HP Proliant DL180 G6 with ESXi 5.0.0 - Continuous I/O error

[azkerm]

Hi There,

Previously, I've posted an issue which I was facing with the server in detail as I am a newbie to Proliant servers. It's on a P410 smart array with RAID 6 (two disk fault tolerance - 1TB x 12). Had an issue with the RAID due to a disk failure, replaced it and the Array configuration utility showed that is ok now. However, it later showed that slot 11 is rebuilding, do does the overall array. So I kept the server for  two days to rebuild, but at the end of the process it simply said; "interim recovery failed". Knowing that I've ordered another disk so that I can get it replaced.

Having said that; our server array controller runs on ancient old version which needs to be updated. Also, I'm not sure whether the disk need a firmware update too. Now I've couple of questions to clear;

• Will updating the array controller firmware effects the current ESXi build or will it stop working? If not, how can I update the controller version?
• When I check the array through ACU offline utility, I see an option to erase each drives. Can I try erasing drive in slot 11, remove it and replace it or any ways to rebuild. Meanwhile, I do have the existing drive which I replaced on slot 1 as said above, can I replace it atleast. ADU report is attached for further understanding.
• I've set-up iLO management but I don't see anything related to the raid controller its just the basic. What can I do about it?

Our ESXi is not been obtained by HP. So I can't even see the array using CLI also it doesn't show on vSphere too. What can be the cause to this "interim recovery failed" error. I'm totally lost with this & its pretty difficult to search for proper article on HP site. Part number for the disk in the server is: 461289 - 001 (1TB SAS disk)