F/W initialization after putting back SAS drives

Question

Hi everyone . So lately I have been posting here multiple times as I'm dealing with a few issues with PowerEdge R740 . Most of them have been solved with the help of this great community . So now I have another issue . I have PERC H730 . 16 drives are connected to it . 2 SSD drives for OS (RAID 1- 1.9TB each) and 14 SAS drives for data ( RAID 5- 13+1 hot spare 2.1TB each). I installed Windows server 2019 STD on the RAID 1 and found out the windows installer 'Decided' to put the reserved partition on the RAID 5 disks . This was an issue to me because the system showed one 2047GB partition (Which is the hot spare) and another 24TB partition . Both were unallocated and I couldn't do anything with them . All the options were grayed out . I couldn't convert it to GPT because it had the reserved partition which I couldn't even delete . After I have tried to find a workaround with any luck I have decided to remove all the RAID 5 SAS drives so windows installer will be forced to create the reserved partition on the OS disk . It worked . However as soon as I put the disks back ,before it should boot I got F/W initialization message while all the drives were blinking . So I figured ' OK then , let's wait for tomorrow and see how it goes ' . The next day it was the same . Still initialize . CTRL +ALT+DEL reboot the system but it happens again . I can't boot to OS . I can't go to BIOS/LifeCycle\Boot manager . I don't understand what it is happening . All the disks are empty .Why it takes ages to complete ? BTW one time it was completed , but I got an error it can't boot to the OS .CTRL+ALT+DEL made it to initialize again . If I remove the drives again and try to boot to the OS it works . What makes it even worse is the fact I can't connect the system to the network so ypdating is a bit of an issue ( However those drives were fine before I removed them.) All the components were delivered from DELL as is . It was delivered as a unit . No USB drive / Other external devices are connected to it . Anything I can do ? Thank you

DELL-Joey C · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I'm not quite understanding about the 2047GB drive which you mentioned that is the hot spare and you are able to see it during the OS installation. Have you assign the drive as a hot spare in the RAID controller? If yes, the OS installation will not be able to detect it as a drive.

Do you have a picture of the "F/W initialization" stage that you're referring? If the SAS drives are out of the system, are you able to access BIOS or LCC?

Did you install the drives on the correct order again after you pulled it out?

By mean of you saying you can't access to BIOS/LCC/Boot manager, is it even after you have done a cold boot (Power down server and turn on)?

Have you tried power flea? - By removing the power cables from the power supply, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Then install back the power cables and turn on the server. Check if you're able to access LCC.

Let me know.

DiegoLopez · Accepted Answer

Hello @NoamAS,

Good to read the power flea cleared the error.

Now, the screenshot looks good. YOu have got the VD with 13 drives and all of them are Online. The Hot Spare is global so it means it will jump in for any compatible raid.

Regarding LCC creating RAID and deleting any other RAID.. maybe is because if you follow the wizard it does exactly that. But if you go instead to the PERC configuration and manually configure the VDs, then it allow you to create more than one VD. Even if all your VDs are in the same adapter you should be able to have more than one.

Can you configure the iDRAC? If you use the iDRAC configuration should be more easy and on a more friendly environment.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

NoamAS · Answer

Hi Joey .

I'm jumping to your last question

"Have you tried power flea? - By removing the power cables from the power supply, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Then install back the power cables and turn on the server. Check if you're able to access LCC."

Just did and I'm not sure how but seems like it fixed it . The system alerted me about foreign configuration . I couldn't import them because it said they are offline . After some reading I figured I choose to clear foreign configuration ,I don't have data on the disks yet so it's fine . Once I did windows could recognize the disks (Not including the hot spare) .

The thing is I'm not sure about something and will be happy for clarification :

Once I cleared the foreign configuration I had to re-create the RAID 5 . I did it via the BIOS (LCC delete any other RAID configuration along with the creation of a new one , maybe because both RAID 1 and 5 are located on the dame RAID adapter ( Which still seems odd to me . Why it can't ignore other configured RAID? ).

So when I created the RAID 5 again the Hot spare wasn't included in the list so I understood that when you clear foreign configuration it won't clear also the hot spare disk included in the RAID 5 . My question is : Is the system still act to it as a hot spare really or once I re-created the RAID 5 the system
Don't know" about the hot spare ?

I attached the PERC settings screen here . It seems ok to me but I'm not 100% sure .

Also Windows see 26TB overall which seems pretty odd because I thought it should see only 24TB while the rest is for hot spare .

Hopefully I was clear here . It's a lot info I know

Thank you !

NoamAS · Answer

I know but due to some network issues I have I can't configure IDRAC just yet . I'm familiar with IDARC UI as I have another server which is connected to IDARC    Thx .

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

F/W initialization after putting back SAS drives

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