S2600STB SATA Controller shown as disabled and can´t enabled

[GR2]

Hey folks,

hope you can help me. Have buyed an Intel S2600STB Server Mainboard and installed a Xeon Gold CPU. The mainboard has upgraded to the latest bios version.

When I access the bios under mass storage there will be shown the SATA Controller as disabled and I can´t enabled it, the field is not reachable. The sSATA Controller working fine.

I have installed one Xeon Gold 6146 on the mainboard. The Mainboard has attached two NVMe, but I have tried it without NVMe drives with the same result. The drives working fine in the previous S2600CP mainboard with the same connection and case.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello Gregor R, Thank you for joining the community. Let me ask you if under "Mass Storage" you are able to see the AHCI option? If yes is it possible to select ESRT2 or RSTe from this same drop down menu? You want to select the embedded storage controller you want to use and then save BIOS changes and reboot your system in order to be able to see it available. Besides that take into consideration that the onboard SATA controllers are not compatible with and cannot be used with SAS expander cards. So if you have a expander card connected to your system then the option for the embedded RAID controller wont be available. Hope this helps. Jose A. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[GR2]

Hey Jose,

thank you for your fast response.

I see the AHCI option and this is the selected option, there is an optional "RAID Mode" available.

With both options after a reboot the SATA Controller will always be in disabled state.

So I tried to turn off the server, remove all cable connection from the SATA Port, boot it again, but the SATA controller continues in disabled state. 

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello Gregor R, After selecting RAID mode from the SATA controller under Mass Storage, you have to select either ESRT2 or RSTe from SATA RAID Option. After that you have to safe changes (F10) and reboot back to BIOS one more time. Ones in the BIOS (now with the SATA RAID controller enabled) you have to go to PCI Configuration > UEFI Option ROM Control > Storage Controller and from there you should be able to manage the RAID volumes, levels and so on. For more information go to section 3 (Human Interface Infrastructure Configuration Utility) in the following document: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/raid-products/ESRT2_Software_UG.pdf Let know if you have further questions Jose A. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[GR2]

Hey Jose,

thanks again for your reply and your help!

First I´ve had enabled the SATA controller successfully with the RAID option, thank you.

But I have some questions:

1. Why the AHCI mode doesn´t work and show the SATA controller in disabled state, it´s a little bit strange.
2. Did you think do find the Storage Controller option is easy? ;) It is possible to move it to a more intuitive way with the next BIOS version?
3. And finally, I´ve used on the S2600CP2 a mini SAS HD x4 cable to SAS SFF-8643 with reverse signals. The cable works fine on that board, but not on the S2600STB (there are no HDDs listed in the Controller ROM). I think I need a cable without reverse signals, correct?

Thanks again.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello Gregor R, I am glad to hear that you were able to enable the embedded RAID controller. About your questions it's a bit difficult to tell. 1. I think this is because you can only have 1 out of 3 options selected, so any of the other 2 is inferred to be disabled. 2. I actually agree with you and the current way is not intuitive and not as user friendly as it could possibly be. Unfortunately it has been this way since the last 2 generations of boards and not sure it will be changed in the near future. Any ways I will pass your feedback on. 3. If this cable is a 3rd party one then you were lucky that it worked fine on the older board. The official spare parts list is on the following URL: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600ST_P4000ConfigGuide.pdf Any other 3rd party or non validated hardware may or may not to work. Jose A.

[GR2]

Hello Jose,

thanks for all the useful information.

1. I´m not sure about the AHCI Modus, when I select the AHCI Modus the SATA Controller show as disabled, but when I connect drives it will work?
2. Thank you
3. Ok, I will check for the right cable

Jose thanks for your helpful information and your fast responses, I'm really appreciated about that.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello Gregor R, I will doublecheck on this behavior with one of our systems and will let you know. Jose A. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[JoseH_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Gregor R, After checking on the BIOS settings we found out the following: * Both SATA and sSATA controllers have 3 possible states: disabled, AHCI and RAID modes * Both actual SATA controllers are capable to work in either AHCI mode or RAID mode * When you select any of the possible options the ports are enabled and they should recognize any HDDs connected to them * The main difference is that when AHCI is selected you see the HDDs under Mass Storage. When RAID mode is enabled you see the connected HDDs under PCI option ROM Does this answer your question? Jose A. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello GR2, Do you have any updates, questions or comments in regards to this issue? Please do not hesitate to contact us back. If you consider the issue to be completed please let us know so we can proceed to mark this thread as resolved. Regards Jose A. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[GR2]

Hello Jose,

thanks for checking and thanks again for your help.

Yes it is all fine, you can mark the thread as resolved. When I have further questions, I will contact you again.

Thanks again and wish you merry christmas.