Workstation won't boot with RAID controller installed.

Decius

I have an old HP xw4400 workstation I want to turn into a file and printer server for my network. It's the standard config for a RB362UT, save for the fact that two additional 1GB strips of DD2-5300 ECC RAM have been added for a total of 4GB. I have too many drives for the onboard Intel RAID controller, so I've opted to use a 3ware 9590SE-8ML I bought from a friend.

The problem is I'm having the damnedest getting the system to boot with the controller installed. I've tried everything I can think of, and scoured the internet, but just can't get this config to work. So I turn to you in the hopes that maybe I've missed something. The system boots just fine without the controller card in the second PCIe x16 slot on the board (the first being occupied by a video card). However when you install the RAID controller, the machine will turn on but no image will be displayed on the screen and the CPU fan will remain spinning at full speed without spinning down. It does this with both an ATI and NVIDIA video card. Thinking it was a problem with the RAID BIOS not being downloaded, I've disabled the Intel RAID controller and AHCI. It's running in IDE emulation. I've flashed the BIOS on the machine, and the firmware on the 3ware is up to date. I even removed the RAM while having the 3ware RAID controller installed, and it produces a POST code consistent with there not being any RAM installed. When you try to put in RAM one at a time it doesn't POST as before.

Now I also have an HP dc7800p desktop (GQ644AW), and the controller works fine in that machine. It works fine whether I have the Intel RAID controller enabled or disabled and running in IDE emulation mode. It boots up without issue. I could just use that system. It does have onboard video, making it less of a power suck. However I want to use the xw4400 since it supports ECC RAM. The admin in me is going server = ECC RAM.

So what the hell is going on? Have I missed something? Also do I really need ECC RAM for a home media/file/print server?

Apothe0sis

I've just been through something where some RAID controllers can't handle it when other, controllers also exist.

ECC RAM for a home media/file/print server? I say no. I deem it highly unlikely that the use profile mandates the reliability-even-on-failure that ECC brings. You're running at home, not a data center.

Decius

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the need for. I wanted to make sure I didn't loose any pictures or anything, but in the end a good backup solution can mitigate that just as well.

Decius

And to add insult to injury, the Supermicro SATA/SAS backplane I bought doesn't physically fit into the dc7800p. Guess I get to build a file server from scratch. Oh well, nothing to see here. This thread can be closed.

Apothe0sis

Would you be particularly likely to lose photos if the RAM failed? Unless you're specifically in the process of transferring or writing the files it seems unlikely that the error checking would have a huge effect on data reliability - that's going to be all RAID and backup related.

Unless my knowledge of ECC memory is degraded...

Decius

No that's quite correct. It only affects stuff in transit through the RAM. Most of this will be static storage with maybe two or three systems accessing simultaneously. The only stretch in performance it'll see is at the occasional LAN party every few months.

Basically I wanted ECC because I could, but with the problems I was having I just wanted to know if I should. Those problems have made the decision for me. Thanks for your help though.