Users Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD User’s Guide
- NVMe PCIe SSD overview
- Supported operating systems
- Troubleshooting
- NVMe PCIe SSD carrier LED indicators
- Ungraceful system shutdown or power loss
- General errors
- NVMe drive properties intermittently not available in iDRAC
- NVMe PCIe SSD is not listed in the operating system
- I/O device error on write to NVMe PCIe SSD
- NVMe PCIe SSD performance measurement not optimal
- System becomes unresponsive when NVMe PCIe U.2 2.5-inch SSD is surprise removed
- System becomes unresponsive or fails when NVMe PCIe SSD is inserted
- Related documentation
- Getting help
Cause NVMe PCIe SSDs have a finite number of write cycles. When an NVMe PCIe SSD exhausts the number of
writes, it goes into Write Protect (Read Only) mode.
Solution By using system management applications, you may check the NVMe PCIe SSD state to confirm if
the NVMe PCIe SSD is in Read-Only Mode. For further instructions, contact a Dell Technical Service
representative.
NVMe PCIe SSD performance measurement not optimal
Description There are several factors that may alter the performance of an NVMe PCIe SSD. It is recommended that
you configure performance optimization of these devices using the basic setup options.
Cause NVMe PCIe SSD has not been preconditioned, or the BIOS settings are not optimized.
Solution Without preconditioning the NVMe PCIe SSD, performance measurements can be misleading as they
might not reflect long-term performance of the device. Preconditioning enables flash management,
which stabilizes data throughput over a period of time. For the Solid-State Storage Performance Test
Specification, see snia.org.
System becomes unresponsive when NVMe PCIe U.2 2.5-inch SSD
is surprise removed
Description The system becomes unresponsive when the device is removed without first preparing the device for
removal.
Cause The operating system on the PowerEdge server is not supporting surprise removal. Surprise removal
on PowerEdge servers is only supported for operating systems that are listed in the Hot plug drive
serviceability section.
Solution Perform the Prepare For Removal operation for the specific NVMe PCIe U.2 2.5-inch SSD from a Dell
Management application. For operating systems or applications that do not support surprise removal of
NVMe PCIe U.2 2.5-inch SSDs, Dell EMC management tools such as OpenManage Server Administrator
and iDRAC provide an option (Prepare to Remove) to perform orderly removal of the device.
System becomes unresponsive or fails when NVMe PCIe SSD is
inserted
Description
The system becomes unresponsive or fails when inserting an NVMe PCIe SSD while accessing the system
BIOS or HII configuration utilities.
Cause Hot insertion is not supported in pre-operating system configuration utilities.
Solution
Insert only after allowing the operating system to fully load or when the server is powered off.
10 Troubleshooting