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HighPoint Rocket 644L + Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 = Issue

T

TomTomTuning

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2010
180
14
Central PA
If it's not one thing it's another.

So I've had a HighPoint RocketRaid 622 eSata PCIe card installed for a while now and it has worked flawlessly with Mavericks. However, now with Yosemite installed it is sadly no longer support by the OS. I went ahead and purchased the new HighPoint Rocket 644L which is compatible with Yosemite.

When the 644L and Velocity Solo x2 are both installed the system does not boot off the SSD. I remove the 644L and it boots fine. I tried rearranging the order in which the PCIe cards are installed and although there were some changes, it still does not function properly. Any help is greatly appreciated. With all the PCIe issues I've been having, I'm really starting to consider buying a nMacPro. :(

Specs:
MacPro5.1
OSX 10.10.1
Intel Xeon W3690 Hex-Core
3x8GB (24GB) 1333 RAM
802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.0 (MacVidCards upgrade)

PCIe: (Original configuration)
4) Rocket 644L eSata
3) Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + 1TB Samsung EVO 840
2) Inateck KT-4004 USB 3.0
1) EVGA 4GB GTX 680 FTW (Mac ROM)

Other Hardware involved:
SansDigital eSata 4bay JOBD

EDIT: Found out I actually have the Rocket 644L (not RocketRaid), which does not have the Web GUI.

EDIT-II: I purchased a RocketRaid 644L but I can't access the WebGui.
 
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So if I rearrange the cards in the following order, I can boot the system off the SSD but when I turn the JBOD on the drives do not mount. If I try to boot the system in this configuration with the JBOD is powered on, then the system fails to boot from the SSD just like before.

PCIe: (New configuration)
4) RocketRaid 644L eSata
3) Inateck KT-4004 USB 3.0
2) Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + 1TB Samsung EVO 840
1) EVGA 4GB GTX 680 FTW (Mac ROM)

That being said I went to the HighPoint Rocket 644L Product Page and noticed there was a driver update. I gave it a try but sadly it did not resolve any of my issues. To be honest, I'm not even sure how to tell if the driver installed correctly.

Another strange thing is, even though the card shows up correctly in System Information. I cannot access the HighPoint RAID Management page at http://localhost:7402.

XcEDCHZ.png


EDIT: Found out I actually have the Rocket 644L (not RocketRaid), which does not have the Web GUI.
 
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TomTomTuning said:
So if I rearrange the cards in the following order, I can boot the system off the SSD but when I turn the JBOD on the drives do not mount.
Click to expand...



I have both of those cards and they're working fine. Make sure you have the firmware update for the 644L, last time I checked it wasn't on their page. I've uploaded it to this Thread.

That said I think there is some kind of issue with Yosimite ... seems to boot but most of the time it has to crash once then reboot itself. I also have a 3rd party USB card and a flashed 7970

Edit: Yep, firmware still not on their website... morons. Also, there appears to be a 10.10 driver update--I wonder if this fixes the above issue; maybe I'll try it one day.
 
slughead said:
I have both of those cards and they're working fine. Make sure you have the firmware update for the 644L, last time I checked it wasn't on their page. I've uploaded it to this Thread.

That said I think there is some kind of issue with Yosimite ... seems to boot but most of the time it has to crash once then reboot itself. I also have a 3rd party USB card and a flashed 7970

Edit: Yep, firmware still not on their website... morons. Also, there appears to be a 10.10 driver update--I wonder if this fixes the above issue; maybe I'll try it one day.
Click to expand...


Awesome, I've left for the weekend but once I get back on Monday I will give this a try. I really appreciate the help. :)

What USB card do you have and in what order are your cards in?
 
TomTomTuning said:
Awesome, I've left for the weekend but once I get back on Monday I will give this a try. I really appreciate the help. :)

What USB card do you have and in what order are your cards in?
Click to expand...

I've had issues with a pair of 644LS in a hex core E5-v2. Seems that the HPT boot code is too large for the RAM allocated for the system firmware. It caused similar issues (odd behavior that changed if you moved the various cards around).

The solution for me was to disable the RAID in the 644LS. This is done by reflashing the card with the DOS command
> load.exe /e 0=0 rrxxx.xxx (the name of bios image file)​
- see thread at http://www.overclock.net/t/679056/rocketraid-boot-issues#post_20782203 )

As a side benefit, that slow HPT boot screen never appears, so reboots are much faster.
 
AidenShaw said:
I've had issues with a pair of 644LS in a hex core E5-v2. Seems that the HPT boot code is too large for the RAM allocated for the system firmware. It caused similar issues (odd behavior that changed if you moved the various cards around).



The solution for me was to disable the RAID in the 644LS. This is done by reflashing the card with the DOS command

> load.exe /e 0=0 rrxxx.xxx (the name of bios image file)​

- see thread at http://www.overclock.net/t/679056/rocketraid-boot-issues#post_20782203 )



As a side benefit, that slow HPT boot screen never appears, so reboots are much faster.
Click to expand...


Oh gosh yes, that slow boot is so annoying. As long as multiplexing continues to work, I'm okay with disabling RAID.
 
TomTomTuning said:
Oh gosh yes, that slow boot is so annoying. As long as multiplexing continues to work, I'm okay with disabling RAID.
Click to expand...

I think that I misspoke - I should have said "disable RAID boot code". RAID should still be configurable from the OS, but you won't be able to boot from any drives on the 644.
 
slughead said:
I have both of those cards and they're working fine. Make sure you have the firmware update for the 644L, last time I checked it wasn't on their page. I've uploaded it to this Thread.

That said I think there is some kind of issue with Yosimite ... seems to boot but most of the time it has to crash once then reboot itself. I also have a 3rd party USB card and a flashed 7970

Edit: Yep, firmware still not on their website... morons. Also, there appears to be a 10.10 driver update--I wonder if this fixes the above issue; maybe I'll try it one day.
Click to expand...
So for the sake of simplicity, I removed my Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 card and connected my SSD to the internal SataII port. Of course the RocketRaid 644L is working correctly in the sense that the drives in my JBOD are mounting just fine now. However, the problem I'm having is I am unable to access the HighPoint Raid Management GUI. I went through the software install (uninstall, then reinstalled twice) but I am still unable to access http://localhost:7402 or https://localhost:7402 in Safari or Chrome. Therefor I can not upgrade the firmware. :(

EDIT: Found out I actually have the Rocket 644L (not RocketRaid), which does not have the Web GUI.
 
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I created a ticket with HighPoint support today. I had no clue that they offered a Rocket 644L and RocketRaid 644L. Apparently mine is the Rocket 644L and it does not have a Web GUI.

I'm not sure if a firmware update will resolve my issue or not but I will ask HighPoint for a suggestion. If I can not get it to work, I will return this card and perhaps by the RocketRaid 644L.
 
Highpoint pretty much told me there's nothing they can do to resolve my issue. I returned the Rocket 644L and purchased a RocketRaid 644L. I just installed the card but I still am unable to access the Web Management Interface. So I created another ticket with them.

If it wasn't for the USB 3.0 wireless interferance I'm also experiencing, I would ditch eSata entirely. I just can't seem to win.... :(
 
HighPoint support remoted into my computer to help solve my issue with the WebGUI Interface.

They went to my Applications folder and ran the raidman-httpsd terminal command. Then they were able to get to the WebGUI login screen. However, they were unable to login. They wanted to reinstall the WebGUI files and so they asked where I got the files from, I told them from the disk they included in the box. He ran the uninstall and then downloaded the updated WebGUI files from their site. Now we're able to login.

RITPM54.png


He also made sure I had the latest drivers which I did, I downloaded them from the their site previously.

I reinstalled my Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + SSD and it's working fine.
I did not have to update the ROM or EFI.

PCIe: (Current configuration)
4) EMPTY (but USB3.0 will go here soon)
3) Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + 1TB Samsung EVO 840
2) Rocket 644L eSata
1) EVGA 4GB GTX 680 FTW (Mac ROM)
 
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great after sales customer service from Highpoint!

TomTomTuning said:
HighPoint support remoted into my computer to help solve my issue with the WebGUI Interface.

They went to my Applications folder and ran the raidman-httpsd terminal command. Then they were able to get to the WebGUI login screen. However, they were unable to login. They wanted to reinstall the WebGUI files and so they asked where I got the files from, I told them from the disk they included in the box. He ran the uninstall and then downloaded the updated WebGUI files from their site. Now we're able to login.

Image

He also made sure I had the latest drivers which I did, I downloaded them from the their site previously.

I reinstalled my Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + SSD and it's working fine.

PCIe: (Current configuration)
4) EMPTY (but USB3.0 will go here soon)
3) Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 + 1TB Samsung EVO 840
2) Rocket 644L eSata
1) EVGA 4GB GTX 680 FTW (Mac ROM)
Click to expand...

Congrats with your new config and I like very much reading about the great after sales customer service from Highpoint! :cool:

Cheers
 
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