Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
4 Posts
0
26808
How do I prompt a rebuild on the 2610SA?
I built a Windows Vista Server with an Adaptec 2610SA RAID card in a RAID 5 configuration. The 6 drives are just data drives and are 250 gig Hitachi drives. The Vista operating system is on a completely seperate drive. At some point the array got degraded, I think due to a power failure. Now when I reboot the server the boot up screen just after the RAID controler boots up says that the array is Rebuilding. I was glad to see that however the leds on the RAID card show almost no activity.
When I go into the RAID Configuration Utility in the RAID card BIOS the array is shown as Optimal, however the Adaptec software that I have loaded on the server to manage the array says that the array is Degraded. However both the RAID configuration utility and the Adaptec RAID manager software show all the drives as healthy and optimal.
Also, if the Raid is infact rebuilding in the background there also doesnt appear to be any way to see what the status of the rebuild is.
Questions:
1.) Is it possible that the individual drives are fine but the array still needs to be rebuilt with out replacing any hardware? Is it possible to do that?
2.) If none of the drives are bad and the array just needs to be rebuilt how do I prompt it to rebuild? I thought that it would rebuild itself automaitcally.
3.) Once it starts rebuilding how do I see the progress of the rebuild?
4.) I'm assuming that becuase the drive channel LEDs on the RAID card are not active that there is no rebuilding going on. Is my assumption correct?
I'm using the Adaptec software to manage the RAID array, however it really cant do anything significant with the array. I tried loading Dell OpenManage however that software package doesnt even see the array.
5.) Is there a Visat version of the Dell Open Manage software?
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
December 11th, 2009 14:00
5.) There is no version for the Dell OpenManage Software that works under Vista. Vista is not a certified O/S for Dell servers, so a version supporting vista was not developed. Perhaps a dual boot with a supported O/S would allow you to use the openmanage, but #4 below would still apply
4.) The CERC cards and their F/W versions are known to need matching versions of the drivers and management S/W for everything to be working well. Look at the F/W, Driver, and S/W builds for compatibility. Lack of LED activity does lead to the conclusion that there is not currently an active rebuild going on.
Fix #4 and numbers 1-3 may become moot.
Provide exact F/W , Driver and S/W versions and one of us can provide links to the downloads.
Regards Dell-GaryS
smelchionda
4 Posts
0
December 13th, 2009 14:00
THANK YOU so much for the help! I really apprciate any assistance you can give me!
I assume by F/W you mean Firmware? If so where would I access that information?
When I boot the system I can see that the Adaptex SATA RAID Bios version is 4.2-1 (Build 7368)
Controller is an Adatpec 2610SA
Controller Monitor is version 4.2-1 (7368)
This is obviously all shown before Vista boots.
When I hit cntrl A to go into the RAID configuration utility I thought that I could find more info there, but there doesnt seem to be anything there either. Is there something else I can do to get more info?
If I bring up the Adaptec ICP stroage manager application I can see the following info:
BootROM = 4.2-1 (7368)
Firmware = 4.2-1 (7368)
Device Driver 5.2-0 (10384)
Serial Number BC08B8
I have an empty partition on the "C Drive", I'm thinking I could potentially install another operting system there in addtion to the right drivers and management software for this card, boot into that partition and then kick off the rebuild.
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
December 14th, 2009 16:00
Hi, ok let's do some translation, the Adaptec 2610SA appears to be the CERC SATA 1.5/6. Please compare the drawings in the manual to your card and advise if I got it right.
Manuals and technical updates are found at:
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
The latest F/W update is at (firmware build 7419)
There are at least several versions more recent than the version you are using.
smelchionda
4 Posts
0
December 15th, 2009 15:00
Yup... thats the same RAID card. I knew it was also referred to as a "CERC"... I shoulda put that in my question.
I downloaded the F/W update... I cant run the update from my VISTA operating system. After I double clikc on the exe I get an error message saying that its not compatible with my systems configuration. I assume that means the Vista operating system?
Is there another way to update the F/W?
I see it can be installed from a bootable floppy, however I cant run this from a floppy either as I dont have a floppy drive on the server or anywhere in my house for that matter.
Could I write it to a DVD and then boot from that and then preform the update via interactive mode?
DELL-GaryS
777 Posts
0
December 16th, 2009 12:00
It appears that you can use a USB memory key or an external floppy. Not sure if the extraction routine that makes the floppy can write to a DVD as that usually takes a burner program. There should be instructions on how to make a memory key bootable on the web.