I've got a T410 with a PERC S300 using 3 Seagate 250GB SATA drives in a RAID-5 array.

I added a WD 250GB SATA drive to use as a hot spare. But, OMSA will not allow me to set it as a Dedicated hot spare. I was able to add it as Global hot spare via the boot time configuration.

However, when one of the Seagate drives failed it didn't activate the WD drive. In trying to get it active I deleted it in OMSA and now the only options are to blink and unblink it. If I go into the active array and try to assign/unassign a hot spare it tells me that no drives are available. It does show a second array that is the size of a single drive but doesn't allow me to do anything with it.

Do all the drives have to be the same model to be in an array? I thought they only had to be the same size.

What do you do when models are discontinued (as in the current Seagate drives) and you need to replace one?

Is there something I am missing in OMSA to get it to activate the WD as a replacement for the failed Seagate?

I have a customer with a T105 with a SAS RAID controller with 2 - 150G SATA drives.  They are running out of space so what is the best way to install larger drives?

Recently got a call whereby a company went to access a (rarely used) server and couldn't access it.  The server was offline and wouldn't boot.  They replaced both power supplies and got it past post but it's not recognizing the RAID configuration.  Here's the details:

• Dell 2850
• has add-on RAID card with nothing connected so it must be using on-board RAID (LSI?)
• This server was rarely used and any IT staff responsible for it have left years ago - so they have no documentation and no idea what the original configuration of the server was
• Their last good backup is over 2yrs old
• 6 drives - all showing a healthy status; the last user to be on the server can't remember "for certain" but believes there was only a single drive letter showing (indicating a single RAID, which I can only presume was RAID 5 given there were 6 drives)
• the CTL+M option is not showing - I check bios and it's not set to RAID - if I change it to RAID then it gives me a big warning on reboot about destroying all data on the drives
• before contacting me they tried to boot from CD using XP lite - from there they could see all of the drives, but attempts to access any of them resulted in a "drive not formatted" prompt; they assured me that they did not format any of the drives
• client indicates that they did NOT change any BIOS settings

Given that they know nothing about what the configuration is supposed to be I think the best place to start is to try and determine what the configuration was.  Is there a tool that anyone is aware of that can help analyze this based on reading the drive headers and/or information from the on-board RAID?

If I switch the BIOS to RAID mode will it really destroy data on the drives or will it use the existing header data to recognize the existing RAID configuration?

Any other ideas/input?

Thanks,

Chris

When I run a report in Dell Open Manage for hard disk firmware version it states the current version along with a new version that is available for my main drives. My problem is that I can’t find the new firmware for my drives under Drivers & Downloads for PowerEdge T420. Below is the report from OpenManage. Is the firmware for these drives in a different location? The two drives in the report are Dell certified drives that came with the server.

Thanks

Jeff

Hi!

I have a PowerEdge 2950 with Perci6/I.

On 4 SAS disks, 3 are almost dead.

I need to reuse this server. I will buy HD, and I'm looking for SSD (SSD with good garbage collector, Trim fonction, etc. like Corsair Neutron GTX (b?).

If I use Hewlett Packard SAS HD, all is fine.

If I use Sata HD, LED are green, but after post, LED change for orange blinking.

Same problème when I use a Crucial M4 SSD to test.

After looking on Internet, I don't found many informations. If I understand well, it's because it's not HD certified by Dell?

It's possible to erase this alert, tu have green LED, to obtain real alarm when a HD fail?

Thank you!

Jérôme

Hey guys,

I'm running into an issue on 4 of my Dell Servers where i keep getting several 'Unexpected sense' alert log entries on each server everytime i reboot each server. Been trying to figure out what's going on, but can't seem to get these to go away, and it looks like some others are having the same problems as well in this fourm. Also getting a 'Current capacity of the battery is above threshold' in these logs as well.

I just got through updating all the drivers and firmware on everything, using the Dell Q2 Server Update Utility - v7.3, hoping that these errors would go away, but they are not. After updating everything, i cleared the alert logs on all servers, rebooted them, and on every server i am still getting these 'Unexpected sense' alert log entries.

Going to try and provide as much detail as possible about each server and the respective log entries, here goes:

Server #1 - Dell R710 – Perc 6/i integrated controller - Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition

PERC Info:
Firmware Version:               6.3.3.0002
Driver Version:                      5.02.121.64
Storport Driver Version:    6.2.9200.16547
Backplane Version:              1.07

VD0 – 2 Drives in RAID 1

• PD0 – 300GB Dell ST9300605SS – Revision: CS09
• PD1 – 300GB Dell ST9300603SS – Revision: FS66

VD1 – 6 Drives in RAID 10 – All 6 drives are 600GB Dell ST600MM0006 – Revision: LS06

All drives are in ONLINE state, no errors I can see

Here is a copy of the alert log after restarting:

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Server #2 - Dell R710 – Perc H700 integrated controller - Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition

PERC Info:
Firmware Version:               12.10.6-0001
Driver Version:                      6.801.05.00
Storport Driver Version:    6.2.9200.16547
Backplane Version:              1.07

VD0 – 2 Drives in RAID 1 – Both drives are 300GB Dell ST9300605SS – Revision: CS09

VD1 – 6 Drives in RAID 10 – All 6 drives are 600GB Dell ST600MM0006 – Revision: LS06

All drives are in ONLINE state, no errors I can see

Here is a copy of the alert log after restarting:

Server #3 - Dell R710 – Perc 6/i integrated controller - Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition

PERC Info:
Firmware Version:               6.3.3.0002
Driver Version:                      5.02.121.64
Storport Driver Version:    6.2.9200.16547
Backplane Version:              1.07

VD0 – 8 Drives in RAID 10 – All 8 drives are 600GB TOSHIBA MBF2600RC – Revision: DA0B

All drives are in ONLINE state, no errors I can see

Here is a copy of the alert log after restarting:

Server #4 - Dell R610 – Perc 6/i integrated controller - Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition

PERC Info:
Firmware Version:               6.3.3.0002
Driver Version:                      5.02.121.64
Storport Driver Version:    6.2.9200.16547
Backplane Version:              1.07

VD0 – 2 Drives in RAID 1 - Both drives are 600GB SEAGATE ST9600205SS – Revision: CS09

All drives are in ONLINE state, no errors I can see

Here is a copy of the alert log after restarting:

So there is all the info from each server, what is strange is that this is happening on ALL 4 of these servers after i updated everything. They are all getting the same 'Unexpected sense: Encl PD 20' and 'CDB: 12 00 00 00 04 00, Sense: 5/24/00' errors. I find this very strange.

Can you please explain to me why these errors are happening and what the meaning of the CBD code is? Also any info on the 'Current capacity of the battery is above threshold' would be appreciated as well.

Your help and troubleshooting in this matter would be greatly appreciated, as i have spent a lot of time trying to figure this out and can't seem to get these to go away.

Thanks in Advance!
-Mark

I'm managing a PowerEdge 860 server which currently has a 250GB hard drive, shipped with the server. I'm planning to replace it with two disks in a mirror configuration since I'm getting worried about the age of the original disk. While not really needing any more disk space right now it still seems like a good idea to invest in larger disks to be prepared for change in the storage requirements. Therefore I'd like to invest in 1 or 2 TB disks if the BIOS and chipset can handle them.

As far as I know the first limit above the LBA48 limit would be at 2.19TB so from that point of view I can't see why a 2TB disk would be a problem. Are there any additional limitations?

SAS 6/iR controller showed a degraded RAID 1 with Phys Disk 0 failed.  Replaced drive with a new drive and it shows missing in slot 0.  Moved the new drive to slot 4 and added as a HOT spare and it is resyncing the RAID 1 MIRROR.

Ran Diagnostics on controller and it shows OK, reseated all cables, drives, backplane and controller card to no avail.  Any ideas on what's wrong with slot 0?

hello

I have 6 HDD seagate SAS 300 GB 15k (ST3300657SS). 

I try to update their firmware by using 
SAS-Drive_Firmware_52PY8_WN32_ES66_A07.EXE

but this is always unsucessfull with error :
The operation was not successfull because the device buffer write has failed. 

Also the HDD with the firmware 0008 (with vendor ID = SEAGATE) seam to not be visible by the software update tool...

how to do ?

thanks by advance

Hi there,

I've inherited a T710 to maintain. I'd like to view how the drives are set up in the RAID arrays. I was hoping to use PERC managment software to view this info from the OS.

I've been searching everywhere and cannot find the installation file for this. Any ideas?

Hello,

I have a failed drive on a PERC 6/i.  The configuration is RAID-5.  I've replaced drives in this machine before, but always with the help of tech support.  Our warranty is now expired.  I believe I can just hot swap the drive and all will recover, though I do wonder if I'm forgetting some preparatory steps.  Do I have to do anything to prepare the machine (Poweredge T410) for a new drive?

Thanks.

I have PE2900 that is running as our email server.  It is currently configured with 4 160gb SATA drives as a single RAID 10 virtual disk.  I'm running out of free disk space so I was wondering if the PERC 5i would allow me to create another virtual disk simliar to the existing one if I added 4 more similar disks?  Is this possible?

I noticed after restarting one of our servers today OMSA spit the following to the console:

OMSM : Controller event log: Current capacity of the battery is below threshold
: Controller 0 (PERC H800 Adapter)

OMSM : Controller event log: BBU disabled; changing WB virtual disks to WT, For
ced WB VDs are not affected: Controller 0 (PERC H800 Adapter)

So I went to the web-based OMSA (https://<server>:1311) and sure enough the virtual disk writing policy is set to write through.  When I go to the battery Information/Configuration the status has a green check, state of ready and Predicted Capacity Status of ready (see screenshot).  I noticed I'm out of date with the H800 firmware (12.10.4-0001 vs. current 12.10.6-0001).  Before scheduling maintenance I was wondering if anyone has run into this situation or if anyone has suggestions?  Below the screenshot are excerpts from the lsi log.

�

T35: EVT#04794-T35: 141=Battery Present

T35: *** BATTERY FEATURE PROPERTIES ***
T35: _________________________________________________

T35: Auto Learn Period : 90 days
T35: Next Learn Time : 435493310
T35: Battery ID : 3f5f094b
T35: Delayed Learn Interval: 0 hours from scheduled time
T35: Next Learn scheduled on: 10 19 2013 10:21:50
T35: _________________________________________________

T35: *** BATTERY DESIGN INFORMATION ***
T35: _____________________________________________

T35: Design Capacity : 1800 mAh
T35: Design Voltage : 3700 mV
T35: Specification Info, : 31
T35: Date of Manufacture : 10,31 2011
T35: Serial Number : 2379
T35: Pack Status-Config : 14
T35: Manufacturer Name : SMP-SDI2.0
T35: Device Name : DLGC9R0
T35: Device Chemistry : LION
T35: Design Data : 80dbdd4b
T35: _____________________________________________

T35: *** BATTERY CAPACITY INFORMATION ***
T35: _____________________________________________

T35: Relative State of Charge : 0 %
T35: Absolute State of Charge : 0 %
T35: Remaining Capacity : 0 mAh
T35: Full Charge Capacity : 1561 mAh
T35: Time to Empty : 65535 Min
T35: Average Time to Empty : 65535 Min
T35: Average Time to Full : 65535 Min
T35: Cycle Count : 13
T35: Max Error : 2 %
T35: _____________________________________________

T35: *** BATTERY MONITORED INFORMATION ***
T35: ____________________________________________________________________________

T35: Temperature : 27 C Voltage : 3685 V
T35: Current : 0 mA GasGaugeStat : ad0
T35: GPID : 8111013 ChargerStatus : 3
T35: Remaining Capacity : 0 mAh Full Charge Capacity: 1561 mAh
T35: Relative Stat of Charge : 0 % FwBBUState : 1
T35: ____________________________________________________________________________

09/10/13 19:51:51: EVT#04843-09/10/13 19:51:51: 149=Battery temperature is normal
09/10/13 19:51:51: EVT#04844-09/10/13 19:51:51: 162=Current capacity of the battery is below threshold
09/10/13 19:51:51: EVT#04845-09/10/13 19:51:51: 195=BBU disabled; changing WB virtual disks to WT, Forced WB VDs are not affected
09/10/13 19:51:51: Change in current cache property detected for LD : 0!
09/10/13 19:51:51: EVT#04846-09/10/13 19:51:51: 54=Policy change on VD 00/0 to [ID=00,dcp=0d,ccp=0c,ap=0,dc=1,dbgi=0,S=0|0] from [ID=00,dcp=0d,ccp=0d,ap=0,dc=1,dbgi=0,S=0|0]
09/10/13 19:51:51: Change in current cache property detected for LD : 1!
09/10/13 19:51:51: EVT#04847-09/10/13 19:51:51: 54=Policy change on VD 01/1 to [ID=01,dcp=0d,ccp=0c,ap=0,dc=0,dbgi=0,S=0|0] from [ID=01,dcp=0d,ccp=0d,ap=0,dc=0,dbgi=0,S=0|0]
09/10/13 19:52:13: EVT#04848-09/10/13 19:52:13: 113=Unexpected sense: Encl PD 0c Path 500c04f2e2cd3b3d, CDB: 1c 01 a0 00 04 00, Sense: 5/24/00
09/10/13 19:52:13: Raw Sense for PD c: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 24 00 00 00 00 00 00
09/10/13 19:52:13: EVT#04849-09/10/13 19:52:13: 113=Unexpected sense: Encl PD 0c Path 500c04f2e2cd3b3d, CDB: 1c 01 a0 00 04 00, Sense: 5/24/00
09/10/13 19:52:13: Raw Sense for PD c: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0b 00 00 00 00 24 00 00 00 00 00 00
09/10/13 14:52:13: EVT#04850-09/10/13 14:52:13: 44=Time established as 09/10/13 14:52:13; (122 seconds since power on)
09/10/13 15:04:35: EVT#04851-09/10/13 15:04:35: 73=VD 01/1 Properties updated to [ID=01,dcp=0d,ccp=0c,ap=0,dc=1,dbgi=0,S=0|0]

�

My Dell PERC H710P (with latest FW A04) was working completely fine with driver 5.2.220.64 on Windows 8, until recently I tried out installing Windows 8.1 RTM on the machine, it caused FW hang when launching the Windows Setup:

I believe Windows 8.1 was shipped with driver version 6.801.5.0 downloadable from Dell, which I have also tried and incurred the same FW hang issue.

I am scared - does anyone know what is happening??

Cheers

Chris

Running Win2k8R2, I donwloaded the latest SUU, and ran the autoupdate for everything. The disk firmware update failed.

So I downloaded the new firmware directly, and tried to run the updater, but it failed again

Here's the information:

The firmware I tried to update to is KS6B,A06

Log:

The version of this Update Package is newer than the currently installed version. 
   Software application name: ST31000424SS Firmware
   Package version: KS6B
   Installed version: KS65



Executing update...

Device: ST31000424SS, Application: ST31000424SS Firmware
   The operation was not successful because the device buffer write has failed.  Run diagnostics to verify configuration and try again.

Any ideas are welcome

Hi,

I have a PE 2970, with serial number S/T (REMOVED BY MODERATOR),server is turn on, but in the screen no image, and the on the LCD  messages, E2110 MBE DIMM 5 &6 and E2111 SBE Log Disable DIMM6.What is  the MBE and SBE?And how you  think is the problem?

Regards, Abilay!

Hi,

I bought two Dell T110 II for a customer and was under the assumption they would use Intel's Storage Matrix RAID capabilities (given the Chipsets these servers use). I was wrong. Instead I got the Perc S100. I created a RAID 5 Array on that and it seems painfully slow. Turns out the S100 does not support write caching unless you have a battery (or something).

Anyways... what are my options to upgrade to a better controller? I asked Dell, they said they would send me an email with details, but they never did.

What I need:

A good and solid RAID controller that supports RAID 5 and write caching. I certainly don't need the top of the line controller, nothing fancy here, but it should be reliable and reasonable fast. Main requirement: It should support SATA drives and it would be nice if I would not have to do a lot of cabling. I imagine something that plugs into the SATA bus and takes it over.

Please help.

Thanks

Sascha

So I have just bought a Dell r410 server, without doing my investigation first. It seems that with the current RAID controller (perc s300) I can't install a linux system. It supports only Windows. So far, so good... after removing the controller and connecting the drives (SATA HDD) directly to the MB with a sata cable... they are not shown at all. Bios doesn't see them or showns them as unknown according to the setting I choose (AHCI, SATA..)

Any suggestions? I just upgraded to the latest BIOS version from 1.3.9 to 1.11.0, but still no progress.

Guys,

I have a PE2950 III with Windows Server 2008 R2 that has a 2TB drive coming from a MD3000i SAN. I want to backup that drive every day to an external drive. The question is, can I insert a drive every day and backup my data using robocopy? I know the server supports hot-swap disks but only for rebuilding raids, I have 5 external drives (2TB SATA - a drive for each day) that I need to insert into the server and backup daily

I know I need to get an interposer board & caddy for the Sata drives
Does anyone see a problem with this approach?

Currently I am backing up through an eSata BlacX Thermaltake docking station which is VERY slow.

Let me know

Thanks

Dear Forum members,

I made good use / read previous posting on misc topics.  Now I have one of my own.  I am no expert to DELL SERVERS / didn't have problems before.

I got this Dell PowerEdge 1900 for 4 years, never got any problems.  When I got it, I loaded Windows Entreprise server 2003 sp1.  Everything worked just fine until a few days ago when it booted through the boot process, stopped, never went through to Windows Server 2003.  It just stay blank ( on the screen ), left it run overnight.....  and still blank.  [ Normal process, it should have gone to Windows screen.... ).

Apparently one of the disks went bad ( my guess ) - please refer to attached snapshots of "on scrren boot  messages" below.  

PLEASE HELP.  HOW DO I BRING IT BACK?  A LOT OF DATA RESIDEs IN THE SYSTEM.

QUESTIONS:

1.  Can I make the system reboot with just 3 good disks? 

2.  If  I need to replace the bad disk, does it have to be the same size and specs?  Can it be bigger in size or greater in RPM?

3. PLEASE GUIDE ME THROUGH!

HELP!  ( Please see attached info in the snap shots of the system below )

Would appreciate your help very much!  If you need more info, please let me know.

Sincerely,

HK_UH_Hi