MP 7,1 HighPoint Drivers and Big Sur

[jasonmvp]

I gather you don't have a bootable backup of your drive?

There's no important data on my internal OEM drive, so no, no backup. Backing up the OS is a silly waste of time and space. The important data, which is on my HighPoint volume, is backed up. And readily and easily restored in less than 15 minutes given my 10GigE network.

 

[lbeale]

I performed the upgrade to Big Sur again, using the production drivers. Seemed to work (other issues with my thunderbolt displays occurred), but yesterday I started having constant kernel panics that I traced to the HighPoint driver. I reverted to Catalina and updated my support request with HighPoint. I got this reply:

Hello,

Our latest verification findings
Since our macOS is a fresh installation, the version is macOS11.0.1 (20B29), and the driver is running normally; but we found that if you upgrade from macOS Catalina to macOS Big Sur, the version is macOS11.0.1 (20B50), this system version uses HPT driver will cause kernelpanic.

Our engineers have already begun to deal with this problem, if there is a result, we will immediately update the driver.

Thank you.

- I haven't done a clean install, but that seems like the way to go right now if you need to use the HighPoint driver. I'm holding off due to the other issues I had, but I'll post here if I hear anything else in case other people run into issues.

 

[jasonmvp]

I performed the upgrade to Big Sur again, using the production drivers. Seemed to work (other issues with my thunderbolt displays occurred), but yesterday I started having constant kernel panics that I traced to the HighPoint driver. I reverted to Catalina and updated my support request with HighPoint. I got this reply:

Ugh. I'm not getting a real "warm'n'fuzzy" about the HighPoint drivers at this point.

 

[Bggale]

Hmmm. I put a pair of 1TB 980 Pros in my SSD7103 today, and put it in slot 5 of my 7,1. I didn't even install any HighPoint software or drivers, and only one of the two 980 Pros was visible for initialization. Is that normal? Do I need to wait to install the revised HighPoint software to see both of them? I thought the HighPoint 7xxx cards with no drivers installed would show all attached NVMes. Note that per the instructions for the SSD7103, I installed the 980 Pros in the top two positions.

 

[ldstern10]

Hmmm. I put a pair of 1TB 980 Pros in my SSD7103 today, and put it in slot 5 of my 7,1. I didn't even install any HighPoint software or drivers, and only one of the two 980 Pros was visible for initialization. Is that normal? Do I need to wait to install the revised HighPoint software to see both of them? I thought the HighPoint 7xxx cards with no drivers installed would show all attached NVMes. Note that per the instructions for the SSD7103, I installed the 980 Pros in the top two positions.

Both should show in disk utility. I suggest checking that both 980 Pros are seated properly on 7103. I’m assuming 7103 is Mac compatible.

 

[Bggale]

Does anyone else think the thermal pad on these cards is too thick? My card has a slight gap between the screws on the NVMe side after I installed the heatsink cover. I hope my 980 Pro didn't bend enough to get damaged. My other NVMe carrier had several pads of different thicknesses, to avoid this issue. Like I say - hope I didn't damage one of my 980 Pros.

 

[Bggale]

Ok - so I purchased a third 1TB 980 Pro and installed it in my SSD7103. Now two 980 Pros are visible in Disk Utility. Noted the S/Ns of the visible NVMes, and opened up my SSD7103 to find it was the 980 Pro in the top slot that was not visible. Also note that I had tried swapping the ones in slots 1 and 2 already, so apparently there was a problem with slot 1 (top) and not with that 980 Pro. I moved that 980 Pro to the bottom slot (4) and booted to find all 3 visible.
I've asked HighPoint support for advice, and if they have RAID drivers that are stable for us yet. FWIW - I found a YouTube video where a guy says he installed 4 NVMes in his SSD7103, and only 'saw' 3 of them until he got updated firmware from HighPoint. The plot thickens...

 

[tsialex]

Ok - so I purchased a third 1TB 980 Pro and installed it in my SSD7103. Now two 980 Pros are visible in Disk Utility. Noted the S/Ns of the visible NVMes, and opened up my SSD7103 to find it was the 980 Pro in the top slot that was not visible. Also note that I had tried swapping the ones in slots 1 and 2 already, so apparently there was a problem with slot 1 (top) and not with that 980 Pro. I moved that 980 Pro to the bottom slot (4) and booted to find all 3 visible.
I've asked HighPoint support for advice, and if they have RAID drivers that are stable for us yet. FWIW - I found a YouTube video where a guy says he installed 4 NVMes in his SSD7103, and only 'saw' 3 of them until he got updated firmware from HighPoint. The plot thickens...

If I remember correctly, on the SSD7103 the top M.2 slot and the Marvell 88SE9235 SATA controller on the back, that provides RAID boot support for PCs, both are connected to the second PLX switch and not to the main one.

There is a thread that talk about this here.

 

[JasonGao180]

I upgraded from Catalina and panic too.
Then I
1. unplug my highpoint card, then the systen boot successfully
2. delete all the highpoint drivers, sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/HighPoint*
3. shutdown macos and replug my highpoint card
4. boot macos and install the latest driver;

now the card works pretty good.

 

[Bggale]

I upgraded from Catalina and panic too.
Then I
1. unplug my highpoint card, then the systen boot successfully
2. delete all the highpoint drivers, sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/HighPoint*
3. shutdown macos and replug my highpoint card
4. boot macos and install the latest driver;

now the card works pretty good.

I contacted HighPoint on Thursday, asking about why I don't see any NVMe in the top slot, and I asked if the software version I had was the latest. They requested clarification of the NVMe/slot issue on Thursday, which I provided. I have not heard from them since.
Based on the entry above, I decided to try installing the HighPoint software, and it appears to be working (so far). I successfully created a RAID 0 from my three 980 Pros, and I have been using my Mac since to try and determine if it is stable. So far, so good. The only thing I have noticed is that the RAID volume does not appear on my desktop until after all of my startup apps have run. That makes me suspect the my next test will fail - using CCC to clone my startup volume to the RAID, and starting from it. I'll let you all know...

 

[Bggale]

In case anyone is curious of the speeds I'm seeing - I initialized the three 980 Pros first with APFS (I know - the older format is faster) and then the RAID with three 980 Pros. I need APFS if I want to try making the RAID volume bootable.

 

[Bggale]

Tried an Option/Boot to see if the RAID volume shows up, and it does not. Guess I'll have to try HighPoint Support again, although they still have not gotten back to me on my first issue (slot 1 not visible in SSD9103).
Anyone tried installing today's Big Sur update to see if it messes up the HighPoint drivers?

 

[lbeale]

An update from HighPoint:

'We have updated a new version of the driver in Mac Big Sur. This has been tested in the system and can be used normally. Now I put the new driver in the accessory and you can use it.

In order to ensure your RAID data, do not connect SSD7101A during driver installation and uninstallation.
You need to uninstall the previous driver in Mac Big sur first, and then install this new driver. After the driver is installed, connect the SSD7101A to the Mac.'

I'm back on Catalina, and I'm going to wait a little longer until I try this again. If anyone is interested, the updated driver is v 1.1.18_20_12_11.

 

[jasonmvp]

In order to ensure your RAID data, do not connect SSD7101A during driver installation and uninstallation.
You need to uninstall the previous driver in Mac Big sur first, and then install this new driver. After the driver is installed, connect the SSD7101A to the Mac.'

That's a big ol' pile of crap, right there. No, I'm not removing both of my cards to install a new driver. If these folks are that uncertain of their driver installation and data integrity, they probably should hire new driver writers.

Christ what a crock.

 

[Bggale]

I'm back on Catalina, and I'm going to wait a little longer until I try this again. If anyone is interested, the updated driver is v 1.1.18_20_12_11.

Where do we find that driver? I checked software downloads for Mac on each of the HP Cards pages, and all I see is v 1.1.17_20_11_23.

 

[lbeale]

Where do we find that driver? I checked software downloads for Mac on each of the HP Cards pages, and all I see is v 1.1.17_20_11_23.

It was in the tech support response that I received, but they noted that they were updating the drivers on the web. I expect it will show up there shortly.

 

[Bggale]

Support just sent me the new driver (v1.1.18) and they claim it will work with OS 11.1 (the Big Sur update). I will try it tomorrow and let everyone know.
Meantime - I decided to buy a fourth 1TB 980 Pro to see if it works in the top slot of my SSD7103, and it does. I deleted the old RAID, and created a new one with 4 instead of 3. Interestingly, HighPoint claims it makes no difference which slots you install your NVMes in on the AAD7103, but clearly it did in my case. The printed instructions I got said to install starting at the 'top', but Support sent me a picture showing the number 1 slot is the one at the bottom of the card, so apparently you should install from slot 1 to slot 4. They also tell me it is not bootable at this time, but that it should be again in the future. They want me to keep them posted on my testing.
Here is the W/R speed (again, formatted with APFS):

 

[Bggale]

The new driver (v1.1.18) seems to work fine with OS 11.1. Still not showing on the web site, so I guess they are still testing.

 

[Bggale]

The v1.1.18 driver is on the web site now. Still seems to be working on my 7,1, although my SSD7103 RAID has failed to mount on at least two startups since I created it. Odd.

 

[Bggale]

HighPoint has posted a new version of their WebGUI. Don't know if we need to update, so I've asked them.

New WebGUI is v2.12.6. They suggested I update, so I did. Easy enough - run the uninstaller in your 'Applications' => 'HPTWEBGUI' folder to uninstall the old one, then run the new installer. The txt file tells you what's new, but I see no difference.

 

[Bggale]

New v1.1.20 driver is out, with date of 21_01_05. I installed it this morning. Seems to be working fine (so far) with my SSD7103 and Big Sur. Of course OS 11.2 is due any day now, so I'll see if it causes any issues.
Incidentally, my RAID was not mounting occasionally (4 - 5 times in the three weeks I had it). I told HighPoint that each time it failed to mount, the WebGUI showed 1 of the 4 980 Pros in my RAID was disabled - always the one in slot 4 (top). I tried swapping different 980 Pros into that slot, but the problem persisted, and HP eventually gave me an RMA.
They were unable to find any issue with that SSD7103, so they were going to return it to me. I told them to keep it, since it was no use to me as it was, but they finally decided to send me a new one and they say I get no support with it, so I guess I'm on my own now.
I will see how that goes...

 

[Bggale]

In case anyone was interested, I've been using the v1.1.20 driver with Big Sur 11.2 since yesterday, and it appears to be working fine. My new SSD7103 hasn't had any issues either.

 

[Bggale]

Also works fine (so far) with 11.2.1.

 

[Bggale]

Also works fine with 11.2.2.

 

[Bggale]

Just updated to driver 1.1.26 with 11.2.3. Seems to be working fine.
Btw - I was once told (by HP Support) to remove my SSD7103 before uninstalling the driver and installing a new version. I checked the revised instruction manual, and it said nothing about doing any of that, so this time I just installed the new driver.