Empty PS6000 still initializing after factory reset

Question

L.S., I've obtained a Dell Equallogic PS6000 chassis with 2x Control Module type 7. Firmware is version 7.1.7 (uname -a). After connecting with a serial console cable, and performing a reset to factory defaults, the unit is still in some sort of initialization state (message: 'The storage array is still initializing') preventing me from setting it up correctly. Currently, no disks are present in the chassis, so no need to worry about data and backups, but since I performed a reset to factory defaults, how can it be it is still initializing? It is still complaining that 1 health issue is still remaining, but since I can't look into any logging or other kind of alerts, I do not know what to do. I've already read this topic...https://www.dell.com/community/EqualLogic/Equallogic-ps6000/m-p/5107086 ...which made me a little wiser that the message could be a result from some sort of error during the boot process. But what could that be, I performed a complete reset. Or did I? Looking deeper into the matter, I manually removed the disks, that are not present, but were labeled 'bad/failed' with 'disktool -r drive#'. I don't know what to do next and I would like to try and avoid having to open a case. Please advise.

m_w_mol · Accepted Answer

Never mind, I found this article...

https://www.dell.com/community/EqualLogic/Initializing-This-may-take-several-minutes-to-complete-NEVER/td-p/4058192/page/2

...seems I have to populate 8 of the 16 drive bays.

dwilliam62 · Answer

Hello,

Yes that was going to be my first suggestion. You can't create a RAIDset with less that 8x drives in that chassis.

The other drives likely had a RAID label so the array was waiting for the rest of the drives to come online. If the bootup process has failed you would not have gotten a log in prompt.

Regards,

Don

EqualLogic

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