The following drives need automatic data recovery...

[Ayman Altounji]

I have a DL360 which is having problems with drives - I've re-installed the server using Smart Start several times, putting on NT 4.0. The installation completes, but on rebooting the OS I always get the error 'the following drives need automatic data recovery' I press F1 and the server boots normally, but then on reboot says that the recovery did not complete, and resumes it, or, sometimes, says that the recovery was aborted.

Sometimes on reboot it says there are no drives installed.

I've had an engineer come out, he replaced the motherboard and ROC - I thought that had solved the problem as at first the drives seemed more stable, but now they're still acting up.

Anyone know if this is a known issue? The HDs are working ones taken from another server, but I can't test them again now as I don't have the resources available.

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello,
There are occasions when multiple failures can occur, rendering RAID fault tolerance recovery ineffective. RAID 4 and 5 are intended to support rebuilding from a SINGLE point of failure and while RAID 1 can withstand multiple failures, it cannot tolerate a failure on BOTH physical drives that constitute a mirror. The above is true for any RAID environment.
To determine whether or not this condition exists an end user may:
1. Observe that the rebuild operation starts on a replacement or spare
Drive and then stops after some period of time. In a hot-pluggable
Drive environment, all of the LEDs on the replacement or spare drive
will extinguish.

2. Compaq Insight Manager will report that the logical drive state will
change from "READY FOR REBUILD" to "REBUILDING", and then back to
"READY FOR REBUILD" when the rebuild operation fails.

3. If the end user reboots, they will get a POST error message that
indicates a replacement drive needs to be rebuilt or that the rebuild of a spare drive is automatically being performed. Beginning with Smart-1 (SMART Array Controller) firmware Version 2.26, a message that a previous rebuild attempt was aborted will also be given.

If it is determined that this problem exists the user will need to do the following:
1. Backup any information on the logical drive with the problem.

2. Replace the drive(s) that are causing the failure(s).

3. Reconfigure the logical drive.

4. Restore the OS and information to the logical drive.

A DAAD report can be used to determine which drive(s) may have caused a rebuild failure. Although it is not conclusive, the Monitor and Performance data field "Fl Rd Recv" along with the Error Log Data on each physical drive are good indicators of which drive(s) to investigate. In Compaq Insight Manager, the field "Fail Recov Reads" under the Physical Drive Indicators section is another area that can point to the problem drive(s).

Further, before going through all the hassels apply M&P patch which can be obtained by downloading SP16373 from COMPAQ's web site. If you need further assistance please contact our Tech Support at 1-800-OK-COMPAQ.

Regards,