IBM ServeRAID™-4Mx (06P5736) SCSI Controller

Pros: Nice card...
Cons: ..only works *reliably* on IBM servers with 32/64 bit slots

After looking at the various products I decided to try the 4Mx for a new disk array on our database server's new SCSI 12-disk array.

On fitting the card our server hangs during POST when the card is initialised during BIOS start. Searching the web reveals similar tales of woe on other systems (try a google for 'serveraid' and 'bios'). It appears it ONLY works reliably on IBM servers. This was confirmed when I tested the unit in an IBM Netfinity machine. I was able to boot and update the card's BIOS, but it still refused to work on the DELL. It may be something to do with PCI 64bit but our server has both 33Mhz and 66mhz slots and the card fails on either.

[UPDATED Oct 03] I've now managed to get this card working on a SuperMicro motherboard. Even so it took many reboots and hung BIOS posts before it was sorted out.