Dell Precision T3600 Win 10 install issues

[Eli]

Finally hit an issue that I can't resolve... if anyone has any experience with this I'd love to hear about.

Got hired to install Win 10 on a T3600. Googled it before the job and looked like a simple issue of missing the Intel storage controller driver. But that solution didn't work--even if you find the missing "solved" link at the bottom of the page using the Wayback Machine.

It turns out the client is also a tech and he has been scratching his head about it for a few months (it's his own machine). He can use Windows just fine on the SATA ports but Windows sees no drives on the SAS ports (HDD0-4 on the mobo). He really wants to be able to use UEFI on HDD0.

As far as I can tell it's just a matter of getting the correct driver for the Intel C600 controller since there are no RAID cards in the system but damned if I didn't try every single possible driver I could--including those that come with Dell's latest enterprise WINPE. Even tried using the drivers with Win 7 and even then it didn't work.

The only difference between this issue and the one I linked is the machine can't even see HDD0-4 ports in the BIOS. Tried ctrl+i but no Intel configuration came up. Nothing in the BIOS itself seems to help. Also tried installing Windows on the SATA port and then installing drivers with good old Snappy Driver Origin which installed half a dozen SAS/SATA drivers and then shutting down and switching ports. No luck.

I've tried pretty much everything on the first page of half a dozen Google attempts but would appreciate it if anyone has any insights (hopefully we just missed something obvious). Or is this just not going to happen with UEFI on HDD0?

 

[FremontPC]

Not sure I can help here, but does it have a PERC card in it?

https://www.dell.com/community/Desk...ecting-drives-on-Dell-T7600-PERC/td-p/5136325

Maybe someone else will jump in with some useful info.

 

[Eli]

Not sure I can help here, but does it have a PERC card in it?

https://www.dell.com/community/Desk...ecting-drives-on-Dell-T7600-PERC/td-p/5136325

Maybe someone else will jump in with some useful info.

No cards of any kind except video (Quadro 600).

 

[mikeroq]

This might be silly but is SAS operation enabled in the BIOS? (edit that looks like it's in the T7600 bios)

Edit:
http://www.dell.com/support/article...r-integrated-sas-ports-on-motherboard?lang=en

Did you upgrade the BIOS? That article talks about an old bios having the SAS disabled.

 

[mikeroq]

More info

Re: Dell Precision T3600/T5600: how do I add drives to the other 4 undocumented SATA ports?


So my long-winded question: is there any way to configure the remaining four HDD0-HDD3 SATA ports to gain access to them for RAID or preferably non-RAID devices?


Just did some testing with a new T5600 with BIOS A07, and figured I should set the record straight.

• HDD ports 0-4 on the motherboard WILL activate if the PERC H310 card is removed and a device is connected to at least one of the HDD0-4 ports.
  • The storage controller activated appears to be the integrated Intel C600 chipset 4 port SAS/SATA controller, with PCI ID 8086:1d6b.
  • This chipset is documented to support SATA III speeds and TRIM but both are untested at this time.
  • When two or more drives are connected, the BIOS option ROM screen is enabled for "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise", with configuration utility available by typing Ctrl-I during boot. SCU Option ROM is version 3.2.0.1022.
  • When one drive is connected, the option ROM setup will not appear but the controller still functions normally.
  • When no drives are connected at startup, the controller will not be activated.
  • All ports 0-4 are activated and usable simultaneously in this configuration.
• The onboard SAS1 (SFF-8087) connector does not seem to function in any configuration.
• The onboard "RAID" controller WILL NOT activate and ports HDD0-4 will be non-functional if the PERC H310 card is reinstalled in any available slot (1,2,4,5), whether any drives are connected to it or not.
  • A non-Dell (non-LSI?) SAS controller I was able to test does NOT cause the onboard SATA controller to be disabled like the PERC controller.

https://www.dell.com/community/Ente...I-add-drives-to-the-other-4/m-p/4016277#M3614

 

[Eli]

This might be silly but is SAS operation enabled in the BIOS? (edit that looks like it's in the T7600 bios)

Edit:
http://www.dell.com/support/article...r-integrated-sas-ports-on-motherboard?lang=en

Did you upgrade the BIOS? That article talks about an old bios having the SAS disabled.

I did upgrade from A01 to A04 when searching the D/PN of the mobo... I didn't try any of the A11 through A16 on the Dell driver site that shows up for T3600 because it didn't list any older BIOS and I wasn't sure if there was a new mobo revision in 2013 and didn't want to bork it.

That is a good link though. I will run this by him and see if the mobo takes the A16 BIOS.

Thanks! Will update with any results.

 

[Markverhyden]

Has the SAS every worked? Did the customer buy it new or acquired second hand?

 

[Eli]

Has the SAS every worked? Did the customer buy it new or acquired second hand?

Second hand, so it has never worked for him.