Battery on Collector PERC H700 shows Failed

Ttanemori2,

I would be happy to help. 

• Is it a serious problem?
• What could happen if I do not take any actions? Can I leave it for a couple of weeks?
• What to do to solve it?
• Would it be OK to reboot the server for Windows Update?

With the battery actually failed it can affect the performance of the controller. The battery is responsible for powering the controller long enough to write the cache data to disk. Now if you have the Virtual Disks cache configured to Write Back (default), and the battery fails, the controller will convert to a Write-Through cache setting. Which will slow performance. 

What we can look at is to confirm the issue. The controller getting behind in updates can cause false battery errors. On the page you are showing, if you click on the controller, then Driver/Firmware, what revisions are shown? Also, what is the Windows Server version you are using and I can get you the proper links, or you can find most the downloads here - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/powervault-nx3100/drivers

You won't have an issue with rebooting, actually after updating then power down the server and reseat the battery connection for the controller to verify it is seated. Then check to see if the error cleared on power up. If not then likely the battery is truly failed and needs to be replaced. 

Let me know if this helps.

Thank you very much for your replay with detailed explanations. Here is the versions that you were asking.

Firmware Version 12.10.1-0001
Driver Version 4.31.01.64
Storport Driver Version 6.0.6002.22128

Windows Storage Server 2008,  Service Pack 2

• Is the first thing to do is to update Firmware if mine is old?
• What kind of battery it is? Is it like CMOS battery that we can see in general computers?
• Can I replace it while the server is on? Is it easy to do?

Thank you very much.

Ttanemori2,

The battery in question isn't a coin battery like the CMOS battery. It is a block and looks like the picture below.

For the servers updates, use the following;

H700 Driver 4.31.1.64 - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=W7X7H

&

H700 Firmware 12.10.6-0001 - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=C3X7D

I would suggest running the updates first and then power down afterwards to reseat. You should power off before removing it though.