10
Solving Problems
This chapter provides basic troubleshooting information and solutions for solving controller problems.
Troubleshooting Checklist
If you encounter difficulties installing or using your Adaptec RAID controller, check these items first:
• With your computer powered off, check the connections to each disk drive, power supply, LED
connector, and so on.
Try disconnecting and reconnecting disk drives from the Adaptec RAID controller.
• Check that your Adaptec RAID controller is installed in a compatible PCIe expansion slot. To
double-check the bus compatibility of your controller, see
About Your RAID Controller
on page 17.
• Ensure that your Adaptec RAID controller is firmly seated and secured in the PCIe expansion slot.
• If your Adaptec RAID controller is not detected during system boot, try installing it in a different
compatible expansion slot. (See
Installing the Controller
on page 36 for instructions.)
• Did the driver install correctly?
• If you have external disk drives (or other devices), are they powered on?
• Check the Readme on the installation DVD for compatibility issues and known problems.
If you are still unable to resolve a problem, you can find additional troubleshooting information and
direction on the Adaptec Web site at
www.adaptec.com
or the Support Knowledgebase at
ask.adaptec.com
.
Monitoring Disk Drives Status
You can use the ‘blink’ feature in maxView Storage Manager to monitor the status of your SAS and SATA
disk drives. When you blink a specific disk drive or set of disk drives, the LED(s) on the selected disk
drives flash.
This table describes the LED flash states.
LED Flash State
Slot State
Controller Device State
On
Device is faulty
Failed
Slow flash
Device is rebuilding
Rebuilding
Fast flash
Identify the device
Blink
Off
No error
Other
For more information about using maxView Storage Manager to monitor your disk drives, refer to the
maxView Storage Manager User’s Guide or the online Help.
Silencing the Alarm
If your Adaptec RAID controller includes an alarm, the alarm will sound when an error occurs. To silence
the alarm, use maxView Storage Manager (see
Managing Your Storage Space
on page 64.) OR the ARC
utility (see
Modifying Your Controller’s Configuration
on page 87.)
Recovering from a Disk Drive Failure
This section explains how to recover when a disk drive or SSD fails:
• If the array was protected by a hot spare, see
Failed Disk Drive Protected by a Hot Spare
on page
67.
• If the array was not protected by a hot spare, see
Failed Disk Drive Not Protected by a Hot Spare
on
page 67.
• If there is a disk drive failure in more than one array simultaneously, see
Failure in Multiple Arrays
Simultaneously
on page 67.
66
Proprietary and Confidential to PMC-Sierra, Inc.
Document No.: CDP-00277-02-A Rev. A, Issue:
Serial Attached SCSI RAID Controllers Installation and User's Guide