Troubleshooting

Some operating systems do not load in a system with a PERC 4 adapter.

• Check the system basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration for PCI interrupt assignments. Make sure a unique interrupt is assigned for PERC 4. Initialize the logical drive before installing the operating system.

One of the hard drives in the array fails often.

• Check the SCSI cables.
  
  
• Check the drive error counts.
  
  
• Format the drive.
  
  
• Rebuild the drive.
  
  
• If the drive continues to fail, replace the drive with another drive of the same capacity.

If the drives are not the same size, the array uses the size of the smallest drive and the same amount of space on the other drives to construct the arrays. The larger hard drives are truncated.

After pressing <Ctrl><M> during bootup and trying to make a new configuration, the system hangs when scanning devices.

• Check the drives IDs on each channel to make sure each device has a different ID.
  
  
• Check to make sure an internal connection and external connection are not occupying the same channel.
  
  
• Check the termination. The device at the end of the channel must be terminated.
  
  
• Replace the drive cable.

Multiple drives connected to PERC 4 using the same power supply. There is a problem spinning the drives all at once.

• Set the drives to spin on command. This allows PERC 4 to spin two devices simultaneously.

Pressing <Ctrl><M> does not display a menu.

• These utilities require a color monitor.

At system power-up with the PERC 4 installed, the PERC 4 BIOS banner display is garbled or does not appear at all.

• PERC 4 cache memory may be defective or missing.

Cannot flash or update the EEPROM.

• Contact Dell™ support for assistance.

Firmware Initializing...

appears and remains on the screen.

• Make sure that TERMPWR is being properly provided to each peripheral device populated channel.
  
  
• Make sure that each end of the SCSI channel chain is properly terminated using the recommended terminator type for the peripheral device. The channel is automatically terminated at the PERC 4 controller if only one cable is connected to a channel.
  
  
• Make sure that the PERC 4 controller is properly seated in the PCI slot.

Adapter BIOS Disabled. No Logical Drives Handled by BIOS

The PERC 4 BIOS is disabled. Sometimes the BIOS is disabled to prevent booting from the BIOS. This is the default when cluster mode is enabled.

• Enable the BIOS by pressing <Ctrl><M> at the boot prompt to run the BIOS Configuration Utility.

Host Adapter at Baseport xxxx Not Responding

The BIOS cannot communicate with the adapter firmware.

• Make sure the PERC 4 controller is properly installed.
  
  
• Check SCSI termination and cables.

No PERC 4 Adapter

The BIOS cannot communicate with the adapter firmware.

• Make sure the PERC 4 controller is properly installed.

Configuration of NVRAM and drives mismatch. Run View/Add Configuration option of PERC 4 BIOS Configuration Utility.

Press any key to run the Configuration Utility.

The configuration stored on the RAID controller does not match the configuration stored on the drives.

• When prompted, press <Ctrl><M> to run the BIOS Configuration Utility.
  
  
• Select Configure—> View/Add Configuration to examine both the configuration in non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) and the configuration stored on the hard drives.
  
  
• Resolve the problem by selecting one of the configurations.

Unresolved configuration mismatch between disks and NVRAM on the adapter after creating a new configuration

Some legacy configurations in the drives cannot be cleared.

• Clear the configuration.
  
  
• Low level format the related drives and re-create the configuration.

1 Logical Drive Failed

A logical drive failed to sign on.

• Make sure all physical drives are properly connected and are powered on.
  
  
• Run the BIOS Configuration Utility to find out whether any physical drives are not responding.
  
  
• Reconnect, replace, or rebuild any drive that is not responding.

X Logical Drives Degraded

X number of logical drives signed on in a degraded state.

• Make sure all physical drives are properly connected and are powered on.
  
  
• Run the BIOS Configuration Utility to find whether any physical drives are not responding.
  
  
• Reconnect, replace, or rebuild a drive that is not responding.

1 Logical Drive Degraded

A logical drive signed on in a degraded state.

• Make sure all physical drives are properly connected and are powered on.
  
  
• Run a RAID utility to find out if any physical drives are not responding.
  
  
• Reconnect, replace, or rebuild any drive that is not responding.

Insufficient memory to run BIOS Press any key to continue...

Not enough PERC 4 memory to run PERC 4 BIOS

• Make sure PERC 4 cache memory has been properly installed.

Insufficient Memory

Not enough memory on the PERC 4 adapter to support the current configuration.

• Make sure PERC 4 cache memory has been properly installed.

The following SCSI IDs are not responding:
Channel x:a.b.c

The physical drives with SCSI IDs a, b, and c are not responding on SCSI channel x.

• Make sure the physical drives are properly connected and are powered on.

Following SCSI disk not found and no empty slot available for mapping it

The physical disk roaming feature did not find the physical disk with the displayed SCSI ID. No slot is available to map the physical drive and the RAID controller cannot resolve the physical drives into the current configuration.

• Reconfigure the array.

Following SCSI IDs have the same data y, z
Channel x: a, b, c

The physical drive roaming feature found the same data on two or more physical drives on channel x with SCSI IDs a, b, and c. The RAID controller cannot determine the drive that has the duplicate information.

• Remove the drive or drives that should not be used.

Unresolved configuration mismatch between disks and NVRAM on the adapter

The RAID controller is unable to determine the proper configuration after reading both NVRAM and Configuration on Disk

• Press <Ctrl><M> to run the BIOS Configuration Utility.
  
  
• Select Configure—> New Configuration to create a new configuration.
  

NOTE: Note that this will delete any configuration that existed.

Physical drive errors

To display the BIOS Configuration Utility Media Error and Other Error options, press <F2> after selecting a physical drive under the Physical Drive menu, selected from the Objects menu.

A Media Error is an error that occurred while actually transferring data.

An Other Error is an error that occurs at the hardware level, such as a device failure, poor cabling, bad termination, or signal loss.

Online volume extension (virtual sizing)

The online volume extension option (known as FlexRAID Virtual Sizing in the BIOS Configuration Utility) allows the controller to determine drive capacity. You can use the drive space of a hard drive that was added to a drive array without having to reboot the system. Online volume extension must be enabled to increase the size of a logical drive or add a physical drive to an existing logical drive. Perform the following steps to enable virtual sizing.

1. Run the BIOS Configuration Utility by pressing <Ctrl><M> to enable online volume extension (virtual sizing).
   
   
2. Select Objects—> Logical Drive—> View/Update Parameters.
   
   
3. Set FlexRAID Virtual Sizing to Enabled.

PERC 4 power requirements

The maximum PERC 4 power requirements are 15 watts at 5V and 3 Amps.

Windows NT does not detect the PERC 4.

Refer to the PERC 4 RAID Controller Operating System Driver Installation Guide for the section about Windows NT driver installation.

Three seconds on and one second off

A logical drive is offline.

One or more drives in a RAID 0 configuration failed.

Two or more drives in a RAID 1 or 5 configuration failed.

One second on and one second off

A logical drive is running in degraded mode.

One drive in a RAID 5 configuration failed.

One second on and three seconds off

An automatically initiated rebuild has been completed.

While you were away from the system, a hard drive in a RAID 1 or 5 configuration failed and was rebuilt.