Raid 10 failed to rebuild issue E200i on DL180

[pjs_gsy]

Hi,

I have a problem with a RAID 10 array on a DL180 using E2100i controller.  I belive the problem might be that 2 drives are failed/failing and I need to know how to recover.  I had tried to avoid any issues and an active hot spare was always present, but it appears to have not worked!
  A drive failed, the controller attempted to rebuild using the hot spare, but fails.  It then stays at status "(ready for recovery) logical drive 1 is queued for rebuilding", but it never rebuilds.  If I restart the server and choose the auto recover, it kicks off the rebuild process again, but that eventually fails and the same status comes up.

Looking at the detailed diagnostic report, I have the following drives

                                        Position Device                              Status        
                                        -------- ----------------------------------- ------------- 
                                        0        Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 1I:1:5 Informational 
                                        4        Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:1 Informational 
                                        5        Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:2 Informational 
                                        6        Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:3 Informational 
                                        7        Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:4 Informational

I have 2 that are marked as problematic in the status report

Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:3 

=   Not Ready Bad Sense (0x0b)

Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 1I:1:5=

  Rebuild Write Error (0x11)I

The hot spare is

Physical Drive (250 GB SATA) 2I:1:4 

So I think it is a problem that I unfortunately have 2 failed drives? 

If so, is there any way to rebuild the array online, without backing everything up, starting again?  I'm really looking for a way to recover the array in the background (as I would expect it was supposed to do on it's own!).  The system is currently up and running. 

I have new replacement drives ready as needed.

Thanks for any help or advice. 

[Ali]

Hi,

there could be various reasons for ready for recovery message. You may check one by one.

1. I see the latest controller firmware (Version: 1.86 (C)  (13 Dec 2012) which could make a difference if not updated earlier.
2. drive will be rebuild from the other drives so check the status of other drives to make sure they don't have any problem (bad block etc.)
3. Power cycle the server. (turn off the server, disconnect the power and network cables, takeout the harddrives (not fully) then put the hard drive back in their original location, put all the cables back and turn on the server.)
4. Observe any Logical drive recovery option during post and go for recovery option to start the rebuilding process.
5. It could be problem with Logical drive itself so make sure you have valid backup to avoid any data loss incase nothing works for you

check the following posts as well:

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/RAID-will-not-rebuild/td-p/4643324

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/Start-Recovery-of-array-with-HP-Smartstart/td-p/5193013

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/how-to-start-array-rebuild/td-p/4689476

Hope this helps,

How to say Thanks... click on Star Kudos!

Cheers,

Ali

[pjs_gsy]

Hi,

Thanks. Already checked most of this though. Have the latest firmware. 2 drives DO appear to indicate an issue, hence me posting this. Server has been power cycled, drives re-seated, etc. Option during POST to recover is used (only other option is to let it be).

I'm looking for a solution (like intels) where you can rebuild the strip sets I guess. Looks like HP e200 cannot cope with more than 1 failed drive perhaps, even if you luckily lost 2 drives in raid 10 and kept your systems running.