[OpenIndiana-discuss] 2 small Qs about Sata controllers

[Robin Axelsson]

On 2011-02-20 10:21, Alexander Lesle wrote:
> Hello Robin Axelsson and List,
>
> On Februar, 20 2011, 00:15<Robin Axelsson>  wrote in [1]:
>
>> On 2011-02-19 19:26, Alexander Lesle wrote:
>>> Hello Robin Axelsson,
>>>
>>> am Samstag, 19. Februar 2011 um 02:14 hat<Robin Axelsson>   u.a.
>>> in mid:4D5F197C.4060608 at student.chalmers.se geschrieben:
>>>> I would recommend that you choose a motherboard with more PCIe x16 slots
>>>> (unless you are absolutely sure that you won't need more in the future).
>>>> Then you could get an LSI 1068e based SAS/SATA controller (that uses
>>>> PCIe x8 which fits into a PCIe x16 but not x4 or less) which allows you
>>>> to connect 8 drives to it.
>>> I can not confirm that the LSI 1068e HBA runs with this Motherboard
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655
>>> ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX
>>>
>>> But I can confirm that the new LSI HBA SAS 9211-8i
>>> http://store.lsi.com/index.cfm?category=17&subcategory=24&productid=LSI00194
>>> do _not_ run with this Board.
>>> LSI support tells me that the Asus PCIe x16 is programmed by BIOS only
>>> for graphic cards.
>>> Asus support send me a modified BIOS but the HBA is not running.
>>>
>>> I have the same problems with a asrock board.
>>>
>>> Now I have bought a Supermicro Board and all rocks fine.
>>> http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/#1156
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182212&cm_re=supermicro_x8sil-_-13-182-212-_-Product
>>> Wow its cheaper than the Asus.
>>>
>> Wow, I never heard before that there was such a problem with
>> motherboards.
> http://kb.lsi.com/KnowledgebaseArticle15591.aspx?Keywords=15591
>
>> The motherboards I have tried my LSI SAS 3081E-R are
>> GIgabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5 and MSI 790FX-GD70 and it runs fine on both of
>> them. I recently got an MSI 890FX-GD70 and although I have not tried I
>> can't imagine that there would be a problem to fit such a card into one
>> of its x16 slots. From what you told me it looks like I should stay away
>> from Asus and ASRock's motherboards (ASUS and ASRock are pretty much the
>> same company but I guess you already know that).
>> I hope you give them a hard time on the phone, make them regret that
>> they have released such a motherboard ;)
> Thats fine for you. Asus and Asrock are the same company? Ok fine,
> thats new for me. I have no problems with this company.
> I told here my experience with this board and this HBA card.
>

I beg to differ; if you buy from a company a product that doesn't work 
and they don't solve the problem then you _do_ have a problem with that 
company. Motherboard vendors are notorious for their poor customer 
service and while they give you a checklist (if you are lucky enough to 
get in touch with them) asking questions that are irrelevant to the 
problem (such as is the card inserted properly? Are the power cables 
properly connected? Do you use latest firmware? ...) they are very 
reluctant to actually fix the problem. That is my experience with 
motherboard vendors such as Asus, Gigabyte and MSI.