VA7410 - problem witha adding a new disks

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

Hello,
I have a VA7410 with
Local Controller Product Revision:____A000
Remote Controller Product Revision:___A000
and try to add a few new disks. All new disk are in "init failed" status, and the magenta light is blinking. After the hard reboot, status is the same "init failed" but magenta light is off.
Any idea what is happening to the array or disks?
I have attached the armdsp output with this message.
With regards,
RaV

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

Naturally Amber LED not Magenta :)

[Mario_66]

Please,

something is strange with your VA. Which FW version is currently present on your controllers? A000?!

Regards,
M.

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

Controller Product Revision: A000

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

I think the solution is: http://www4.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&admit=-938907319+1112617729487+28353475&docId=200000076110827

But i'm not sure.

RaV

[Marco Hogeveen_1]

Hi Rafal,

The VA should reformat every drive from 512 bytes blocksize to 520 bytes blocksize and apparently it cannot do that on your disks

A000 Firmware is very very old (the first firmware as you can see) and full of ehhh let's say hidden features. Please call HP and let them update the firmware to A130.

This should solve many issues, probably the one you're seeing also.
They can also update Firmware of the DS2405 to HP05 and the disks firmwares as well.

[Marco Hogeveen_1]

Hi Rafal,

The link you provided doesn't describe your problem because Auto Format IS enabled in your system:

SUB-SYSTEM SETTINGS

RAID Level:___________________________RAID1+0
Auto Format Drive:____________________On

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

yeah, but I'll try to switch off Auto Format. Then remove disks, and switch on AF. After this I'll try to place the disks into array.
Can U tell me, how to place 7 new disks into the array? What is the sequence?

With regards,
RaV

[Mario_66]

Hi Rafal,

is there any chance to put one of these new disks into main enclosure?
512-byte disk should be converted into 520-byte one if everything is OK with HDD.
There is a very small possibility that you have a bunch of bad disks. I saw something similar few years ago. Strange disk's S/Ns reminded me on it. Did you buy them through HP channel or somewhere else?
Also, before any disk upgrade I strongly suggest you to consider FW upgrade of the VA as Marco suggested, too.
I am not aware of any disk upgrade sequence, but one by one is my preferred way.

Regards,
Mario.

[Rafal Niesiobedzki]

Hello again,

This is what i did today.
step1. Swich off the AutoFormat option
step2. Remove disk from array
step3. Swich on the AutoFormat option
step4. Place the disk into array.

After that, the amber LED is off, but green LED is permanently lighting.

Disk is still in "Init Failed" status.

With regards,
RaV