HP LH6000R and integrated NetRaid controller

[Barry LaLone]

I installed windows 2003 advanced server w/ 4x18Gb drives in raid 5 config. This setup was working fine for over a month. I got another similar server and wanted to configure them the same. I took 2 drives and put into the other server and put 3x36 gb drives in 1st server. So server 1 has 2x18gb drives in raid 1 config and 3x36gb drives in raid 5.
I reloaded windows 2003 enterprise and started having strange issues like unexpected reboots etc. So I upgraded the firmware on the controller and backplane. After upgrading the firmware I have installed windows 2003 enterprise which reboots just as it enters windows over and over again. I tried windows 2000 advanced server which dies with different blue screens upon windows startup such as IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN or PFN_LIST_CORRUPT. I tried windows nt enterprise which dies at startup with "disk read error". I tested the RAM extensively and it passes. At this point I wish I had not upgraded the firmware. Is there anyway to get a down rev firmware? Any ideas? I am pulling my hair out here.

[Devender Khatana]

Hi,

On which Ldev you are trying to install OS? Right decision would be Raid 1 Only. Have you tried doing it on raid5 LDEV just to confirm the Firmware upgrade as culprit. It does not look like a Firmware problem. Have you formatted both the disks in Raid1 prior to recreating LDEV.

Also you can try by running Consistency check on the LDEV from the card BIOS/Utility provided along with card.

HTH,
Devender

[e4services]

Sounds like a power supply issue to me, specially since you had it up for a month. There have been many reports that unexpected reboots come from the system protection seeing power fluctuations, and replacing the power supplies seems to solve this issue.

[Barry LaLone]

UPDATE. I have since swapped out the hot-swap drive cage and backplane suspecting the firmware. This had no effect. I also disabled the NetRaid functionality in the bios and used 1 scsi drive in the cage to install the O/S. Result was the same. To clarify the symptoms are I can install O/S of my choice. O/S installs completely without any problems in every case. Upon final reboot and attempt to start the new O/S the O/S will crash. This is not an intermittent problem, I can reproduce it reliably every time. So that kind of shoots down a power supply theory, as all the drives and peripherals power up during the install process as well. Windows 2003 Enterprise Server gets a blue screen and reboots so fast you can barely see it. I am begining to suspect some bad ram despite what the testing software has to say, afterall the test software is running on that ram. Also as an fyi I have another box just like this one and loaded it yesterday without issue and it is running fine.