AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 and Windows Powering down HDDs

[b0rna]

Just so anyone else has this issue, I know I'm bringing back a zombie but there are still folks like me who are still buying these cards SAS2LP-MV8 and having issues.

Following are my experience:

The storport driver does not allow spin down regardless of OS. I've tried windows 7, windows server 2012 and windows home server.

I have tried the IPM Configuration fix to enable the "enableIdlePowerManagement" for storport drivers from the MSDN article. I can confirm that the registry key is created after a restart. This however also does not work.

I should add that I'm on the latest firmware and all SAS addresses of both cards in my system are identical.

The only solution that will allow native windows spin down is to install the windows XP/2003 miniport driver instead. This will allow native spin down to work.

Thankfully, with the miniport driver, things work in windows7/8/server 2012 so it should function for years to come. Performance deltas are unknown as of now but I have read that performance is not degraded.

Oh and don't bother contacting supermicro support. It will be a waste of your time.

Hope this helps.

Borna.

[hopester]

I have a AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 and spindown has always worked for me fine. I use whs2011 and the supermicro drivers. One tip is to set the spindown to 1 minute and watch the led's on the card to ensure nothing is accessing the drives causing them to spin up.

One warning I would give is that Supermicro have released a new bios 4.0.0.1808, I tried to install this the other day and the flasher cleared the bios and then hung before reflashing the device leaving me with a dead card. I'm now waiting to return the card.

[Promod117]

I just got one of these cards and will be installing it in a WHS 2011 system.  All the drivers appear to be named the same, (although in two different folders). Could someone please help me out with a few simple installation steps?   Also, I am not familiar with "Spindown" or where to set it.  My system is mostly a home media server which may be accessed at anytime during the day and I will be doing nightly back-ups from 5 PCs.

Thanks in advance!

Paul

[b-earl]

Hi promod117,

The spindown if supported by the drivers is used in the Power management of the Windows Control Panel. There you select a time after which you want Windows to shut down the drives.

[Promod117]

Thanks for the reply!

Another question I thought of.... Is there any special configuration in FlexRAID for this add on card?  I have FlexRAID running with the motherboard SATA ports.  It just doesn't seem to me that it is as simple as unplugging the drives from the motherboard and plugging them into the SAS cable. 

Now to figure which driver to use.

Thanks!

[Promod117]

Is there a suggested spin-down time?  Mine was set for 30 minutes.  I did locate the miniport driver and set it at 1 minute to test. 

Thanks!

[b-earl]

Hi,
I think there is no special configuration for the card. For my LSI 9210/9211 there was not. I think, but that Brahim can answer better that the drives are handled via there ID so it should be as easy as just changing the ports because the ID is recognized and then it doesn't matter if it is  connected to the motherboard sata or the PCIE Controller the next day.
Use the spin down Time you want. If it is too short then you will have to wait too often for the drive to start when you want to access a file. I have mine at 20 minutes.

[Promod117]

Thanks!

[SloPoke]

Just so anyone else has this issue, I know I'm bringing back a zombie but there are still folks like me who are still buying these cards SAS2LP-MV8 and having issues.

.
.
.

The only solution that will allow native windows spin down is to install the windows XP/2003 miniport driver instead. This will allow native spin down to work.

Thankfully, with the miniport driver, things work in windows7/8/server 2012 so it should function for years to come. Performance deltas are unknown as of now but I have read that performance is not degraded.

Oh and don't bother contacting supermicro support. It will be a waste of your time.

Hope this helps.

Borna.

The zombie just won't die.  Can you tell me the name, version, and date of the miniport driver that works? I was able to find 4.0.0.2010, 3/1/2010, mv94xx.sys, but that doesn't appear to allow drive standby.