How to upgrade a HD to revision T107

Fred2k15,

Did the replacement drive successfully rebuild into the array despite the Unsupported message?  We assume that it did and the state of Unsupported is just informational.  There are a couple of reasons that may cause OMSA to report a hard drive as “Unsupported”.

 With the revision number just one revision behind, it is unlikely that the firmware is the cause, but it is possible. Sometimes it’s just a simple communication issue. That would trigger that OMSA and an update of the hard drive FW would resolved this.  By the revision number it does look like Dell certified drive, but please do make sure that is. Any non-Dell certified drive may show up Unsupported.

Try updating the firmware on your replacement drive from the link below: Install and launch the tool which will allow you to create a USB bootable update utility or a Bootable CD disk (Does not support DVD disks). Once you boot to the utility it will take about 5 minutes to check the drives and update any drive where applicable. You would the exit the utility and boot normally.

Dell Nautilus Firmware Update Utility for SAS and SATA disk and solid state drives: Version A12

Thanks very much for the response.

It doesn't look like the disk successfully rebuilt into the array because when I check under Physical Disks, it doesn't show any capacity (see screenshot attached to OP) and if I check under Virtual Disks in the array that it's supposed to be part of, it doesn't appear at all.

It's a Seagate "Cheetah 10" model number ST3300555SS which is the same as what was removed, although I've just noticed another difference. The replacement disk I bought was a 10k RPM, but the one I took out says "Performance: 10K, RPM: 15K"  - is this a show stopper, or do you think it's still worth trying to update the firmware?

...and if I do use the Nautilus Firmware Update Utility, I have to shutdown the server and boot it from this USB/CD to update it? I can't do it whilst the server stays online?

OK, right now, your best approach will be see to if the drive can be updated.  If this is a Dell Certified drive, it may be possible that it is defective. It may not even allow the update to be applied.

I suggest you try another known good drive have if have one.

Adding 10K RPM hard drive to your Array with 15K RPM hard drives is not a show stopper; it only degrades your RAID array as it impacts the controller performance.

Yes, with the provided Nautilus tool, you will have to apply firmware updates while the server is offline.

 Please let us know if this work out.

Hi again,

I have tried Nautilus but am having problems getting it working. When I created a bootable USB drive and tried to run that, the systems tells me to remove and disks and retry.. when I tried from a bootable CD, the DVD drive light flashes once so it obviously accesses something, then on screen it says "NK" and all the HDDs flash green repeatedly. I've left it for over an hour and nothing has changed.

Any ideas?

Fred2k15,

This is quite unusual. It is most likely that the replaced dive is having some issues. Please run the System Diagnostic BIOS on the hard drive by pressing F10 during System POST as illustrated below:

You may not even be able to run the diagnostic if this hard drive is failed.

Let me know the findings from this diagnostic analysis.

Thanks for the suggestion - I pressed F10 and saw the "Entering Utility Mode" message, but I never got the prompt for selecting the Boot Device Menu.

I'm pretty sure the HD is ok because when I enter the RAID utility I can see it and it lets me create a RAID array with it... it's just this Nautilus software I'm having trouble launching.

Is the "NK  _" message that appears (after booting from the CD image I created) any clue? Does it normally display that when the software starts?

I don't actually have an O/S on the system I'm working on... Basically the live server is 250 miles away from me and I've had the HD which says "unsupported" when I add it to the array sent back to me. I have a replica Dell P.E. 2950 here, so my plan was to upgrade the firmware and send it back to the live server again.

I have tried removing all HDs except the one I want to upgrade, and I've tried the original server's 6 HDs (without this one that I want to upgrade) but in both cases I can't launch Nautilius.

Is it normal for the "NK _" to appear on screen when Nautilius is launched?  This is the point at which it just stops (with HD LEDs flashing).

EDIT: I have also just downloaded the file again, and rewritten a new bootable CD to make sure it wasn't a bad download, or a faulty CD... still getting the same issue.

I have attached a screenshot of what I see on screen after the Nautilius tries to boot. Also, the LEDs circled are the ones which flash (as if being interrogated). I have left it for hours and nothing happens.

Fred2k15,

The update tool normally launches automatically and applies the updates through a series of prompts, and takes about 5 minutes to complete. What you are experiencing is certainly unusual and we have not seen it before.

We are glad that you confirmed the hard drive is fine. However, when searching our database we found a discrepancy in RPM. It shows as 15K RPM with the model number ST3146855SS, instead of 10K. Please provide the Dell part number ( DP/N) to help find appropriate information about the drive.

Otherwise, if the hard drive is not Dell certified, then the unsupported state is normal. Therefore, we would recommend going for the Dell certified drive.