Smart Array controller on DL380G2

[Andy2005]

Hi,
we have several DL380G2 servers running W2K. Lately i rebooted two of them and afterwards the disks aren't recognized anymore. Even the Smart Array controller initializing status isn't showing up in the boot process. I updated the bios to the latest version but no success. The smart array ctl seems to have disappeared. The last thing i did in windows was updating some critical patches.
I start to panic a little bit because two of our systems have exactly the same problem (in the same week).

Tx for any clue...
gr
Andy

[Stephen Banks]

Hi
I know that this may seem a silly thing to ask but are all the drives at the latest firmware, as well as the controller itself?

[Rafal Koszyk]

Do any of the utilities on the CD see the card?

Don't update the other servers until you figure this one out :)

[Andy2005]

Tx for the replies.

In fact none of the utilies (smartstart, inspect tool, diagnostic tool ...) see the card. I'm quite sure this is a hardware problem. The only thing is within 2 weeks i have 2 servers with exactly the same problem ! I'm a little afraid to reboot the other 50's ;-)

[Rafal Koszyk]

So the other 50 servers have the same versions and setup but dont have this problem?

[Andy2005]

Indeed !

but rebooting one of them may result in the same problem ! You never know ...

[Rafal Koszyk]

Check if other servers have rebooted since the software upgrade.

[Andy2005]

The last thing i did on the servers was updating some Windows patches (i rebooted lots of them since). I can't understand why a windows patch should have impact on bios/firmware level ...

[Colin_29]

If you are saying that nothing sees the card (not even in POST) then I think this must be a BIOS issue. Can you get into the BIOS and if so does anything else look strange (system date reset etc). I suspect that the settings have been lost. Is there any indication that the battery is dead? Did you power cycle the servers or just carry out a warm reboot?

[Andy2005]

Very strange ... suddenly on one of the servers the array controller re-appears and works fine.
I really can't follow anymore ....