode" cards!

 

Still wondering about the software tho..

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, Frank-99 said:

My card didn't come with any software.. and looking online I found nothing useful or relevant, is it just for hba cards or should my card have such software too?

In that case, any idea on how I can get it?

I'd love to have an os utility but I just didn't manage to find anything that worked or installed properly..

But perhaps I'm just not informed enough to know what software to use, I tried searching with code and hardware id of my controller but I only found a japanese software that wont install, a lot of virus/fake downloads, and just plain dead ends...

All the raid cards should have software to configure them in the os. Look up the software from the manafacture.

 

THat raid card you have looks like a 9261-8i, so look up software for it.

 

But id really return that card and get a hba, software raid will work much better here.

[Frank-99]

I've marked one of your replies as THE answare by mistake and not sure how to undo that.. especially because I'd prefer to mark one of the more recent messages for it

 

27 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

THat raid card you have looks like a 9261-8i, so look up software for it.

Thank you, I'll look into it..

(It didn't came to mind to look at the name in the startup configuration, but just on the card itself )

 

27 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

But id really return that card and get a hba

I will get a hba card in "IT mode", but unfortunately I got the time to try it only a few days after the limit for returning it as I've been quite busy untill now...

So I'm stuck keeping it as a lesson for the future to do better research, aske someone who knows before the fact, and test the stuff asap!

 

Thank you for all the help!

 

Edit:

I'm trying to see if I can flash my current controller with new "IT mode" firmware, if it works theoretically I don't have to buy a new card and can use mine with software raid..

Edited March 5, 2021 by Frank-99
Added extra info