cwandel

updated

5 months ago

C

cwandel

2 Intern

22 Posts

2

308103

March 24th, 2015 07:00

ML6000 dead after firmware update

I have a ML6000 which i tried to update with the latest firmware (660G.GS007library) as this was recommended on the dell support website.

---snip---

Dell PowerVault ML6000 Firmware Update, version A30
43MYT_ML6000_A30_ZPE.exe | Hard-Drive (234 MB)
Bandsicherungsautomatisierung|
Veröffentlichungsdatum: 02 Feb 2015
Letzte Aktualisierung: 02 Feb 2015
Empfohlen <- means "recommended" in german, jic you're wondering
Version 660G.GS007,A30 
---snip---
I uploaded the file (660G.GS007library.tgz) via the web interface. It accepted the file and tried to install the firmware. At least i thought so ...
After some 60 minutes i tried to reconnect to the library (i was able to ping it) but only got "connection refused". I then walked over to the library and was slightly astonished to see "firmware downgrade in progress ... please wait ..."


I let the system sit there over night (as it was time to go home anyway) and today i tried again to connect to it. No such luck. Apparently the firmware install was faulty and the library was still showing the above mentioned message on the display. I then switched off the whole system.

After some 10 minutes i switched it on again and it showed "initialization in progress" for about  three minutes, then the display went black.
Subsequent tries to get the thing to boot again have all been unsucessful. Display STAYS BLACK!
On the LCB all three LEDs are lit and STAY lit all the time (i watched it for 5 minutes - until my eyes crossed :-) )
I then found a procedure (in this forum) discussing an unsucessful firmware updates and tried:
a) switched the library off and removed all power cords, b) removed the LCB, c) switched the library on, d) let it run for 10 minutes, e) switched it off again, f) reseated the LCB, g) switched it on again.
But to no avail.
This system is from 2006 and without warranty (i know ...) but maybe someone could help me with this issue.
Cheers
Christian
  • cwandel

    2 Intern

    22 Posts

    2710

    1

    Posted April 8th, 2015 11:00

    Hello all,

    just to follow this up: i have the library up and running again. So, if this happens to anybody else here is what to do:

    You MUST have a valid backup of the configuration and firmware if you want to upgrade the firmware. Always make this backup BEFORE you try to upgrade. This is absolutey necessary!

    So ... i bought a used but working LCB with a 1 GB CF card on it.

    After installing this into my library it started but complained about "wrong robot" and "wrong drives". The board was obviously from a machine with slightly different hardware (robot) and bigger drives (LTO4 instead of my LTO3).

    Having verified that the LCB and CF card worked, i switched of the library again and pulled the LCB and the CF card off it. Just to be sure i then made an image of the card using "dd" on a Linux machine with a normal USB card reader connected to it. The CF card (even the 1 G card !!) has two partitions on it (one is around 8 MB, the other one around 248 MB). The manufacturer obviously didn't even bother to adjust the partition sizes when they ran out of 256 MB cards ...

    Using

    dd if=/dev/sdc of=/tmp/image bs=1M count=245

    i copied the whole contents of the CF card on my Linux machine. In this case "/dev/sdc" was the device my CF card got assigned upon connecting to my machine. Yours will probably get another device path so please double check or risk your machine getting corrupted. "dd" is like vi: cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous!

    Then i used a new 256 MB CF card and restored the image onto it using

    dd if=/tmp/image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M count=245

    and installed this CF card into the new LCB and the LCB into the library. Works as designed! Same errors as before but i'll get to this right now:

    I then logged onto the library and did a restore using my saved configuration and firmware. After booting again everything was as it was before i tried to upgrade. HEUREKA!

    Then i switched off the library again and again pulled LCB and the CF card off the LCB. I again walked over to a Linux machine, connecting the CF card to the USB card reader.

    Using "dd" i made an image of the CF card with the now restored firmware and configuration, again using:

    dd if=/dev/sdc of=/tmp/okimage bs=1M count=245

    and transferred this image to the old CF card of the old LCB with

    dd if=/tmp/okimage of=/dev/sdc bs=1M count=245

    Putting the old LCB and old CF card together, i installed this into my library and - as i was very sure would happen - it booted normally and is fully usable again.

    I will keep the new LCB though - just in case ...

    If someone has this problem and doesn't want to (mostly unnecessary) buy a LCB just to do what i did, i could now easily help by putting my image onto your (or a brand new) CF card, so you are able to restore your library once this *** happens ... Or i could provide you with the image and you can do the "dd" on your own.

    Just contact me.

    Cheers and happy backups!

    Christian

    P.S. The library is/was manufactured by ADIC. They have been bought by QUANTUM. The Quantum support people did also not want to help me - mumbling somthing about OEM contracts an the like.

    Guys: it's a shame! Y'all got a lot of money for this library - even paid NBD service in the first three years (which was NEVER once used!) and y'all don't feel responsible for the buggy firmware upgrade procedure? come on ...

  • DELL-Sam L

    Community Manager

    8058 Posts

    34386 Points

    5355

    0

    Posted March 24th, 2015 10:00

    Hello Christian,

    What version of firmware was running on the ML6000 before you upgraded to the latest?  Also have you tried to power on the ML6000 with the drives removed & does the ML6000 robot move in the unit?  If you let the ML sit for about 20 minutes when powered on does the robot move at all & start scanning the slots or no?  

    Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  • DELL-Sam L

    Community Manager

    8058 Posts

    34386 Points

    5355

    0

    Posted March 25th, 2015 09:00

    Hello Christian,

    What I would do is that I know you stated that you already removed the LCB & CF card from the system.  How long did you leave them out for?  When I have seen this issue we normally will leave both the LCB & CF card out for about 20 minutes then put both back in to the ML6000 & power it on to see if it will go through itself test.  

    Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  • DELL-Sam L

    Community Manager

    8058 Posts

    34386 Points

    5353

    0

    Posted March 27th, 2015 11:00

    Hello Christian,

    I am still checking to see what other steps that you can try to see if we can get your ML back up & running.

    Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  • DELL-Sam L

    Community Manager

    8058 Posts

    34386 Points

    5350

    0

    Posted March 30th, 2015 14:00

    Hello Christian,

    I checked with one our analyst and at this point the issue is going to be with either the CF card or the LCB.  Now normally when we have this issue and the system is under warranty we replace both CF card & LCB board. Now since you stated that your ML is no longer under warranty then it is up to you as to if you want to purchase the LCB & CF card.  If you wanted to purchase the LCB & CF card here is the Dell Part# YT581, G988H, or U907K.  you can do a search for either one of the part# as all of them will work & all part# are the kit’s that have both the LCB & CF card.

    Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  • DELL-Sam L

    Community Manager

    8058 Posts

    34386 Points

    2710

    0

    Posted March 31st, 2015 13:00

    Hello Christian,

    Here is a link to the users guide and if you look on page 320 it shows you the steps that is needed to replace the LCB & CF card.downloads.dell.com/.../powervault-ml6000_User%27s%20Guide_en-us.pdf

    I can agree with you that in upgrading the firmware on the ML6000 should not have taken out your CF card & LCB.  Without looking at a snapshot that was taken from the ML6000 before the firmware upgrade I am unsure what when wrong with the firmware upgrade.  Since you state that you can read the files on the CF card to me the issue is with the LCB not initializing the ML & letting it go through its self-test.

    Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  • gali0

    1 Rookie

    1 Message

    2 Points

    0

    0

    Posted April 5th, 2026 09:13

    Hi cwandel,

    If you are still around and happen to read this, I’m throwing a message in a bottle here.

    I am currently trying to recover an ML6000 and I really need the image you mentioned earlier in this thread.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    You can reach me directly at gali (dot) d (at) laposte (dot) net

    Thank you in advance.

  • cwandel

    2 Intern

    22 Posts

    0

    0

    Posted April 5th, 2026 10:01

    @gali0​ 

    Have sent you an email with the link to the image. Hope it helps.

  • cwandel

    2 Intern

    22 Posts

    5355

    0

    Posted March 24th, 2015 12:00

    Hello Sam L,

    as to which former firmware was on the lib:

    ---snip---

    Product Information

    ===============

     Vendor: DELL

     Model: ML6000

     Product ID: ML6000 Library

     Product Version: 571G.GS002

     Serial number:

     Service Tag:

    End Product Information

    ---snip---

    Yes, i tried to power up the unit with both drives (LTO-3 FC) removed, no change.

    The robot sadly does absolutely nothing. But maybe i have been too impatient ...

    I'll go ahead and try again to start up the lib with drives removed and will check if anything at all happens within the mentioned 20 minutes.

    I did also remove the flash-card from the LCB (since i figured it could be damaged) and plugged it into a card-reader connected to a linux (LinuxMint Mate 17.1) system just to check.

    The card has two partitions and both are perfectly readable. In /etc/  i also found the correct matching serial number of the system.

    Just to be safe i did a "dd" of both partitions onto a backup usb-stick.

    I also tried to hook up a notebook to the service-port but i don't get an ip-address via dhcp. I could try to give the NB the address 10.10.10.10 and check if i can connect to 10.10.10.1. But i don't have too much hope on that try ...

    Is there anything i can get from the serial port of the LCB? Maybe i can see something happening there during startup. Could you provide me with serial port parameters - just to check?

    Here is some information on the drives:

    ---snip---

    Tape Drives

    ===============


    Begin Drives in Partitions

     Drives in partition: adic_i500

     Number of partition drives: 2


     Drive

     location: 0,2

     scsi element address: 257

     online: 1

     active: 0

     ready: 1

     vendor: IBM

     model: ULTRIUM-TD3    

     serial number: xxxxx    

     firmware revision: 93G0

     drive type: LTO-3

     logical serial number: xxxxx    

     interface type: fibre channel

     WWN : xxx:yyy

     loop ID: 0

     topology: Point-to-Point Preferred

     actual topology: Arbitrated Loop

     speed: Automatic

     actual speed: 1 Gbps


     Drive

     location: 0,1

     scsi element address: 256

     online: 1

     active: 0

     ready: 1

     vendor: IBM

     model: ULTRIUM-TD3    

     serial number: xxx    

     firmware revision: 93G0

     drive type: LTO-3

     logical serial number: xxx    

     interface type: fibre channel

     WWN : xxx:yyy

     loop ID: 0

     topology: Point-to-Point Preferred

     actual topology: Arbitrated Loop

     speed: Automatic

     actual speed: 1 Gbps


    End Tape Drives

    ---snip---

    This information was gathered before me trying to update.

    Your help is very much appreciated!

    Cheers

    Christian

  • cwandel

    2 Intern

    22 Posts

    5356

    0

    Posted March 26th, 2015 05:00

    OK, i'll try this again ...

    Anyway, the LCB itself seems to be ok (see below boot messages i captures from the sreial console) and only the firmware is somehow gone bonkers ...

    ---snip---

    U-Boot 2.0 (Mar  2 2006 - 12:17:31)

    CPU:   IBM PowerPC 405EP Rev. B at 266.333 MHz (PLB=133, OPB=66, EBC=66 MHz)

          IIC Boot EEPROM disabled

          PCI async ext clock used

          PCI sync clock at 66 MHz, internal PCI arbiter enabled

          16 kB I-Cache 16 kB D-Cache

    Board: SC101 LCB 405EP Board

    ADIC U-Boot Build v1.00

    FPGA: Configuring  ver- 2.16

    FPGA: Configuration complete

    I2C:   ready

    DRAM:  128 MB

    Global data at: f8000f80

    Global data at: f8000f80

    Top of RAM at: 08000000

    Top of RAM usable for U-Boot at: 08000000

    Reserving 252k for U-Boot at: 07fc0000

    Reserving 256k for malloc() at: 07f80000

    Reserving 124 Bytes for Board Info at: 07f7ff84

    Stack Pointer at: 07f7ff68

    New Stack Pointer is: 07f7ff68

    Now running in RAM - U-Boot at: 07fc0000, Global data at: f8000f80

    FLASH:  8 MB

    PCI:   Bus Dev VenId DevId Class Int

           00  07  8086  1078  0200  1c

    In:    serial

    Out:   serial

    Err:   serial

    KGDB:  kgdb ready

    ready

    U-Boot relocated to 07fc0000

    Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

    ## Booting image at ffd80000 ...

      Image Name:   Linux-2.6.11-1

      Created:      2009-06-22  20:20:40 UTC

      Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)

      Data Size:    1352392 Bytes =  1.3 MB

      Load Address: 00000000

      Entry Point:  00000000

      Verifying Checksum ... OK

      Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK

    platform_init: exit: 0x00000000

    id mach(): done: 0x00000200

    MMU_init: enter: 0x00000000

    MMU_setup: enter: 0x00000000

    MMU_setup: exit: 0x00000000

    set_phys_avail: enter: 0x00000000

    MMU_init_hw: enter: 0x00000000

    MMU_init_hw: calling flush_instruction_cache: 0x00000000

    MMU_init_hw: back from flush_instruction_cache: 0x00000000

    MMU_init_hw: exit: 0x00000000

    mapin_ram: enter: 0x00000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: enter: 0x00000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: KERNELBASE: 0xc0000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: PPC_MEMSTART: 0x00000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: total_lowmem: 0x08000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: 16MB page loop: 0x00000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: 4MB page loop: 0x00000000

    mmu_mapin_ram: exit: 0x00000000

    mapin_ram: exit: 0x00000000

    lcb405ep_map_io: enter: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_map_io: enter: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_map_io: exit: 0x00000000

    lcb405ep_map_io: exit: 0x00000000

    mmu_context_init: enter: 0x00000000

    mmu_context_init: exit: 0x00000000

    MMU_init: exit: 0x00000000

    setup_arch: enter: 0x00000000

    do_init_bootmem: enter: 0x00000000

    do_init_bootmem: exit: 0x00000000

    ocp_early_init: enter: 0x00000000

    ocp_early_init: exit: 0x00000000

    lcb405ep_setup_arch: enter: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_setup_arch: enter: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_find_bridges: enter: 0x00000000

    bios_fixup: enter: 0x00000000

    bios_fixup: exit: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_find_bridges: exit: 0x00000000

    ppc4xx_setup_arch: exit: 0x00000000

    lcb405ep_setup_arch: exit: 0x00000000

    paging_init: enter: 0x00000000

    free_area_init: enter: 0x00000000

    free_area_node: enter: 0x00000000

    calculate_zone_totalpages: enter: 0x00000000

    calculate_zone_totalpages: exit: 0x00000000

    free_area_node: exit: 0x00000000

    free_area_init: exit: 0x00000000

    paging_init: exit: 0x00000000

    setup_arch: exit: 0x00000000

    Linux version 2.6.11-1 (mksbuild@zoinks) (gcc version 4.0.0) #1 Mon Jun 22 14:20:22 MDT 2009

    ADIC LCB (C) 2004 ADIC, Inc.

    LCB Ethernet MAC Addresses:

      eth0  bi_enetaddr 00:30:8c:03:e5:9b

      eth1  bi_enetaddr 00:01:00:02:00:02

      eth2 bi_pci_enetaddr 00:30:8c:03:e5:9a

    Built 1 zonelists

    Kernel command line: root=/dev/hda1 rw console=ttyS0,38400 noinitrd rootflags=data=journal

    PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 16384 bytes)

    Console: colour dummy device 80x25

    Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)

    Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)

    Memory: 126336k available (1840k kernel code, 1248k data, 344k init, 0k highmem)

    Mount-cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

    FS: File System "sysfs" registered

    FS: File System "rootfs" registered

    FS: File System "bdev" registered

    FS: File System "proc" registered

    FS: File System "sockfs" registered

    NET: Registered protocol family 16

                : 0x0000ffff

    PCI: Probing PCI hardware

    ppc405ep_map_irq: enter/exit: 0x00000000

    FS: File System "pipefs" registered

    CM Resets @ 0xc9000000 + 0x000c000c = 0xc90c000c

    GPIOs = 0x633dff3f

    GPIOs = 0xe33dff3f

    FS: File System "futexfs" registered

    FS: File System "tmpfs" registered

    FS: File System "eventpollfs" registered

    FS: File System "devpts" registered

    FS: File System "ext3" registered

    FS: File System "ext2" registered

    FS: File System "ramfs" registered

    Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de).

    FS: File System "nfsd" registered

    JFFS2 version 2.2. (C) 2001-2003 Red Hat, Inc.

    FS: File System "jffs2" registered

    s1d13xxxfb driver initializing

    Epson S1D13XXX FB Driver

    fbcon_prepare_logo: cols 40, rows 30, new cols 40, new rows 30

    bit_clear_margins: rw 0, bottom_only 0

    bit_clear_margins: rw 0, bottom_only 0

    bit_clear_margins: rw 0, bottom_only 0

    Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 40x30

    fb0: S1D13xxx frame buffer device

    s1d13xxxfb driver initialized with status 0

    D/A: Registering driver

    D/A: mapped @ 0xc9052000

    ADIC LCB CF driver loaded (major 254)

    ADIC LCB NVRAM driver loaded

    Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.2 $ 6 ports, IRQ sharing disabled

    ttyS0 at MMIO 0x0 (irq = 0) is a 16550A

    ttyS1 at MMIO 0x0 (irq = 1) is a 16550A

    io scheduler noop registered

    io scheduler deadline registered

    RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 128000K size 1024 blocksize

    loop: loaded (max 8 devices)

    mal0: Initialized, 4 tx channels, 2 rx channels

    emac: IBM EMAC Ethernet driver, version 2.0

    Maintained by Benjamin Herrenschmidt

    eth0: IBM emac, MAC 00:30:8c:03:e5:9b

    eth0: Found Generic MII PHY (0x01)

    eth1: IBM emac, MAC 00:01:00:02:00:02

    eth1: Found Generic MII PHY (0x02)

    Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2

    ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx

    init_ide_cf: Loading IDE CF driver

    cf_fixup: Overriding PIO and DMA methods

    hda: STI Flash 7.2.0, CFA DISK drive

    ide0 at 0xc9080c00-0xc9080c07,0xc908080e on irq 28

    init_ide_cf: H/W registered at hwif_table[0]

    set_sleep_mode: CF Power down is disabled

    set_sleep_mode: CF is now Idle

    hda: max request size: 128KiB

    hda: 501760 sectors (256 MB), CHS=980/16/32

    hda: hda1 hda2

    lcb405ep flash device: 1000000 at ff000000

    LCB405EP: Found 1 x16 devices at 0x0 in 16-bit bank

    LCB405EP: Found 1 x16 devices at 0x800000 in 16-bit bank

    Intel/Sharp Extended Query Table at 0x0031

    Using buffer write method

    cfi_cmdset_0001: Erase suspend on write enabled

    Mapped flash at 0xff000000

    Creating 5 MTD partitions on "LCB405EP":

    0x00000000-0x00080000 : "mfg_scratch"

    0x00080000-0x00a80000 : "rootfs"

    0x00a80000-0x00d80000 : "initrd"

    0x00d80000-0x00f80000 : "kernel"

    0x00f80000-0x01000000 : "bootloader"

    i2c /dev entries driver

    IBM IIC driver v2.1

    ibm-iic0: using standard (100 kHz) mode

    NET: Registered protocol family 2

    IP: routing cache hash table of 1024 buckets, 8Kbytes

    TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)

    TCP bind hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)

    TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192)

    NET: Registered protocol family 1

    NET: Registered protocol family 17

    FS: File System "rpc_pipefs" registered

    name_to_dev_t: Mapping "/dev/hda1" to a device

    name_to_dev_t: "hda1" changed to "hda1"

    try_name: Attempting to open "/sys/block/hda1/dev"

    try_name: Attempting to open "/sys/block/hda/dev"

    try_name: Reading "/sys/block/hda/dev"

    try_name: Got "3:0" from "/sys/block/hda/dev"

    VFS: Attempting mount on "/dev/root"

    do_mount_root: Attempting to mount "/dev/root" on "ext3"

    hda: hda1 hda2

    eth1: Link is Up

    eth1: Speed: 100, Full duplex.

    kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds

    EXT3-fs warning: mounting fs with errors, running e2fsck is recommended

    EXT3 FS on hda1, internal journal

    EXT3-fs: recovery complete.

    EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with journal data mode.

    VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem).

    Freeing unused kernel memory: 344k init

    init started:  BusyBox v1.4.2 (2009-06-22 14:20:54 MDT) multi-call binary

    **************************************************

    **              ADIC LCB Linux                  **

    **************************************************

    (none) login:

    ---snip---