G A L A X Y ® A U R O U R A L S C O N F I G U R A T I O N A N D S Y S T E M I N T E G R A T I O N G U I D E
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Section 4 Troubleshooting Guide
SATA/SAS (On-board):
We do use the on-board SAS/SATA controller(s) for our products.
Some of the motherboards we use have up to 3 independent controllers – each different
brands/models. Typically, on-board SATA is handled by the Intel ESB2 controller. If it fails, the
array won’t boot. Some other systems use Intel ICH-9R or ICH-10R RAID controllers. If the
system is booting from this controller, and it fails, the system won’t boot. Finally, some
systems have a on-board LSI controller. If the boot drive is connected to this and it fails, the
system won’t boot. You can test the bootup by moving the boot drive to another system. SATA
cables can also get damaged.
USB:
Typically, USB ports are used for installation, but sometimes are also used for a
keyboard or mouse. On some (rare) motherboards, the physical port used for the installation
matters – this is because some motherboards have multiple USB chips. Also the built-in port
enumerator might have a specific order for referencing the ports (Which is why from Linux,
some ports appear to work better than others). Here’s the problem with USB – it is delicate –
just as delicate as the SATA connectors on the motherboard. It is really easy to snap off the
plastic tab in the middle of the connector on the motherboard, so care must be taken when
inserting or removing devices.
PS/2:
While this is considered a legacy port, most motherboards still come with these
connectors. They are very high-priority, in terms of interrupt, and are controlled (usually) by an
Intel i8042 chip located somewhere on the motherboard. If this chip fails, both ports will go out.
CMOS/BIOS:
If the BIOS dies, the motherboard is useless. However, if something is set
incorrectly in the BIOS, it may prevent the array from operating properly. Motherboards with
on-board RAID controllers may also have additional BIOSes for those – even a bootable
Ethernet port might have it’s own BIOS.
