EVA 4400 Controller does not start after replacement

[spirit986]

We had EVA 4400 Controller2 failure aprox one month ago after performing some maintenance in our datacenter.

After enclosure restart the one of the controllers didn't start anymore and only one of the controllers, Controller1, was shown in the Command View, and Controller2 had its status Unknown and was not shown in the 

Storage system > Hardware >Controller Enclosure   any more.

Now yesterday a replacement controller arrived and we've performed the exact procedure of a controller replacement as described in the manual.

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02493440/c02493440.pdf

We also ordered the new controller with the same firmware as Controler1

First we pulled out the memory modules from the old controller and we put those in the new controller in the same positions.

Second we put the controller in the enclosure, connected the cables as they were and last installed the controller in the enclosure.

However the new controller didn’t boot up and it didn’t show up in the command view (as same as the old one). It was as same as we did nothing to the enclosure. The only noticeable difference was that with the old controller there was the orange exclamation mark, on the back of the controler, lit up as the failure indication. The new controller didn’t show anything similar.  There were no lights lit up and no messages in the logs except for one unclear message about problem with the memory dimms.

We tried resetting the controller in the enclosure and we even tried to reseat the memory just in case to be sure. Again, the same result and another error about the memory.

Is it possible that this might indicate a memory problem?

Also the new controller arrived with its own memory which, (as I described above), we replaced with the old controller memory. Is it safe to try to install the new controller with the new memory or we risk data loss? We cannot experiment much since there is already a production system running on the array.

Thank you for the responses.

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

>Is it safe to try to install the new controller with the new memory or we risk data loss?

Why would you put the old memory in the new controller?  Was there more memory in the old one?

What data loss?  If the new controller didn't boot, there is no data there.

[Johan Guldmyr]

If the replacement controller already has DIMMs installed you wouldn't have to remove the DIMMs, especially if they were the same size.

Problem could also be with the position in the enclosure.

[spirit986]

Thanks for the tip guys :)

Yesterday we have returned back the original memory dimms from the new controller it booted up fine with no problems. I guess the old controller had memory problems after all.

The thing was that in the manual was stated that one must put the memory from the old controller into the new prior replacement. But I guess that should be taken into consideration if the new controller doesn't have memory in it.

Good thing that everything is fine now.