Array Controller is in a lock-up state

[Sandra Soeksen]

I'm using the DL360 G5. After installing the cache battery the following message appears on the boot screen:

"1783- Slot 0 Array Controller is in a lock-up state due to a hardware configuration failure (Controller is disabled until this problem is resolved)"

I have already switched off the battery, but the messages still exists.

Any ideas?

[Farooq Saleem]

Hi Sandra,

Please give some clarifications:

What controller are you using?
Is it compatible with your server?
Did you try other slot?
Did you unplug the battery and try again?
Did you try the array controller card and battery on other server?

Try these options.

[Andrew Young_2]

Hi Sandra.

You will need to hit F8 when the controller boots to get into the RAID controller maintenance menu and fix the controller configuration.

Regards

Andrew Y

[Sandra Soeksen]

Hi Farooq!

Before I plugged in the battery the first time, everything worked fine.

> What controller are you using?
I'm using a built in P400i Controller with a 256MB Module

>Is it compatible with your server?
It should be because it was build in when I bought the server.

> Did you try other slot?
No, the controller is in a fixed position on the Mainboard. I can plug it off but I can't plug it in into another place.

> Did you unplug the battery and try again?
Yes, without the battery it doesn't work also.

>Did you try the array controller card and battery on other server?
Yes, it also doesn't run on another DL360.


Sandra

[Sandra Soeksen]

Hi Andrew,

unfortunately I can't hit F8 because then the "Integrated Lights-out 2" menu appears.

I have also tried to run the ACU tool that is on the HP Smart Start CD. But the Controller
is not found and so I can't do any maintenance.


Sandra

[Andrew Young_2]

Hi Sandra.

Un fortunately at this stage you now need to log a support call with HP on the warantee. It looks like the config on the onboard P400 is corrupt. There is no way as far as I know of resetting the flash on these boards. It usually means a main board replacement unless there is a way of doing a reset that they may be able to tell you over the phone.

Regards

Andrew Y

[Sandra Soeksen]

Hi Andrew,

this sounds awful...
I will get in contact with the HP support. Unfortunately I have the same problem on another new machine. Looks like a kind of bug or something. I will let the forum know what is was.

Thanks for help
Sandra

[KarloChacon]

Hi Sandra

"unfortunately I can't hit F8 because then the "Integrated Lights-out 2" menu appears"

you have to press F8 when the controller appears con POST after the ilo

but is the controller showed on POST?

because on POST usually I press first F8 to enter ilo, and second when I need to get in to array configuration utility of the controller

regards

[Mick Marshall]

Had same problem myself. Had to get engineer out to fix.

[KarloChacon]

hi Sandra

yes forget what I wrote before

this error 1783, Andrew completely right

Contact your HP support representative for assistance.

1783
http://www.docs.hp.com/en/J6369-90037/apcs01.html

regards

[Sandra Soeksen]

SOLVED

After 2 days having a technician in house, they finally found out that the RAM module has not been plugged onto the controller board properly. That was all.....

regards
sandra

[Dirk Hinrichs]

I am facing a similar problem.
In fact the factory-preinstalled cache module did not sit properly in the sockets, but for a few boots, it worked fine, before the error first occured.

The reinstallation of the cache module did not solve the problem, but an additional error variant occured:

The according error message during post is:

Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure
[Init failure (cmd=65h, err=BFh)]
Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure!
[Command failure (cmd=B1h, err=00h)]

The latter appears to resolve itself after a few reboots with the HP SmartStart x64 disk, but then, after a few more reboots of the server, one of the two error variants orrurs again.

I issued an HP Call Request, but did not get any response yet.
I will report any forther advances here, but if anyone has a quick idea, please don't let me die unknowing ;)

[Andrew Young_2]

Hi Brian.

We have had a similar problem to this before. Does the problem occur without the cache module?

We had a problem previously where, in our case, the replacement cache module was faulty, but because it was expecting a cache module, it wouldn't work without the cache module either.

Not very helpful, but may point to the problem.

Regards

Andrew Y

[Dirk Hinrichs]

In the mean time, i got two new errors from the Controller POST:

1783-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure!
[Command Failure (cmd=11h, err=020h)]

and right now it recognized its volumes again after several lock-ups and infinite initializations, and reports:

1798-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure - Array Accelerator Self-Test Error Occured
Array Accelerator is disabled.

If I eventually get the server booted properly once more, I will try to run a new firmware flah against the controller, and if that fails, I will have an HP technician replace that thing.

>> to be continued <<<

[Dirk Hinrichs]

Update:

somehow the controller healed itself far enough to run a full Windows Server boot, after several boots into SmartStart and running array ACU and ADU.

With applying a forced firmware flash to 5.26 through Version Control Agent, I succeeded to stabilize the controller far enough to make it reliably boot, but with the permanent error:

Slot-0 HP Smart Array Controller Failure - Initialize
1798-Slot 0 Array Controller Failure - Array Accelerator Self-Test Error Occured
Array Accelerator is disabled.

Most likely, the replacing the cache module will do the trick, but better have an HP technician carry a new controller with him, too.

By the way, the error 1783 is known to be caused by a failed firmware flash against the controller. As this is a new server in the progress of pre-installation before delivery, and the controller had not been flashed prior to the error, this error message is a little strange.

I hope, you will benefit from my experiences with the controller.

Best regards
Dirk