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[Kamilion <Kamilion@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just a note; I've got a lot of experience with the 1068E controller.
Make sure you're running a recent firmware.

I have 1.33.00, "Phase 21", flashed on most of my 1068Es of various
vendor brands.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.0

Versions at Phase 20 (1.32.00 and below) had significant issues while
negotiating link speeds for me, I could either get everything running
fine at 1.5/3Gbit and all the drives worked, or I would get 6Gbit and
all the older drives would be missing.

I believe the latest dell-branded firmware is:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=8R2N4&fileId=3098294144&osCode=LNUX&productCode=poweredge-r300&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SF

Unfortunately, it seems to come only as an .exe, but I didn't try to
download it.

I've got two 1068Es paired up with HP SAS Expanders:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-468406-B21-Sas-Expander-Card/dp/B0025ZQ16K
At one point I tried to connect I think about 60 drives (If I recall correctly, I got up to /dev/sdbd)

Getting that working properly was another firmware hassle story
involving purchasing a used HP server just to flash it; but I won't bore
you with it in a LP bug# comment.

But still -- out of date firmware can lead to wacky results.
Good luck convincing Kay to raise the udev timeout from 30sec!

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You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel
Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1276705

Title:
  Kernel 3.13 fail to boot with LSI SAS1068E (Dell SAS 6/iR)

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “linux” source package in Trusty:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  We have recently upgraded an Dell R300 server to Trusty (was running
  fine in precise), and after upgrade it fail to boot.

  It is an issue with the SAS controller during the initilisation. It
  fail to detect the disk, we have the following error in console log:

  [   36.539955] scsi4: error handler thread failed to spawn, error = -12
  [   36.552694] mptsas: ioc0: WARNING - Unable to register controller with SCSI subsystem

  After this error, initramfs drop to a shell complaining that rootfs is
  not found. No disk is seen at all (cat /proc/partition only show sr0 -
  cdrom drive).

  We have this issue with two different server (both R300, both Dell SAS
  6/iR controller and same hardware).

  We don't have this issue with another Dell server (R310, Dell PERC
  H200).

  We also tester with old kernel (generic, 3.2.0-58.88), it is working.

  Those server need a greater rootdelay (probably #579572), so we have
  rootdelay=45. If we remove rootdelay=45, then disk are correctly
  recognized ! (but few second too late, initramfs dropped to a shell.
  Pressing control-D resume normal boot)

  So the issue is that with the (mandatory) rootdelay greater that 30
  (default value I think), the disk are not detected due to the error
  shown above. This is a regression since those server worked in precise
  (and work with precise old kernel).

  
  System information

  * Dell R300 with Dell SAS 6/iR controller
  * Ubuntu Trusty Tahr (14.04)
  * Running arch: x86_64
  * Kernel version: 3.13.0-7-generic  (dpkg version : 3.13.0-7.25)
  * Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.13.0-7-generic root=UUID=174e14b5-46fc-479b-9f94-05cb33c75ac9 ro rootdelay=45 console=tty0 console=ttyS1,57600 quiet
  * uname -a: Linux frtls-perf01 3.13.0-7-generic #25-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 4 10:19:12 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

  
  Attached files:

  * console output when error occure.
  * dmesg when system boot (no rootdelay, need to press control-d during initramfs boot)
  * lspci -vnn

  
  Tell me if you need more informations.

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