Smart Array 6400

[CraigT_1]

Hiya, Have a bit of confusion with the Smart Array 6400 with a battery that has failed.

The HP System Management was saying that the array battery had failed.

Upon opening the server (ML570 G2) I located what was 2 batteries on the SA6400. One was on the board itself and one was on the 128MB cache board.

Anybody have an idea of why there are 2 batteries? And would the server say the batteries have failed if either need replacing. The online diagnostics say the the battery i replaced is now charging.

As I said I replaced the battery on the 128MB board, but the server still says battery failed.

Any help would be appreicated?

[TTr]

I can only speculate that the onboard battery is for the onboard SA6400 cache. What is the total cache on the 6400?

The battery is not being used yet by the 6400, it will be when it is fully charged. Only then the error will go away (or there may be some clearing that you need to do on the SMH).

> The online diagnostics say the the battery i replaced is now charging.

I assume by online-diag you mean ACU/ADU. This is the one to trust when it comes to raid controllers. Also check that cache settings after the battery is fully charged. The write cache may have been disabled when the battery failed and you may need to be set back to the original setting

[marcus1234]

hmm Craig it is standard HP procedure to change both batteries on this controller when one fails
fyi

Under the Accelerator Status there is a Failed Batteries field value of x0 is Normal, x1 for BBWC battery issues
x2 for Controller battery problem, x3 means both batteries have a problem.

always check firmware on the smart array controllers

[wobbe]

Yeah make sure you have a recent firmware+driver. The 6400 is well known for battery failure warnings that are related to firmware bugs. I've seen it a number of times and then end up changing batteries acouple a time a year. They should last much longer then that.