Other than suggesting to check the online manuals for the T300, I don't know about the error codes.

However, if you're needing a SATA-capable card for a tape drive, I'd suggest to look at a Dell SAS5i (or SAS5e if it's an external tape drive) and get the correct cable to connect the 2; with that card you at least know if should work just fine with the server in general.

so you yanked the cards out and the error still appears? have you tried yanking power for 1 minute?

No, the server is running anf no untoward messages are in the event viewer.  Since it tkaes 10 minutes to shutdown and 13 minutes to boot, and my customer is fed up with me rebooting his server, I'm leaving it until I have to play with it.

I wanted to do some research before doing  more.

I have looked through the hardware manual for the T300 and have not found any reference to the LCD display codes.  They must be documented somewhere but Dell's website has never been the most helpful.

I think the error code you received is answered by this entry:

Code                                 Text                                 Causes                                                                                 Corrective Actions

E171F          PCIE Fatal     The system BIOS has reported a PCIe fatal error                     Remove and reseat the  PCIe expansion cards. If

               Err B## D##    on a component that resides      the problem persists, see

               F##´           in PCIe configuration space      "Troubleshooting Expansion Cards" on

                                                                                 at bus ##, device ##, function ##.                                         page 159. If troubleshooting does not resolve the problem, see

                                                                                                                                                                         "Getting Help" on page 175.

               PCIE Fatal     The system BIOS has

               Err Slot #     reported a PCIe fatal error

First of all, the the information about the LCD codes is in the "Dell Poweredge T300 Systems.pdf" file.  The information you are looking for is probably listed in Table 1-5.  What is specific error message?

Here an example:

Code                      Text                                         Causes                                                                 Corrective Actions

E1000      FAILSAFE,        Check the system event log   See "Getting Help" on

                            Call Support                 for critical failure events.