ML350 Gen9 Caching is disabled

[Brava]

Hello everyone

My ML350 Gen9 server shut down the other day due to a power outage. The Smart Storage Battery also failed, and the cache became disabled. Today, I replaced the Smart Storage Battery. However, despite all my efforts, I haven't been able to enable the cache. I updated the firmware for the Smart Array and also updated the System ROM, but the situation remains the same.

I noticed something: I went from the boot screen to the Intelligent Provisioning (IP) screen, ran SSA (Smart Storage Administrator), and saw a warning. The warning stated that the disks were configured with a higher version and that I needed to upgrade the version. However, even after all the firmware upgrades I performed, I still couldn't upgrade the SSA version within Intelligent Provisioning.

Am I missing something? The currently installed operating system is Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. Could this be causing a problem?

Thanks in advance to everyone.

[rabindra11sharm]

Dear  Brava

Please update the firmware and driver by HPE SPP Gen9.1. Also update Intelligent Provisioning firmware. then check HPE SSA for error message. If still persist, please change cache configuration.

Cache configuration settings

In the SSA interface, select the relevant controller from the menu => Click on "Modify Controller Settings". => Locate the "Physical Drive Write Cache State" setting. => Change the setting to "Enabled". => Click "Save Settings". => A summary page will appear; click "Finish" to exit. 

Inteligent Provisioning update 

Please download  Intelligent Provisioning recovery media , and HPE USB Key Utility is a Windows. make a bootable pen drive of Intelligent Provisioning with the help of USB key utility. Clear NVRAM(step given below). insert Bootable pen drive of Intelligent Provisioning, and boot the server with that pendrive. Intelligent Provisioning will re flash.

NVRAM clearing Steps.

1. Turn off the server
2. Disconnect the power cords
3. Open the server top cover
4. Locate the system maintenance switch on the system board
5. Change the position of switch 6 from "Off" to "On"
6. Connect the power cords and turn on the server
7. When the alert appears, power off the server and change the switch position back to "Off"
8. Disconnect the power cords and turn off the server again
9. Change the switch position back to "Off"
10. Connect the power cords and turn on the server

Hope, I could provide you with clear and helpful instructions. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here to help!

Have a great day!!

[Brava]

Hello @rabindra11sharm ,

I’ve applied all updates using the latest available SPP. Additionally, I manually installed all updates released on the HPE website after the SPP version I used. However, no matter what I try, I haven’t been able to update the SSA within Intelligent Provisioning.

At this point, I suspect that there might be a hardware issue with the P440ar controller card, and I’m considering replacing it. But there’s one thing I’m not sure about — will replacing the controller card result in data loss?

Of course, if replacing the card doesn't resolve the issue, my last resort would be to clear the NVRAM and reinstall Intelligent Provisioning from scratch. Unfortunately, backing up the data and having the system offline for such a long time is very difficult for me at the moment. I would only be able to proceed with this if I could set up a temporary backup server and migrate the system there first.

For now, I’m just hoping that the new P440ar controller will work without issues...

Best regards,

[Brava · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone, I'm adding this answer to help others. Replacing the P440ar card solved the problem. My biggest suggestion for avoiding this problem is to regularly check the battery and replace it as soon as possible if it's faulty.