sun 450 and disk problem 3

[antonioelderprado]

HI,

I have a 450 that i put to disks in it (open the front the door and just plug in).

I did reset the machine, and I noticed that there is no light indicator on the disk (those small green lights - lateral to disk).

If I do a probe-scsi-all those two new disks do not show up.

I did also the boot -r and on format does not show the new disks.

can anybody give me some clues on what is going on.

thank you

./antonio/.

./antonio elder prado/.
.\mountain view, ca\.
./bauru, sao paulo/.

 

[coffeysm]

Are they properly lined in the bays? Some of the machines I have seen were just not placed in correctly.

 

[antonioelderprado]

Coffeysm,

I removed the disks several times and put back in. strange, because four disks that were there previously are all fine;
thank you

./antonio/.

./antonio elder prado/.
.\mountain view, ca\.
./bauru, sao paulo/.

 

[SamBones]

Not all drives are created equal! Are these new drives the same manufacturer and model as the ones currently in the machine? If not, you need to check the documentation on the E450 and see if these drives are compatible. The E450 documentation can be found at Sun E450 Docs.

Also, with the drives out, do you see an SCA connector in the back that the drive would be plugging into? Not all E450's have all of the connectors. I've seen a few that have open slots, but no connectors at the back. This would explain the "no green light" symptom. There's a connector at the back of the drive that needs to plug into a connector at the back of the slot.

Last, do these disks work in another machine? Can you confirm that they are good disks? They could just be dead disks.

Beyond that, I'd have to see it in person.

Hope this helps.

 

[daFranze]

some e450 do not have a backplane wiring, there is no controller installed to drive these disks!? Shut down host, open the door, remove a disk (which does not work) and compare the backplane connectors with the one of a disk, that does work... guessing this is the problem...
Count the PCI-SCSI Cards, afaik 8 disks are on one controller, if you want to install 20 Disks you will need 3 PCI-Controller cards...
If you are not sure open the e450's side cover (when you close the cover tace care, there are some microswitches, if you do not close the cover 100% proper the powersupplies won't start up) and check if there is a backplane installed.

BTW: probe-scsi-all should only be performed if you did the following

init 0 or halt the host
ok [b]setenv auto-boot? false[/b]
ok [b]reset[/b] 
or ok [b]reset-all[/b]
depending on the OBP Version/Host
ok [b]probe-scsi-all[/b]
ok [b]setenv auto-boot? [i]youroldvalue[/i][/b]

installing a backplane for 8 Disks is quite easy, if you know what to do, so if it is the first time I suggest to get a technican from Sun Service and "look over his sholder"; guessing the technican can make it in about 1/2 hour...



Best Regards, Franz
--
Solaris System Manager from Munich, Germany
I used to work for Sun Microsystems Support (EMEA) for 5 years

 

[antonioelderprado]

SamBones,

I did look in the back of disks, they are similar to what I have and works. What I didn't do (will do tonight) is to plug those new disks into another machine to see if they work or not.
I will go over the docs, thank you for the link
I will check this, and post the result.


thank you for your help.

./antonio/.


===


daFranze

yes, I did those setenv auto-boot false before doing the probe-scsi all and still doesn't see the new disks. Tonight I will open the machine (I remember opening that beast before and gave me a hell to make it work again, and all because of not being properly closed... gives me the jitters just to think about that...). I will let you know how did it goes.

thank you

./antonio/.

./antonio elder prado/.
.\mountain view, ca\.
./bauru, sao paulo/.