LH4 stopped with errors

[Hansi]

We take an HP LH4 Netserver with RAID 5. Now the netserver starts with errors like
1 logical drives failed
Operating System not found

We have 6 hdds about 9.1 GB

Our list of drives-id, array number and status are
ch 0
id 0 a0-4 online not Responding
id 1 a0-0 failed
id 2 a0-1 online
id 3 a0-2 failed
id 8 a0-3 online
id 9 ready

Who could help, its important ?

[harry d brown jr]

Hansi,

What Operating System are you using?

Also, was this server moved?

Did it experience a power outage (hard crash)?

Was any thing physically modified in the server?

Was any software modified since the last time it was operating correctly?

live free or die
harry

[Hansi]

Harry,

Our Operating System ist NT 4.0

The server moved since 1998.

There is nothing modified physically at the server

Our Software wasn`t modified.

Hansi

[Greg Carlson · Accepted solution]

Hansi,

You have more than one failed hdd in your array which means you have lost your data. You can try a few things to try to get back to your data but you may be at a reinstall/recovery mode.

Go into Objects->physical drives in Ctrl-M and do F2 drive info on each drive. See if ID 0 is indeed not responding. Check all other ID's for any errors showing. The fact that you have a drive showing in Ready state indicates you had a Hot Spare at one point

If ID 0 is not responding, pull ID 0 out 2inches of the slot (ID 0 is the bottom right on a pedestal, bottom left for a rack) Then in ctrl-M force your two failed hdd's back to an online status. On your next boot with ID 0 out it will be marked to a failed state. If you can boot back to your NOS then try to start a rebuild to ID 9. ID 0 if it is not responding is most likely a dead drive that is not spinning up.

Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Helpers, dear Greg,

ID0 is now responding
The other hdds show me FAIL in Objects->Physical Drive but i can take the Drive Information about them. The FAIL Drives are

ID1 FAIL A0-0
ID3 FAIL A0-1

The NOS didn`t start and so i can`t rebuild.

Could take me anyone help by the following steps ?

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

Now that ID 0 is responding.. Force ID 1 back online leaving ID 3 failed. If you are able to boot back into the NOS, get a good backup and then do a rebuild on ID 3. If you are not able to get into the NOS with ID 1 online force it back to a failed state and force ID 3 online. IF you are able to get back into the NOS then do a rebuild on ID 1. Do not force both ID's 1,3 online at once because you could introduce parity corruption in your stripe. It is best to get back to an optimal state via rebuild from a multiple drive failure like you have.

Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

where do i find ID 1 on a pedastral ?
Are the steps as the same how ID0 ?

Thanks Hansi

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

From bottom up on the right side the ID's go:
0,1,2,3,8,9

Were you able to get into the NOS with the above Posts?

Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

Are the steps as the same how ID0 to get online the Fail drives ?
Or is there anything others to do ? Sorry I??m a beginner in this.

Thanks Hansi

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

Go into Ctrl-M
Then Objects, physical drives
Do you still see this config?

ch 0
id 0 a0-4 online
id 1 a0-0 failed
id 2 a0-1 online
id 3 a0-2 failed
id 8 a0-3 online
id 9 ready

If you have this config and all drives are responding hit enter on ID 1, make online and accept the warning. Leave ID 3 as failed.

Exit Ctrl-M and reboot to your NOS. IF you can get into the NOS then do a rebuild on ID 3. If you get a BSOD or fail to get into your NOS then go back to Ctrl-M, objects->physical drives and hit enter on ID 1 and mark as fail and then hit enter on ID 3 and mark as online and retry to get to the NOS. If you can get into the NOS then do a rebuild on ID 1. If you still can't get into the NOS with that then last ditch is to mare ID 1 and 3 online and mark ID 0 to failed since you had a message at one time that ID 0 was not responding. If none of these steps gets you back into your NOS then you are looking at a reinstall/recovery.

Hope this helps,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

My config shows

ch 0
id 0 a0-4 online
id 1 a0-0 failed
id 2 a0-1 online
id 3 a0-2 failed
id 8 a0-3 online
id 9 HOTSP

After to take ID 1 or ID 3 online the server couldn`t find the operating System. Now i test how it functions with ID 1 and ID 3. Do I rebuild the ID 9 to ready ?
Could you explain me, why the server don`t find the Operating system ?

Hansi

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

It sounds like you most likely have lost your data due to multiple hard drive failures.. According to your last post you still have two hdd's in a failed state...
ch 0
id 0 a0-4 online
id 1 a0-0 failed
id 2 a0-1 online
id 3 a0-2 failed
id 8 a0-3 online
id 9 HOTSP

Have you tried these three possible configs? Pull out ID 9 until you know what to rebuild

ID 0 failed a0-4
ID 1 online a0-0
ID 2 online a0-1
ID 3 online a0-2
ID 8 online a0-3
ID 9 ready (pull out ID 9 the top drive)
If you boot to NO OS Found with this config try:
ID 0 online a0-4
ID 1 failed a0-0
ID 2 online a0-1
ID 3 online a0-2
ID 8 online a0-3
ID 9 --
If still boot to NO OS Found with this config try:
ID 0 online a0-4
ID 1 online a0-0
ID 2 online a0-1
ID 3 failed a0-2
ID 8 online a0-3
ID 9 --

If you can't get to your NOS with any of these there is no data to rebuild so you will need to reconfigure your array, reinitialize your array and reinstall your NOS and restore from Tape Backup.

Sorry but it doesn't sound good for your data...

Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

after booting with the following configuration

ID 0 Online a0-4
ID 1 failed a0-0
ID 2 Online a0-1
ID 3 Online a0-2
ID 8 failed a0-3
ID 9 ready

the Express Tools show me that ID 1 and ID 2 failed.
Could you explain me how this could be ? I starting with the configuration above.

Best regards
Hansi

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

According to your last config you show:
ID 0 Online a0-4
ID 1 failed a0-0
ID 2 Online a0-1 (failed?)
ID 3 Online a0-2
ID 8 failed a0-3
ID 9 ready

I really think at this point Hansi that your best resolution is going to Configure, New Configuration and recreate your Raid 5, reinitialize and reinstall your NOS and reinstall from backup.

Have you called into your local HP support to walk through any of these steps with someone live? That may help you.. If you have followed my steps in the previous posts and you still have drives getting marked as failed and you are still not booting to the NOS your Raid Array is gone..

Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

sorry I`ve seen there is a mistake in my last message:

The configuration after booting is:

ID 0 Online a0-4
ID 1 failed a0-0
ID 2 failed a0-1
ID 3 Online a0-2
ID 8 Online a0-3
ID 9 ready

Could you explain how I Configure and recreate my Raid 5, reinitialize ? Should I format the Drives before Configure the drives/RAID 5 ?

Best regards

Hansi

[Greg Carlson]

Hansi,

To recreate your Raid 5 go to:
Configure, new Configuration, Yes
All hdd's will show as ready
Hit spacebar starting with ID 0,1,2,3,8
Once they are all flashing with
ID 0 online a0-0
ID 1 online a0-1
ID 2 online a0-2
ID 3 online a0-3
ID 8 online a0-4
ID 9 Ready (if you want a hotspare) or online A0-5

Then hit enter to end the array
F10 to configure Array
Arrow down to Accept the Array and leave advanced config as default unless you want to change your stripe size (leave default for most configs)
Then hit enter on accept and then enter one more time, You should be prompted to save the config. Configuration should show as saved.
Then Exit to main menu and go to objects->physical drives and confirm your config is saved. Then from the objects, physical drive arrow down to ID 9, hit enter and make hotspare.

Then go back to the main menu, initialize, hit spacebar on LD0 to select that logical drive and then F10 to initialize. Once it is done initializing then you are ready to reinstall your NOS.. I don't think that you need to format your hdds unless any of them show any errors.

Good luck,
Ciao,
Greg

[Hansi]

Dear Greg,

sorry that i talk to you now, but i didn`t become any messages last 4 ??days. I rebuild my Raid5 and i backup our data from tape. Thanks for your informations about my problems.

Best regards
Hansi