Odd planar temp warnings - OMSA

Question

One of our Dell servers (PowerEdge R210 II, running OpenSUSE) has recently started to report abnormal alerts for the system board planar temperature.

OMSA logs show series of warning/critical messages alerting of planar temp getting above the upper limits and then (within few seconds/minutes) getting beyond the lower limits:

Critical - Tue Mar 18 09:29:22 2014 - The system board planar temperature is greater than the upper critical threshold.
Non-critical - Tue Mar 18 09:29:22 2014 - The system board planar temperature is greater than the upper warning threshold.
Normal - Tue Mar 18 09:29:27 2014 - The system board planar temperature is within range.
Non-critical - Tue Mar 18 09:29:27 2014 - The system board planar temperature is greater than the upper warning threshold.
Non-critical - Tue Mar 18 09:30:22 2014 - The system board planar temperature is less than the lower warning threshold.
Normal - Tue Mar 18 09:30:28 2014 - The system board planar temperature is within range. -
Non-critical - Tue Mar 18 09:30:38 2014 - The system board planar temperature is less than the lower warning threshold.

We have been checking ambiental and chassis temp by hand, as well as other indicators (fans, temps, voltages), and everything seems to be ok within ranges.

Since lower and upper thresholds are set to 8ºC and 42ºC (~46ºF to ~107ºF) and it is obvious that the server is not suffering such extreme rises and falls of temperature, I guess either the temp probe is failing or maybe there is some problem with the firmware.

Has anyone run into this problem? Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Hi, What version is the bios and BMC/iDRAC firmware at? Since it is showing in the logs it is probably not OMSA causing it. Has the system been rebooted?

more_ruben · Answer

Hi Josh,

The system was rebooted just a week ago. We noticed these alerts some days before this scheduled reboot, and they keep on appearing ever since.

The firmware info:

BIOS Information
Vendor: Dell Inc.
Version: 1.0.3
Release Date: 04/01/2011
BIOS Revision: 1.0

BMC version: 1.70.00 (Build 6)

Cheers

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

The BIOS is very far out of date and the BMC is slightly out of date, updating these may set the sensors back to a normal state so that they stop incorrectly reporting the temperature. Since you are running opensuse and there is not an in OS upgrade method, the easiest method is to use our liveDVD and then run the redhat updates from there.

BIOS: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r210-2?driverId=H2P3G&osCode=ES11&fileId=3348639009&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

BMC: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r210-2?driverId=F4D3G&osCode=ES11&fileId=3163533232&languageCode=EN&categoryId=ES

LiveDVD http://linux.dell.com/files/openmanage-contributions/omsa-65-live/OMSA65-CentOS6-x86_64-LiveDVD.iso

more_ruben · Answer

Thanks for your quick reply!

we will proceed with these updates as soon as possible (we have to first move some services to other servers).

Once we complete these updates I will post how it works out.

Thanks again!

more_ruben · Answer

We successfully updated the BIOS and the BMC two days ago, but the system keeps reporting the same odd temperature alerts, sometimes above the upper thresholds, sometimes below the lower thresholds.

Any further ideas or suggestions?

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

You could try resetting the NVRAM on the BIOS with the motherboard jumper. Page 115 ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_poweredge/poweredge-r210-2_Owner%27s%20Manual_en-us.pdf

more_ruben · Answer

It's been some days since last post. Just a recap of what we have done so far.

We reset the NVRAM, rebooted the system and kept it "under supervision" for some days. The first couple of days no temp alerts were reported, but then the "warning" and "critical" messages appeared again. Just a few messages the very next days, but after a couple more days the number of alerts grew really fast. Eventually, the log filled up and we had to clear it off.

We then repeated these steps again, reseting the NVRAM and monitoring the server. And again, the first days after this reset the system has not reported any new temp alert, but now these messages have reappeared in the log.

I'd greatly appreciate any other suggestions.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Is the system under warranty? At this point it sounds like the sensors are having some issue.

more_ruben · Answer

I am afraid that warranty has already expired. I assume that these sensors are embedded in the motherboard. If so, what are the alternatives now? Replacing the motherboard?

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Yes, replacing the motherboard would be the way to replace the sensors.

more_ruben · Answer

Not the best news...

Just one more question. Are server motherboards available for ordering through Dell site? I have not found any suitable motherboard on the spare parts section.

Thank you very much for your help these days.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

They may not be on the website, you may need to call our parts department, 800-357-3355

PowerEdge Hardware General

Odd planar temp warnings - OMSA

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