DEGRADED Battery status H700 Raid adapter

Question

Hi,

Just got an email from monitoring system.

WARNING: [XYZABC] Cache Battery 0 in controller 1 is Degraded (Non-Critical) [probably harmless]br/------ SYSTEM: PowerEdge R310, SN:XYZABC

Checked Battery status under Main System Chassis-Good. However, battery status for H700 RAID Adapter shows Degrade state. O/p is pasted below.

Name	Battery 0
State	Degraded
Predicted Capacity Status	Ready
Learn State	Due
Next Learn Time	0 hours
Maximum Learn Delay	7 days 0 hours
Learn Mode	Auto

This is PowerEdge R310.

Firmware:

BIOS:

Manufacturer	Dell Inc.
Version	1.8.2
Release Date	08/17/2011

H700 Adapter :

Firmware Version	12.10.2-0004
Driver Version	00.00.04.31-RH1

BMC:

Baseboard Management Controller	1.70
Unified Server Configurator	1.4.0.25344

What is there I can try myself before I contact Dell support? This is just warning so obviously I am not going to call dell support but email them, and that I believe will take 2 days for me to get a response from them..

Thanks in advance.

UG

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

If you are in the States or Canada, you can call them 24/7 and get a response immediately. Every 90 days, the PERC's initiate a "learning cycle", which completely drains the battery, then recharges it. During this time, write cache is turned off, an warning and error thresholds are tripped for the battery charge. O would give it up to 24 hours; if it hasn't returned to optimal/normal status, then call Support.

If you want to confirm the learning cycle is responsible, the controller log will usually log when this event is going on.

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

Honestly, playing the odds, upgrading the firmware probably isn't going to "fix" the status, so if you are looking for a single reboot only, then wait for the battery. Just know that it is good preventative maintenance to keep system firmware up to date, as many unexpected drive failures/timeouts, battery degradation, error recovery/foreign configuration handling, memory errors, PCI/CPU errors, etc. can be fixed before they happen.

4/26 is right inline with the 90-day cycle ... I suspect it entered degraded when the learn cycle was supposed to begin, because it couldn't begin; still, I would think, there would be a controller log entry to that effect. I'm also not surewhat time is is for you ... MST, it is not yet 5 hours from the time is listed to start.

upengan78 · Answer

This I believe is Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release, either 5.6or 5.7

theflash1932 · Answer

And, as Chris said, because the controller is responsible for monitoring and managing the battery, having the controller firmware up to date can be important.

upengan78 · Answer

Thanks guys, appreciate your quick helpful replies.

Makes sense what you just said about learn cycle.

I see this in the event log for January.

2189 Fri Jan 27 09:48:32 2012 Storage Service The controller write policy has been changed to Write Back.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2199 Fri Jan 27 09:48:32 2012 Storage Service The virtual disk cache policy has changed.: Virtual Disk 0 (Virtual Disk 0) Controller 1 (PERC H700 Adapter)

2279 Fri Jan 27 09:48:31 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is operating within normal limits: Battery 0 Controller 1

2278 Fri Jan 27 09:07:21 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is below a normal threshold.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2247 Fri Jan 27 09:07:21 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is charging.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2177 Fri Jan 27 09:07:06 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has completed.: Battery 0 Controller 1

but don't see anything like that today

2238 Thu Apr 26 09:45:04 2012 Storage Service The controller debug log file has been exported.: Controller 1 (PERC H700 Adapter)

2238 Thu Apr 26 09:45:01 2012 Storage Service The controller debug log file has been exported.: Controller 0 (PERC H800 Adapter)

2181 Thu Apr 26 05:41:59 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle will start in 5 hours.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2181 Thu Apr 26 04:07:55 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle will start in 5 hours.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2181 Wed Apr 25 10:42:19 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle will start in 24 hours.: Battery 0 Controller 0

I recently had a dell engineer come and replace battery on PE R310 as server got rebooted abruptly and was using H700 adapter for internal raid. That time I didn't see H700 adapter Battery degraded but support technician said BBU needed replacement after seeing DSET o/p. Makes me wonder if there was a bad batch of batteries :(

On that R310 all firmwares were up to date.

I will wait till the end of day today and give dell support a call but if this status(DEGRADED) is confirmation of BBU being bad, then I don't really wannt to take system down two times being in production. I will want to do firmware update and BBU replacement , both at same time.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

UG, The server and controller look to be slightly out of date. The battery error can happen due to it being behind. What is the OS on the server and I can get you the links you need?

theflash1932 · Answer

If your January log goes back far enough, you might be able to get a sense for how long it will take, but it sounds like part of the cycle to me.

upengan78 · Answer

Oh, I agree with your note on keeping firmware up 2 date. Right now I don't have any mechanism that tells me that new firmware is available.  If there is anything I could use to keep myself updated regarding new package/firmware updates available for a server/Service Tag, I'd be willing to use it. If there is anything like this on Dell site, please let me know. Thanks.

upengan78 · Answer

Thanks for continuing to advice.

I see more items in the log now.

2415 Thu Apr 26 10:05:26 2012 Storage Service Controller battery is discharging: Battery 0 Controller 1

2248 Thu Apr 26 10:05:26 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is executing a Learn cycle.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2176 Thu Apr 26 10:04:21 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has started.: Battery 0 Controller 1

By the way I am using CDT(US Central time)

Battery properties for H700 adapter are now as below.

Name Battery 0

State Learning

Predicted Capacity Status Unknown

Learn State Active

Next Learn Time 0 hours

Maximum Learn Delay 7 days 0 hours

Learn Mode Auto

I just hope that what you said is exactly what is happening here:)

upengan78 · Answer

Everything is in good state now. Battery status changed to Ready from DEGRADED.

2358 Thu Apr 26 18:06:14 2012 Storage Service The battery charge cycle is complete.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2358 Thu Apr 26 15:38:46 2012 Storage Service The battery charge cycle is complete.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2279 Thu Apr 26 14:27:24 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is operating within normal limits: Battery 0 Controller 0

2189 Thu Apr 26 14:27:24 2012 Storage Service The controller write policy has been changed to Write Back.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2199 Thu Apr 26 14:27:24 2012 Storage Service The virtual disk cache policy has changed.: Virtual Disk 0 (raid5vol) Controller 0 (PERC H800 Adapter)

2278 Thu Apr 26 14:25:14 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is below a normal threshold.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2247 Thu Apr 26 14:25:14 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is charging.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2177 Thu Apr 26 14:24:59 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has completed.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2278 Thu Apr 26 14:23:14 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is below a normal threshold.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2188 Thu Apr 26 14:23:14 2012 Storage Service The controller write policy has been changed to Write Through.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2199 Thu Apr 26 14:23:14 2012 Storage Service The virtual disk cache policy has changed.: Virtual Disk 0 (raid5vol) Controller 0 (PERC H800 Adapter)

2279 Thu Apr 26 12:54:06 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is operating within normal limits: Battery 0 Controller 1

2189 Thu Apr 26 12:54:06 2012 Storage Service The controller write policy has been changed to Write Back.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2199 Thu Apr 26 12:54:06 2012 Storage Service The virtual disk cache policy has changed.: Virtual Disk 0 (Virtual Disk 0) Controller 1 (PERC H700 Adapter)

2278 Thu Apr 26 12:16:11 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is below a normal threshold.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2247 Thu Apr 26 12:16:11 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is charging.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2177 Thu Apr 26 12:15:56 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has completed.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2415 Thu Apr 26 11:45:59 2012 Storage Service Controller battery is discharging: Battery 0 Controller 0

2248 Thu Apr 26 11:45:59 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is executing a Learn cycle.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2176 Thu Apr 26 11:44:54 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has started.: Battery 0 Controller 0

2278 Thu Apr 26 11:07:11 2012 Storage Service The controller battery charge level is below a normal threshold.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2188 Thu Apr 26 11:07:11 2012 Storage Service The controller write policy has been changed to Write Through.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2199 Thu Apr 26 11:07:11 2012 Storage Service The virtual disk cache policy has changed.: Virtual Disk 0 (Virtual Disk 0) Controller 1 (PERC H700 Adapter)

2415 Thu Apr 26 10:05:26 2012 Storage Service Controller battery is discharging: Battery 0 Controller 1

2248 Thu Apr 26 10:05:26 2012 Storage Service The controller battery is executing a Learn cycle.: Battery 0 Controller 1

2176 Thu Apr 26 10:04:21 2012 Storage Service The controller battery Learn cycle has started.: Battery 0 Controller 1

theflash1932 · Answer

Good to hear it.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

DEGRADED Battery status H700 Raid adapter

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