MD3200 sodMain CtrlrLockdown: No shell access

Question

Hello, I am a Dell certified tech working for a re-seller. I am currently going through a handful of MD3200 units, I've got 11x controllers to work with but I cannot get any of them to boot correctly, they all go into one of several Lockdown modes. I only need to get one of them working then I can simplex/duplex mirror the rest. My two best candidates go into the regular sodMain CtrlLockdown that is typically easily remedied by running lemClearLockdown. However, the shell does not run so it does not respond to any commands. I cannot even run 'i' to display current tasks. I cannot access the service interface either, the 'S' has no effect, it never prompts me for the password: supportDell It was suggested by a Dell tech on a thread that I commented on to remove the controller batteries for about 10 minutes then re-install everything in hopes it would clear them. However this too has no effect. I have tried a number of different sets of drives as well, but each time SOD does not complete and it throws: This controller is locked down due to detected corruption in the primary database. In order to prevent any configuration loss, the backed up database must be restored. My question is what causes this? I do not care about any configuration, the last step in my production process is to run smcli commands and blow out the entire config to prep it for an end user.  Does anybody have any suggestions on how to re-spawn the shell? Any help is much appreciated, I'm a day behind on one unit and nearly a week on another. Regards, JW

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello JW,

What you will need to do is to connect the serial cable to Controller 0 which if looking at the MD from the rear it is the controller on the left, and do a capture text using hyper terminal or putty and capture the boot up process of the MD as we can see where it is getting stuck at. The setting that you will need with be 115200-8-n-1. I will send you a private message with a link that you can upload the file to so I can review it for you to see what is going on with your MD3200.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

ManPJ · Answer

Hi - I have a similar problem. We are a dell reseller, trying to prep a batch of MD3200i that came in but its locked down, can't get to any shell or service interface. Here is the boot up messages: http://pastebin.com/xrC13ZYd

Any help would be appreciated.

DELL-Sam L · Answer

Hello ManPJ,

So after looking at the serial capture that you posted from the controller that is in the lockdown state what is needed to be done is that you will need to replace that controller. The reason is that the controller has a database error. When you get a database error on the controller you have to see if it is the primary database or the secondary database error. In your case it is the primary database that is corrupt, & when that happens there is times that you can get the controller out of the lockdown state but it will fail again & go back into that state again. Also I have had some customers that have tried to get it to come out that state & the controller doesn’t come out & boot up like normal.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

ManPJ · Answer

Thanks Sam-L, I removed that controller and connected to controller 2 and all I got was this http://pastebin.com/FqhDvpfT and was unable to get a shell as well.

dharmie · Answer

Hello Team, please can someone review these images and help me with a way to clear the DB corruption to bring the controller out of lockdown mode so I can bring the storage back to life?

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi @dharmie,

I've responded to you at https://dell.to/3yIib4O;

Please avoid posting on multiple post, as you might obtain multiple replies which may cause unintended various troubleshooting causing more damages to your issue.

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