eSata card issues

Jim Jensen · November 21, 2011, 02:40:05 PM

Finally got around to installing the eSATA card I picked up for my IOSafe drive. It doesn't want to work, the little scallywag. Inserted into a PCI Express slot, started the server (SBS2003) and it did not discover the card automatically. Manually installed it, restarted again - now says it cannot start. Shut it down, moved to a different slot (which also means re-seating it), same result. Deleted it from the hardware profile, tried to add new hardware and it didn't see it. Manual installation again, using a different driver, same result. Also checked to make sure the jumpers are correctly set for the external connector rather than internal. Drive is and has been running on USB instead, but annoyed that I can't get eSATA card to work.

It's from StarTech, a PEXESATA1. Tried to search on solutions and couldn't find any.

Mark · November 21, 2011, 02:45:14 PM

Are you trying to install the card with or without the drive plugged into it?

Jim Jensen · November 21, 2011, 02:50:02 PM

Quote from: Mark on November 21, 2011, 02:45:14 PM
Are you trying to install the card with or without the drive plugged into it?

nothing plugged into it.

Mark · November 21, 2011, 02:50:42 PM

hmm.. that's how I would have installed it, too.

Mark · November 21, 2011, 02:54:17 PM

And you definitely have PCIe slots - right?

Jim Jensen · November 21, 2011, 02:57:18 PM

Quote from: Mark on November 21, 2011, 02:54:17 PM
And you definitely have PCIe slots - right?

Yep - 4 of 'em in fact.

Mark · November 21, 2011, 03:03:56 PM

Does the card have a switch on it like an ID selector?

Jim Jensen · November 21, 2011, 03:07:29 PM

Quote from: Mark on November 21, 2011, 03:03:56 PM
Does the card have a switch on it like an ID selector?

No, in fact reviews of it slammed them for not using a switch and having old jumper pins instead (not that the "manual" mentions them).

Mark · November 21, 2011, 03:08:47 PM

Great -- have you tried a different ID? I would. If that doesn't work, maybe it's a bad card and needs to be replaced.

Jeff Zylstra · November 21, 2011, 03:14:55 PM

Have you removed the card and rebooted without it? I believe I had to let the machine recognize that there was no card there before I could get mine to reinstall correctly. It seems like I had trouble with manually removing and installing it, as it wasn't completing the process and must have been leaving traces of the bad installation.

Jim Jensen · November 21, 2011, 03:27:49 PM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on November 21, 2011, 03:14:55 PM
Have you removed the card and rebooted without it? I believe I had to let the machine recognize that there was no card there before I could get mine to reinstall correctly. It seems like I had trouble with manually removing and installing it, as it wasn't completing the process and must have been leaving traces of the bad installation.

Not yet - will try. Such a pain taking the server down multiple times.

Jeff Zylstra · November 21, 2011, 04:03:05 PM

Quote from: Jim Jensen on November 21, 2011, 03:27:49 PM
Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on November 21, 2011, 03:14:55 PM
Have you removed the card and rebooted without it? I believe I had to let the machine recognize that there was no card there before I could get mine to reinstall correctly. It seems like I had trouble with manually removing and installing it, as it wasn't completing the process and must have been leaving traces of the bad installation.

Not yet - will try. Such a pain taking the server down multiple times.

Yes, it may be a late night. Make sure you let it go all the way through the "discover new hardware" process before you shut it down. Sorry and good luck with it. It is worth it when it works though.

Jim Jensen · November 22, 2011, 09:05:55 AM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on November 21, 2011, 03:14:55 PM
Have you removed the card and rebooted without it? I believe I had to let the machine recognize that there was no card there before I could get mine to reinstall correctly. It seems like I had trouble with manually removing and installing it, as it wasn't completing the process and must have been leaving traces of the bad installation.

Performed it this morning. Oddly, when I removed the card and booted, Found New Hardware activated. Didn't follow through at all on it since I was going down immediately again. Put the card back in, started up. No Found New Hardware, nothing different than before. Still shows it didn't start. Deleted the item from the Hardware Profile for now. Need to get other work done. Will attempt a restart later to see if it finds it or not.

Jeff Zylstra · November 22, 2011, 10:50:34 AM

You'll need to let it go through the entire "found new hardware" process and let it find "nothing" and end normally. I remember this being a horribly redundant time wasting process with multiple reboots, but it was the only thing that worked for me.

Jim Jensen · November 22, 2011, 04:35:53 PM

Well, I give up. Either the card is trash or it's just not going to get working correctly. I went through Add New Hardware process and it wouldn't find it, but getting to the end wasn't much use as I ended up with manual selection as the only choice since it didn't find anything. The manual list still showed the installed drivers, which didn't do any good. So, I deleted it from the hardware profile and uninstalled the driver. Reset and went through the discovery process again. It didn't find it and ended up in the end with manual installation as the only choice. It did see one of the drivers still since the CD was still in the drive. It ended in the same fashion, 'installed', but unable to start.

The drive is running through USB, so I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with that until I replace the server sometime and the new one has a factory eSATA. The workstation I just ordered has one (not that it's a lot of use there).

Jeff Zylstra · November 22, 2011, 05:17:31 PM

Interesting, and sorry to hear that. I'm using the same card from Star Tech in my Dell R710 running Server 2008 R2, so I'm wondering what kind of hardware you're running? I think that I used the drivers off from the CD, but don't remember now, since it's been a while. I'm wondering now if you have a bad card or something.

Jim Jensen · November 22, 2011, 05:29:36 PM

It's a Dell PowerEdge 1900, running SBS2003. Perhaps the age of SBS2003 could be an issue? The server is 4 years old, with extended warrarnty purchased on it. Not too terribly old.

Gene Foraker · November 23, 2011, 10:23:27 AM

Maybe a bios upgrade for the mobo?

Jim Jensen · November 23, 2011, 10:38:04 AM

I pulled the card and will try it my workstation next, just to check to see if it sees it and can use it. That should at least tell me if it's the card or the installation process/BIOS or whatever else.

Jeff Zylstra · November 23, 2011, 10:42:37 AM

Quote from: Gene Foraker on November 23, 2011, 10:23:27 AM
Maybe a bios upgrade for the mobo?

An excellent suggestion. I had forgotten that Dell had to put a new Mobo in my server, so I'm going to assume that the on-site tech upgraded bios at the same time. That may or may not have changed my outcome, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Mark · November 23, 2011, 10:43:52 AM

Quote from: Gene Foraker on November 23, 2011, 10:23:27 AM
Maybe a bios upgrade for the mobo?

Good call. You might want to at least look it up and see if there is a newer version than what you have. Also, read the changelog to see if it mentions anything remotely related.

Jim Jensen · November 23, 2011, 10:46:20 AM

Quote from: Mark on November 23, 2011, 10:43:52 AM
Quote from: Gene Foraker on November 23, 2011, 10:23:27 AM
Maybe a bios upgrade for the mobo?

Good call. You might want to at least look it up and see if there is a newer version than what you have. Also, read the changelog to see if it mentions anything remotely related.

Where do I find this changelog (change.log?) ?

Mark · November 23, 2011, 10:56:23 AM

Quote from: Jim Jensen on November 23, 2011, 10:46:20 AM
Where do I find this changelog (change.log?) ?

Should be with or near the download link for the latest bios. It's just called the Change Log and is a log of what was changed in each version. I bungled the words together, sorry. lol

Jeff Zylstra · November 23, 2011, 10:57:34 AM

I think that Mark is referring to the "readme" type file that should be posted on the webpage along with the BIOS. The file should describe what has been updated or fixed in the new BIOS.

Mark · November 23, 2011, 11:11:46 AM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on November 23, 2011, 10:57:34 AM
I think that Mark is referring to the "readme" type file that should be posted on the webpage along with the BIOS. The file should describe what has been updated or fixed in the new BIOS.

Yes. AKA, the "change log". Everyone calls it somethign different and oftentimes it's a section of the readme.

Jim Jensen · November 23, 2011, 01:49:41 PM

Ah, I was thinking of a log file on the server, concerning changes to hardware that might show something I hadn't seen elsewhere. This makes sense, too.