ML310e Gen8 v2 not able to hot swap power supplies

[tr7123]

I have a ML310e Gen8 v2 server with the redundant backplane and 2 x 460w power supplies installed (part no 643931-001). 

I have noticed that redundancy upon unplugging the cord or loss of AC supply works as expected, but I notice that if I disconnect and remove a power supply by pressing the tab and removing it from the server, upon re-inserting it and re-connecting the AC, the green LED stays off.

After a while, iLO reports the system health as "OK" and both power supplies "Redundant", but the LED on the PSU remains dark.  In reality, the redundancy is not there and removing the other PSU causes the server to fail.

I would have expected the re-inserted PSU to power up with a green LED and redundancy to begin functioning as before.  Additionally, if I then disconnect the AC from the re-inserted power supply, iLO still reports system health as OK!  It seems it gets 'confused' when the PSU is hot-plugged.

I note that the manual requests you power down the server before inserting a power supply, but this seems to conflict with the "hot swap" capability.  Do these servers only provide redundancy for power loss, and are not hot swap, or do I have a problem?

BIOS is P78 04/04/2019,  iLO firmware is 2.73 Feb 11 2020,  and the Power Management Controller Firmware is version 3.1

Thanks.

[tr7123]

I should add, the system is running VMware ESXi 7.0.

I appreciate this is not a supported configuration - I am merely looking for advice or input.  Surely the capability to "hot" replace power supplies should work?

Thanks

[sudhirsingh]

Hi,

If you have a hotswap power supply then yes Power supply hotswap should work without any issue and redundancy should be restored when you plug in the power cable into it.

"LED on the PSU remains dark."  this is unusual.

Not sure but could be an issue with Power supply or Power backplane.

Please ensure that three cables from the redundant power supply backplane to the system board are connected properly,

Refer user guide (page no: 63)

http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c03791990-3.pdf

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Sudhir

[tr7123]

Hello

Thank you for the reply, I have checked the 26 pin cable and it is indeed connected.

I also removed the RPS backplane, reseated all cables but the problem still exists.

Would you suggest replacing the RPS backplane?

Is there a later Power management firmware than 3.1 for the Ml310e Gen8?   If so it is worth upgrading this?

thank you

[tr7123]

Hi

I swapped the backplane but the problem still exists

any ideas?

[sudhirsingh]

Hi,

Try to swap/replace with known good power supply if you can.

Regards,

Sudhir

[tr7123]

Hi, yes, i have a another 465w PSU here and have swapped this but no good

is there anything else to try?

thanks

[tr7123]

Some further info, when system is running on the side of the RPS backplane visible to the user there appears to be an LED called "BP_OK" which is not lit

Is there any significance to this?