9207-8e shows 1 drive per cable

[m4jX]

I bought 2 used 9207-8e from a reputable reseller, they test their stuff before they sell it on.
Got 4 SAS to 4x SATA cables Mini SAS 26Pin SFF-8088 to 4x SATA 1m Adapter Kabel für LSI Avago SAS 9201-16e | eBay

Windows 10 Pro x64
FW Revision 20.00.07.00-IT on both of them.
In Device Manager, the cards show up as 2x "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2308 Mustang"

I can only access 1 drive per cable. If I turn off a drive and turn another on it works. But if I turn on more than 1 at a time, no drives show up. When booting with multiple drives turned on, the LSI bios only shows the first drive and windows keeps booting forever.

Tried different ports, different cables, different drives. Tried turning drives on/off while running windows, while booting windows, before booting windows. Tried unplugging and plugging cables while everything's running, using different ports, etc.
Since it's the same with both cards and different cables, I'm assuming it's not the hardware itself.

What can I do, what am I missing?

 

[mwroobel]

Sounds like you have a reverse breakout cable, and not a forward breakout cable (which is what you need)

 

[m4jX]

Sounds like you have a reverse breakout cable, and not a forward breakout cable (which is what you need)

Any way to physically see the difference or test it with something before I try to send them back? I knew about reverse cables, but most of these products got copy & paste descriptions, wouldn't be too surprising if they put the wrong description.

 

[mwroobel]

Unfortunately not. Get yourself a decent cable, to be sure it is the right one monoprice sells a forward breakout cable which is listed as such for just under $19, you can give that one a try.

 

[m4jX]

That one has a 8087 connector, I need a 8088 1m cable. (+ shipping to Germany is 40$ at monoprice).
Ordered this one https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B07M8F1MV7 , same issue. Gonna try this one next https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B07QLC9JGD same description as the other, but on YIWENTEC'S own website it says "This cable connects a to SFF-8088 Mini SAS Controller directly to 4 SATA drives" so here's hoping.

 

[mwroobel]

Well you have a 50-50 chance it will work The problem is that if the description doesn’t designate it as forward then the people who list it could misunderstand since they look the same from the outside.

 

[UhClem]

Sounds like you have a reverse breakout cable, and not a forward breakout cable (which is what you need)

IF it/they really are reverse cables, is that the expected behavior? (max of one connection)
Since a SAS port, and the connected cable, carries 4 physically separate Rx/Tx SAS/SATA connections [see SFF-8088 pinout], that seems odd.

In addition, while it's not impossible, I've never heard/seen a SFF-8088 reverse cable. (SFF-8087 sure).

Maybe the (end-) seller is reputable, but his supplier (or knock-off artist) is NOT; and seller's testing is only 25% thorough . [cf: (shyster phrase) plausible deniability]

Good luck OP. (research "counterfeit LSI adapters" to check yours out)

====
"You can fool some of the people some of the time -- and that's enough to make a decent living."
-- W.C. Fields

 

[toast0]

Could be amazon is mixing up the product too. I bought something and they sent the wrong thing three times; after that they wouldn't send a replacement.

 

[m4jX]

Same issue with the third cable. I'm getting the feeling it's not the cable. I wrote the seller on ebay a message asking what kinda cable it's supposed to be.

I'm gonna try reflashing the firmware in windows.

Should be just:
sas2flash.exe -c 0 -f "9207-8e.bin"

for the first one and:
sas2flash.exe -c 1 -f "9207-8e.bin"

for the second one, correct? Any other preparations/commands I should do?

 

[mwarps]

It's really odd to have an 8088 to drives... are you just keeping the drives sitting on the desk? Normally you have an 8088, to some sort of adapter, to 8087/drives forward breakout.

The way i'd do this is 8088 / 8088 straight cable to this: https://www.ebay.de/itm/233211961053
then 8087 / drives forward breakout.

 

[m4jX]

Seller from the first batch of cables responded, they are forward breakout cables. I haven't seen any 8088 reverse cables for sale at all, I think UhClem might be right, there might not be any reverse 8088 cables to begin with.

The drives are inside 3 of these https://www.fantec.de/produkte/serv...ukt/details/artikel/2338_fantec_snt_ba3151_1/ (not from this manufacturer, but the exact same thing) in their own tower.

Used to be 5 drives via SATA to 1 port multiplier (3 PMs total) -> eSATA cable to eSATA controller.

Now it's 4 drives via breakout cable (4 cables total) directly to SAS controller. Thought about doing 8087 cable -> an adapter like that -> 8088 cable. But that just adds 4 cables and 2 adapters I really don't need for an extra ~100€. Plus 1m is already short enough, most breakout cables seem to be 50cm, I'd need 25cm breakout and 75cm 8088 to not lose any length. Those don't seem that common, mostly seeing 50cm or 100cm breakout cables.

So if I'm reflashing the same FW, can I just use the commands I put up earlier, or do I need to erase first?

So is "sas2flash.exe -c 0 -f 9207-8e.bin" enough? Assuming the index "c" is the "Num" value of -listall? However, I might just go with pci adress instead. Do I need advanced mode -o?

Is this enough?
"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:17:00:00 -o -f 9207-8e.bin"
"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:b3:00:00 -o -f 9207-8e.bin"

Or do I need to erase memory and install the whole thing again like:

"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:17:00:00 -o -e 6"
"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:17:00:00 -o -f 9207-8e.bin -b mptsas2.rom"

"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:b3:00:00 -o -e 6"
"sas2flash.exe -cpci 00:b3:00:00 -o -f 9207-8e.bin -b mptsas2.rom"


Some guides use -e 7 to "Erase complete flash" instead of 6 to "Clean flash (erase everything except manufacturing area)"
I'm assuming 6 is enough. Is it?
I wanna delete the bios when I'm done, don't really need those extra few seconds of startup.

 

[m4jX]

Well... bought myself another pair of 9207-8e's, they had an old 15 FW, they recognized multiple drives immediately. Updated FW to current 20.00.07.00 and deleted bios, still works. Let's hope there are no problems from here on out.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Nobu]

You going mini-sas to sata? I got an 8643 cablecreation cable which works for me. Edit: Think the other end is 8087 as mentioned by others.

Nope, 8643 to sata: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B1IVEM2/

Edit2: nvm, missed the part where you already resolved the problem. XD

 

[UhClem]

Well... bought myself another pair of 9207-8e's, they had an old 15 FW, they recognized multiple drives immediately. ...

Good to hear. (Thanks for the follow-up.)
That indicates cables had been right/good all along; also that there had been no power supply anomalies in your tower/DAS, which could have explained the symptom, I can not envision that merely bad/wrong firmware in your original cards could explain it either. (My) conclusion: your original cards were fakes. What is under the heatsink? some cheapass 2-port sata chip? And, just who was the (reputable?) seller?
Truth is good.