Absolute nightmare of a DL380 G7

[Enrique Olmos Jr]

I have been experiencing the same issue with 4 of my BL460 G6 servers. All get a BSOD that says "Hardware error Call your hardware vendor for support. IN the IML log i get these errors -1719 - A controller failure event occurred prior to this power-up
Uncorrectable PCI Express Error (Embedded device. I have upgraded firmware to newest, have swapped out Mother board with no luck. I have been working with HP for about a month and no resolution. They have told me to upgrade firmware, we chave changed bios settings for PCI and CPU and issue is still the same. All our servers have a p410i controller with 512 cache card. Can anyone shed any light to this issue??????
Thanks

[Martijn Goudkamp]

OK, it has been over 2 weeks since the 1GB BBWC has been replaced and: still up and running, without any problem! So, the combo of the right P410 firmware v3.52 (iLO 1.10) and a newer BBWC revision did the trick!

[BrightMinds]

I've just put in the 512mb replacement that HP have sent to test in our DL380. If it's still unstable it will fall over in less than 1 week.

The 1GB FMBC that I've pulled out has HP 4K1045 on the back and is labelled as REV.0C.

[Simon.H]

Enrique, have you got Battery Backed Write Cache or Flash Backed Write Cache connected to your P410i ?

If it's FBWC, you might have the same issue we have been suffering on the DL380 G7's. Suggest you make sure your P410i firmware is v3.52 and if you still have an issue, get HP to swap out the FBWC.

[Enrique Olmos Jr]

Simon.H
Thanks for your Reply. MY BL460 servers have a Battery Backed Write Cache connected to the Smart Array P410i.I have replaced the 512 mb cache card and still having same issue. The firmware is current on all our servers v3.52.I have yet to replace the battery. We received a batch of about 21 BL460's about 3 months ago and only 4 have the BSOD issue all have same Hardware config, all have firmware up to date.
I read on one of your comments you removed the cahce card, so what i have done is reomoved the cache card on one of the servers and will wait to see what happens. You also mentioned that when they replaced one of the cards the revision was different??

[Sanjeev Malhotra]

Hi all, so am I getting the gist that one should NOT buy DL380 G7's? I'm looking to purchase a few for a client; and myself have used DL380 G5's without issue for many years. Would any of you have any recommendations as for what (hp) server to get in it's place?

Thanks in advance, and I hope you've all resolved your G7-related issues!

[Simon.H]

Enrique, apologies for not replying sooner. Yes, the FBWC cards that HP have been sending as replacements are revision C.05, whereas the original ones we had were revision C.03, but this will be irelevant to you as you have got BBWC not FBWC.

Sanjeev, the problems we have been having have been tied down to some FBWC cards and the P410i array controller firmware, so as long as you know that if you have this issue, you need to get HP to swap the FBWC card, then personally, I would say that the DL380 G7 is fine to buy.

[BrightMinds]

I agree, it's been a real nightmare for us to have an unstable, business critical SQL server.

However, I replaced the FBWC last week and (touch wood) it's been fine since. So if you're happy knowing that you may need to order and wait for a replacement FBWC then fine.

Personally I'm not happy with the support HP have given. Clearly I'm not alone with this issue - the post on my blog gets around 100 hits a day! http://www.geakeit.co.uk/2010/11/11/review-avoid-the-hp-dl380-g7/

They should have made their support staff more aware of this issue and I hope they will soon.

Other than that the server seems fine, it won't stop me going for a Dell/IBM next time though.

[Sanjeev Malhotra]

Thanks very much for your advice Simon, much apreciated.

Best of luck to you all!

[Ali]

Hi Brightminds,

I agree with you on no of posts for the similar issue and this needs to be brought to HP Engineering team so that they work out a permanent solution.

MY experience for the similar issue on G7 server is :
Controller lock-up, malfuction or error on the post could be related to devices/components connected to the controller or controller itself.

BBWC/FBWC is first point of suspection, then controller then other devices like hdd, backplane etc.

cheers,
Aftab