HP 2M

[Edward Smith_2]

Hi all, I'm experiencing an issue with an HP Netserver LC2000 with a 2M RAID controller. The issue is that the array is stuck at 11% background initialization. Here is the machine info- the firmware version for the 2M is H.02.01, the BIOS version is G.02.03. There are 12 ST336752LC drives connected in a RAID5 array with one drive as hot spare. All the drives are at firmware revision 3. For a time, there was notification that 2 drives had 2 media errors, but that has disappeared, and no errors currently show. All drives are online. There is also an HP 3Si installed in the server, and it is at firmware C.02.03 and BIOS version B.02.03; an Adaptec 29160 is also installed, if this makes a difference for troubleshooting purposes. How can I help the background initialization finish?

[kris rombauts]

Hi Edward,

this is a known issue with the 1M and 2M firmware and is fixed when you upgrade to the latest f/w H.02.02.

Have a look here for detailed problem description:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00043477&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=51930&locale=en_US

and here for the H.02.02 F/W :

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?pnameOID=296140&locale=en_US&taskId=135&prodSeriesId=51930&prodTypeId=51210&swEnvOID=54

regards, Kris

[Edward Smith_2]

Thanks, Kris, I received your response and downloaded the H.02.02 firmware. I have one question before I do the firmware upgrade- can I do that while a background initialization job is showing as hung? That job still shows 11%, and I don't want to do anything that will compromise the integrity of the RAID5 array. Do you have any advice regarding this situation? Thanks again in advance.

[kris rombauts]

Hi Edward,

the f/w upgrade is a off line process so you have to shutdown the server and boot from a floppy to flash the 2M's F/W to H.02.02. Once this done and booted again the next consistency check will run ok.

Under normal circumstances (even with media errors reported) this should just run fine.
Their can be media errors in a array, as long as they initially don't occur at the exact same time in the same stripe their is no problem for the data availability.

The reason why the consistency check is hung here is described in the article and is a well understood specific problem that does not compromise the array/data. If you have the Netraid monitor software running you will see some entries in the Windows eventlog (media error with sense key).

As a general rule, one always takes a full backup when doing low level tasks like f/w or bios upgrades.


Kris