Array Controller is in a lock-up state

[Sandra Soeksen]

SOLVED

After 2 days having a technician in house, they finally found out that the RAM module has not been plugged onto the controller board properly. That was all.....

regards
sandra

[Dirk Hinrichs]

I am facing a similar problem.
In fact the factory-preinstalled cache module did not sit properly in the sockets, but for a few boots, it worked fine, before the error first occured.

The reinstallation of the cache module did not solve the problem, but an additional error variant occured:

The according error message during post is:

Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure
[Init failure (cmd=65h, err=BFh)]
Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure!
[Command failure (cmd=B1h, err=00h)]

The latter appears to resolve itself after a few reboots with the HP SmartStart x64 disk, but then, after a few more reboots of the server, one of the two error variants orrurs again.

I issued an HP Call Request, but did not get any response yet.
I will report any forther advances here, but if anyone has a quick idea, please don't let me die unknowing ;)

[Andrew Young_2]

Hi Brian.

We have had a similar problem to this before. Does the problem occur without the cache module?

We had a problem previously where, in our case, the replacement cache module was faulty, but because it was expecting a cache module, it wouldn't work without the cache module either.

Not very helpful, but may point to the problem.

Regards

Andrew Y

[Dirk Hinrichs]

In the mean time, i got two new errors from the Controller POST:

1783-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure!
[Command Failure (cmd=11h, err=020h)]

and right now it recognized its volumes again after several lock-ups and infinite initializations, and reports:

1798-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure - Array Accelerator Self-Test Error Occured
Array Accelerator is disabled.

If I eventually get the server booted properly once more, I will try to run a new firmware flah against the controller, and if that fails, I will have an HP technician replace that thing.

>> to be continued <<<

[Dirk Hinrichs]

Update:

somehow the controller healed itself far enough to run a full Windows Server boot, after several boots into SmartStart and running array ACU and ADU.

With applying a forced firmware flash to 5.26 through Version Control Agent, I succeeded to stabilize the controller far enough to make it reliably boot, but with the permanent error:

Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure - Initialize
1798-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure - Array Accelerator Self-Test Error Occured
Array Accelerator is disabled.

Most likely, the replacing the cache module will do the trick, but better have an HP technician carry a new controller with him, too.

By the way, the error 1783 is known to be caused by a failed firmware flash against the controller. As this is a new server in the progress of pre-installation before delivery, and the controller had not been flashed prior to the error, this error message is a little strange.

I hope, you will benefit from my experiences with the controller.

Best regards
Dirk