upengan78

updated

14 years ago

U

upengan78

64 Posts

1

490605

April 26th, 2012 08:00

DEGRADED Battery status H700 Raid adapter

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

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 08:00

    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

    11 Legend

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 09:00

    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

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 08:00

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

  • theflash1932

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 08:00

    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

    64 Posts

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 08:00

    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

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 08:00

    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?

    DELL-Chris H

    Social Media and Communities Professional

    Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

    #IWork4Dell

    Did I answer your query? Please click on ‘Mark as Accepted Answer’. ‘Thumbs up’ the posts you like!

  • theflash1932

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 09:00

    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

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 09:00

    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

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    Posted April 26th, 2012 09:00

    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

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    Posted April 27th, 2012 07:00

    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