PowerEdge R710 There are no physical disks on this controller issue

Question

Hello all.

We had a disk in a predictive failure state on a remote PowerEdge R710 running RHEL 5.

We took the disk offline via the Dell OpenManager Server Administration web GUI.

Since it's a remote server, we couldn't physically remove the disk ourselves so we arranged a hardware vendor to remove the failing disk and plug in the new after we took the disk offline.

Unfortunately, it seems the spare was not done rebuilding before the failing disk was removed and the new one inserted.

Now the controller no longer can see any disks.

Below is output of running omreport commands both before and after the disk replacement.

I'm not real familiar with Dell hardware so I'm not sure how we should resolve this.

The hardware vendor is thinking we need to replace the controller.

Based on this omreport output, I think the controller is fine:

# omreport storage controller
Controller PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)

Controllers
ID : 0
Status : Ok
Name : PERC H700 Integrated
Slot ID : Embedded
State : Ready
Firmware Version : 12.10.6-0001
Minimum Required Firmware Version : Not Applicable
Driver Version : 00.00.05.38-rh1

Minimum Required Driver Version : Not Applicable
Storport Driver Version : Not Applicable
Minimum Required Storport Driver Version : Not Applicable
Number of Connectors : 2
Rebuild Rate : 30%
BGI Rate : 30%
Check Consistency Rate : 30%
Reconstruct Rate : 30%
Alarm State : Not Applicable
Cluster Mode : Not Applicable
SCSI Initiator ID : Not Applicable
Cache Memory Size : 512 MB
Patrol Read Mode : Auto
Patrol Read State : Stopped
Patrol Read Rate : 30%
Patrol Read Iterations : 476
Abort Check Consistency on Error : Disabled
Allow Revertible Hot Spare and Replace Member : Enabled
Load Balance : Not Applicable
Auto Replace Member on Predictive Failure : Disabled
Redundant Path view : Not Applicable
CacheCade Capable : Not Applicable
Persistent Hot Spare : Disabled
Encryption Capable : Yes
Encryption Key Present : No
Encryption Mode : None
Spin Down Unconfigured Drives : Disabled
Spin Down Hot Spares : Disabled

I think we hosed things up by removing the failing drive BEFORE the spare rebuild completed, but I don't know that for certain.

Any assistance on resolving this would be much appreciated.

Thanks all.

Prior to replacing the failing disk drive on our PowerEdge R710, RHEL 5 server, we received the following output from the omreport commands.

Please note the "Failure Predicted: Yes" of Physical Disk 0:0:0

[root@stvlhcidb3 ~]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0
List of Physical Disks on Controller PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)

Controller PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)
ID : 0:0:0
Status : Non-Critical
Name : Physical Disk 0:0:0
State : Online
Power Status : Spun Up
Bus Protocol : SAS
Media : HDD
Revision : YS07
Failure Predicted : Yes
Certified : Yes
Encryption Capable : No
Encrypted : Not Applicable
Progress : Not Applicable
Mirror Set ID : Not Applicable
Capacity : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare : No
Vendor ID : DELL(tm)
Product ID : ST9300653SS
Serial No. : 6XN0AZJ1
Part Number : CN0H8DVC726221BG004SA00
Negotiated Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Capable Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Manufacture Day : 06
Manufacture Week : 48
Manufacture Year : 2011
SAS Address : 5000C500471E9AFD

ID : 0:0:1
Status : Ok
Name : Physical Disk 0:0:1
State : Online
Power Status : Spun Up
Bus Protocol : SAS
Media : HDD
Revision : FS63
Failure Predicted : No
Certified : Yes
Encryption Capable : No
Encrypted : Not Applicable
Progress : Not Applicable
Mirror Set ID : Not Applicable
Capacity : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare : No
Vendor ID : DELL(tm)
Product ID : ST9300603SS
Serial No. : 6SE178AC
Part Number : CN0T871K7262209G04GCA00
Negotiated Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Capable Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Manufacture Day : 07
Manufacture Week : 37
Manufacture Year : 2010
SAS Address : 5000C5002BEC79B9

ID : 0:0:2
Status : Ok
Name : Physical Disk 0:0:2
State : Ready
Power Status : Spun Up
Bus Protocol : SAS
Media : HDD
Revision : FS63
Failure Predicted : No
Certified : Yes
Encryption Capable : No
Encrypted : Not Applicable
Progress : Not Applicable
Mirror Set ID : Not Applicable
Capacity : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare : Dedicated
Vendor ID : DELL(tm)
Product ID : ST9300603SS
Serial No. : 6SE16Z90
Part Number : CN0T871K7262209G01VBA00
Negotiated Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Capable Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Manufacture Day : 07
Manufacture Week : 37
Manufacture Year : 2010
SAS Address : 5000C5002BEC3395

[root@stvlhcidb3 /var/tmp]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0|egrep "^ID |Status|State|Failure"
ID : 0:0:0
Status : Non-Critical
State : Online
Power Status : Spun Up
Failure Predicted : Yes
ID : 0:0:1
Status : Ok
State : Online
Power Status : Spun Up
Failure Predicted : No
ID : 0:0:2
Status : Ok
State : Ready
Power Status : Spun Up
Failure Predicted : No

[root@stvlhcidb3 /var/tmp]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0 pdisk=0:0:0
Physical Disk 0:0:0 on Controller PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)

Controller PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)
ID : 0:0:0
Status : Non-Critical
Name : Physical Disk 0:0:0
State : Online
Power Status : Spun Up
Bus Protocol : SAS
Media : HDD
Revision : YS07
Failure Predicted : Yes
Certified : Yes
Encryption Capable : No
Encrypted : Not Applicable
Progress : Not Applicable
Mirror Set ID : Not Applicable
Capacity : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space : 278.88 GB (299439751168 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare : No
Vendor ID : DELL(tm)
Product ID : ST9300653SS
Serial No. : 6XN0AZJ1
Part Number : CN0H8DVC726221BG004SA00
Negotiated Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Capable Speed : 6.00 Gbps
Manufacture Day : 06
Manufacture Week : 48
Manufacture Year : 2011
SAS Address : 5000C500471E9AFD

Now when we run those same commands after replacement of the failing disk, we get the output below.

[root@stvlhcidb3 /var/tmp]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Error! XML Transformation failed

[root@stvlhcidb3 /var/tmp]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0|egrep "^ID |Status|State|Failure"
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^

[root@stvlhcidb3 /var/tmp]# omreport storage pdisk controller=0 pdisk=0:0:0
Entity: line 21: parser error : CharRef: invalid decimal value
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Entity: line 21: parser error : xmlParseCharRef: invalid xmlChar value 0
DELLﾙ EQ
^
Invalid physical disk value. Read, pdisk=0:0:0
Valid values for physical disk are: None - There are no physical disks on this controller.

Dell-DylanJ · Answer

Hello,

While I would never rule anything out as impossible, I would consider a controller replacement to be almost certainly unnecessary. Per your output, the controller does see drives. I have seen a number of cases where creating a storage failure in the RAID container (removing the disk before the rebuild completed) cause this message to pop. Getting into the PERC BIOS and looking at that may be helpful, as well as simply rebooting.

If you can provide me the output of this command, I'd be happy to look at the log. You should be able to attach a file in a window below the text box. If you don't see it, PM me.

omconfig storage controller action=exportlog controller=0

c01362 · Answer

Hello.

Thanks for responding.

We have tried rebooting this server but encountered the same issue.

The powers that be decided to replace the controller, but we still have the same issue - the controller does not see any of the disk drives.

The output of the "omreport" command is the same as what I provided in my initial post.

I did run the "omconfig storage controller action=exportlog controller=0" command and I have the lsi log but I'm not sure how to upload it to this forum.

Please advise on how to do that.

Thank you.

Dell-DylanJ · Answer

You should be able to attach the log to your reply in a window below the text box where you type. If you don't see it, PM me.

jwm_tn · Answer

Ever find a solution? Looks like you had a failing HDD but you also had the same issue I'm having:

https://www.dell.com/community/Systems-Management-General/XML-Parser-Error-OpenManage-Server-Administrator/m-p/7497431#M28731

Is there any way to get the Dell programmers to look the XML parser code? In my case, I'm almost certain the HDD is passing an invalid character for the part # & the XML parser can't interpret.

Text passed from HDD: 11S00FJ020Y4TKW7M0LH&#-1;&#-1;&#-1;&#-1;

XML parsers online return "A decimal representation must immediately follow the "&#" in a character reference."

????

c01362 · Answer

Hello.

Unfortunately no, we never resolved that issue.

This particular server was EOL so the powers that be decided to decommission it rather than spend time on that problem since the local engineer and remote support were unable to help us fix it after several attempts.

PowerEdge Hardware General

PowerEdge R710 There are no physical disks on this controller issue

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