SA-E200 dead after a reboot?

[R. Lichtendahl]

Hi to all,

I've bought a ML110G5 machine and upgraded it with an SA-E200 card wich has an BBWC-128 module installed, also bought 3x 146GB SAS drives for an nice raid-5 array.

Today i installed the W2K3 SBS software for the first time and everything went OK. After installing some Windows updates i had to reboot the machine. That was the point were it went wrong, the machine can't find any os anymore.

So after a look inside the server i noticed some strange things about the E200 card, first of all all 8 led's were off (including hartbeat). the card looks pretty dead to me :(, the second thing that i notice was that there was an ornge led on the BBWC module wich was constantly on (and still is). When i disconnect the powerline from the server the orange led will go off but blinks about evey 15 seconds. Also when i reboot the machine i do _not_ see an E200 controller installed (makes sence with the no os found message).

So does anybody know if this problem is easy to fix? or where i can find more information about it? what to do in case i can't resolve the problem myself?

Thanks in advance,

Richard Lichtendahl - The Netherlands (Europe)

[KarloChacon]

hi

well try reseating controller - check cables

check this for the LED behavior, page 30
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00688683/c00688683.pdf

does the controller show up during POST?
latest firmware for controller?

clear CMOS(with controller in and with controller out), page 72
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01187581/c01187581.pdf


regards

[R. Lichtendahl]

Hi Karlo,

First of all thanks for the reply.
I posted yesterday a huge reply on my own post, but i cannot see it.

I'll try to answer you question below.

>>well try reseating controller - check cables
What exactly do you mean with this one? is there any posibility to "reset" the controller?

>>check this for the LED behavior, page 30
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00688683/c00688683.pdf
I have done this serveral times, the conclusion of the manual would be "One of the following situations is occurring:
-There is a short circuit across the battery
terminals or within the battery pack.
-The host controller is updating the cache
microcontroller firmware."
I didn't start a firmware upgrade myself.

>>does the controller show up during POST?
In the case described as above No, there is _no_ smart array controller detected by the bios/post screen, all led's on the E200 are off (except the orange one on the BBWC module), including the hardbeat led.

>>latest firmware for controller?
the card was allready up to date, iirc it was version 1.72 (or 1.76???) although i've downloaded the latest version, and the setup say's that im allready have the latest version.

>>clear CMOS(with controller in and with controller out), page 72
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01187581/c011875
81.pdf
I'm gonna try this tonight.

As mentioned before, yesterday posted a huge reply on myself. The short version of the reply would be.. yesterday the card has come alive, with some post messages, one of the post message was describing that the batteries of the BBWC was low, and the other was suggestion to update the firmware of my HD's. In this case windows was booting (but take approx 13 mins to start) after started windows came with an error about the Matrox display driver. i was looking at windows 800x600 4 bit :(

After that the first thing i've done is updateing the firmware of my HD's. Old version was HPD3 new version is now HPD8

After that i reinstall the complete windows setup, and just as before... when i reached the point of windows updates (especially the .NET framework3 and Matrox (ServerEngines) driver) the machine died again. :(

I'm getting some feeling that it has something to do with the last windows update i ran. The day before _exactly_ at the same point, installing a couple of update (incl. the two above) and it went dead (orange led on bbwc is on, and all other leds on the e200 are off).

Tonight i'll try to repost my reply for the exact steps. I'll hope that the server comes alive again this night (or after clearing the cmos) so i can retry the scenario again.

WR,

Richard Lichtendahl, The Netherlands - Europe (GMT +1)

[R. Lichtendahl]

Here i am again,

Yesterday I tried the suggestions of Karlo but with no succes, a cmos clear didn't help.

After re-checking everything again i came to the conclusion that nothing helped, i had one suggestion to try and that was 'removing the backup battery from the BBWC module'.

Easy said, easy done. i measurerd the voltage on the open contacts of the battery and i was 3.76volts, a bit on the high side if you ask me but ok. I placed the BBWC module back (without battery) and give it a retry, and gues what.. the server (and E200) came back to live.

After that i ran the windows update again, and just download the Matrox Server Engine driver (version 6.xx) alone, after the required reboot windows took about 15 minutes to start, and again with an error and a 4 bit screen. The stop-code was send to Microsoft and the response at the code
was "A Video Device driver is running into a infinite loop try bla bla bla..." or something in that kind of case.

After reinstalling the original 5.9x matrox driver everything works like a charm, even the next .NET Framework v3 update was no problem.

The next thing i've done is placing back the battery :) and gues what... the server (and E200) where still alive. (happy me). I left the server running the whole night and day (doing nothing) for 'testing'. Tonight i was checking it again, it's still alive and kicking. Sounds good to me. The last test i take just decrease my happynes :( after a reboot it went dead again! (orange led on BBWC module is on again)

With all the above and earlier writing one thing comes in mind.. it looks to it when the battery is FULLY charged and a reboot takes place then it dies.

Is this possible?
Does anybody have suggestions? or steps to take?

Thanks in advance,

Richard Lichtendahl, The Netherlands - Europe (+1 GMT)

[KarloChacon]

hi

let me ask you this is the option number for your controller?

HP Smart Array E200/128 BBWC Controller
411508-B21

or your bought apart first controller and after that BBWC or similar?

if that is the case can you provide me number from BBWC?

regards

[R. Lichtendahl]

Hi,

I have the 411508-B21 part (an E200 with an 128 BBWC module on it)

Yesterday i removed the battery and directly replaced it (same battery), the machine is back alive again.

Did several reboots without any problems, after a couple of hours (the battery was re-charching) i did the reboot test again, and gues what.. dead again. Before i rebooted the machine i looked at the BBWC led's, the green one was constantly on (charging the battery's)

With Regards,

Richard Lichtendahl, The Netherlands - Europe (+1 GMT)

[KarloChacon · Accepted solution]

hi

faulty controller, ... uh?

regards

[R. Lichtendahl]

Hi Karlo (and others offcourse)

I called with HP (Netherlands) and they will send me a new E200 card, so i can replace it and test again. I hope that the card is delivered tommorow.

Keep you al posted.

And Karlo, thanks for the possible suggestions and effort you take for me.


Regards,

Richard Lichtendahl, The Netherlands - Europe (+1 GMT)

[KarloChacon]

OK

just let us know

regards

[KarloChacon]

hi R. Lichtendahl

I have a question for you

did you do anything special in BIOS or something else in other to get F8 during POST for the e200 controller and configure RAID?


I have a ML110 G5 e200 controller controller is initialized but We don't get the F8 option.

any idea?

regards