eva controller backplane corrosion

[Greybeard]

Is this a design flaw?  I have now seen four EVA controllers with fried backplanes in the last three months, what the heck is HP playing at!  Anyone else with a lot of EVAs seeing this, and why is there no FRU part listing for the backplane, come on HP.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Is that where the battery connects? How do you protect from a battery leak?

[Greybeard]

Yes this is the cache battery connector, and we have examined the bateries but found no sign of leakage, it may be that the controller continues to try and charge the batteries after they have failed, leading to thermal damage of the connector and backplane.  This has now been seen on several EVAs using HSV200, 210A and 210B controllers on different sites so I think simple leakage unlikely, I have spoken to other admins and their engineers have also seen this on more than one EVA. The only common factor seems to be the age of the equipment (gen 2 and 3).

[hvhari]

There was a recent notification from HP that batteries will be replaced by HP Support personnel in case of failure.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02925460

Once the corrosion happens , the controller needs to be replaced.

[Greybeard]

I think you've missed the point of that advisory somewhat, it states that due to potential leakage, residue, HP now feel the battery should be replaced by themselves rather than as a CRU, in effect an admission of poor battery quality. However if their poor quality batteries now require a payment to an HP service engineer in order to be replaced then when said poor quality component damages my controller that controller should be replaced at HPs expense surely!  As it is, I spent 19 years with DEC, Compaq and HP and as a SAN specialist I feel I am suitably experienced to say that in my opinion the number of backplanes seen (as a percentage of those to which I have access) which have exhibited a failure of this nature suggests we are looking at a major design and quality control issue, and the response from HP is to say that customers should now pay for an engineer (who has presumably been instructed to have a look at the connector when replacing the battery) which is not acceptable. They should be offering an extension on the warranty for the backplane and supplying them to customers free of charge.