Journal jawtheshark's Journal: [RAID] May be a enclosure/SATA cable issue. 5
I didn't have much time to continue the investigation of the hard disk issues of my dads server. I ran the Hitachi diagnostic disk fully. No errors. Read out SMART status, and did full SMART checks under Ubuntu. No errors.
The disk is thus most likely fully functional. This leaves -in order- the enclosure, the cable and finally the motherboard. During a quick visit at my parents I opened the server, checked the cabling and... well, let's just say that I think the SATA cable was indeed quite loosely connected to the enclosure. Ouch. As a matter of fact, I found that the (data) cables connect VERY loosely to both of the enclosures (the third enclosure, is connected to a SATA-USB adapter and thus is a different case). Hmmmpf. Just a slight pressure makes them loose. Very bad, I think. At fault are probably the enclosures as I didn't notice this at all when the disks were directly attached to the SATA cables. I probably loosened the cable accidentally, when I bound together the cables to make it less messy.
Anyway, since I wiped the disk, I set up the disklabels again, cloned the root partition (which can't be on a softraid appartently), installed the boot block, and launched the RAID1 rebuild.
Let's hope it was the cable... *sigh*
Rebuild presumably done tomorrow around 14h00 CET.
To be continued... (Actually, I'd prefer it to be fixed now...)
I bound together the cables to make it less messy (Score:2)
I've opened up cases where people were silly enough to use rubber bands (wt*) to "make their cabling less messy". Of course, the rubber deteriorates and you end up with loose rubber floating around - maybe to get sucked into the cpu fan.
Or they go crazy with twist ties, to the point that replacing a drive means cutting 6 ties. And then wonder why their drive gives errors (sharp angles as they fold the cable over itself cause interference, same as the nuggets who insist on stapling
Re: (Score:2)
In our system we HAVE to cable tie everything. SAS cables, power cables, and so on. We're required to ruggedize systems as much as possible so if we do not tie the cables, the customer would either reject the product or the units would end up failing where they get deployed (they do go for very rough rides sometimes).
However I have trained everyone to understand:
* Bend radius and how it affects the cable
* Why they should pull the tie until it is barely snug, but does NOT compress the cables
Re: (Score:1)
I use those little thingies made from plastic/metal-wire (white) you use to close deep freeze baggies. I don't know how they are called. You also find them around different cables when you buy new stuff. They're in black then. They are quickly let loose. As a dumpster diver, I've seen more than enough cases as you describe to know not to do that. Some people are so anal as to put wires under the motherboard making them neigh impossible to replace without taking the motherboard out.
No rubber bands. No
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like you are describing twist ties. Often used to close plastic breadbags (that don't use the plastic square). Look like this [blogspot.com]
Re: (Score:1)
Yep, those are the ones. Ideal to make a computer neat inside without really making it unworkable in the future. Velcro works too, but it's more expensive. I have some lying around, and I always forget to use it and automatically reach for the budget version. ;-)