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I have a HP ProLiant web server with two HP 300GB SAS SFF 2.5 inch drives (Model: HP 507127-B21). Both drives have a solid red light, however there is no indication within the management software that either are in a pre-failure state. Also one of these drives was only replaced approximate 3-4 months ago.

Could these lights indicate anything else other than an impending drive failure? Perhaps a firmware update or some warning further downstream relating to the health of the RAID controller? I've looked at the HP documentation here, but a steady amber or red light is said to indicate a failed drive.

There's nothing critical on the server but I'd like to resolve this if I can.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Here's a screenshot from the HP Array Configuration Utility.

enter image description here

Here's a picture of the drives with the illuminated warning lights. The lights may be amber, it's hard to say from the picture I was given.

Picture from data-center

UPDATE 30th June

I have discovered that HP have issued a Customer Advisory on a known fault for this precise drive. I am running the diagnostic software issued by HP to confirm for sure.

UPDATE 5th August

OK I had to wait some time before I could power down the machine. Having completely rebooted the machine from a cold start the warning lights persist. Still no indication anything is wrong on the Array Config Utility and no warnings or prompts on boot up. In a couple of weeks I'll be retiring the machine so it can live out the rest of it's life doing non-critical stuff until it finally croaks.

QFDev
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  • What does HP support say? – EEAA Jun 28 '14 at 18:57
  • I'm working on this but need to locate the "warranty ID" in order to open a support request. Still not sure if this is actually on the drive itself? If I get any word from support will post updates here. – QFDev Jun 28 '14 at 20:10
  • Click on "More information" to get individual drive status. – ewwhite Jun 28 '14 at 22:06
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    Maybe the HP server is allergic to the ***Supermicro*** servers it's sandwiched between... There are some other questions of course. Have you rebooted the server recently? Can you watch the boot sequence? The fact that the server is running means that the drives aren't dead. Firmware revisions also matter. But for real, I'd probably just power the server off and back on. – ewwhite Jun 28 '14 at 22:11
  • You may have a point :) A reboot did not remedy the situation however I have discovered that HP have issued a recall on this exact drive model number. I am now trying to to run their diagnostic software to know for sure if this is the case. – QFDev Jun 30 '14 at 10:05
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    Here's the HP Advisory doc for anyone else experiencing something similar: http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/topIssuesDisplay/?sp4ts.oid=1127655&spf_p.tpst=psiContentDisplay&spf_p.prp_psiContentDisplay=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c03342857-5%257CdocLocale%253Den_US&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken – QFDev Jun 30 '14 at 10:06
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    Why didn't you just click on the "More information" button in your image to show the actual disk status as reported to the controller? – ewwhite Jun 30 '14 at 10:17
  • Array and individual disk status all reporting as OK. The software doesn't believe there to be any problem. I've also run a full diagnostic report from within the Array Config Utility and at a glance I can't see any problems but the report output is very comprehensive and unfortunately beyond my understanding. – QFDev Jun 30 '14 at 14:01

1 Answers1

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The photo looks like your system is an HP ProLiant DL360 G6 or G7 1U rackmount server.

I saw your note about defective HP disks. I work with a considerable number of HP servers and haven't seen this as a widespread problem. I do think that you could provide more information about the Smart Array RAID controller's status during the system's POST process.

The Smart Array P410i RAID controller in that system will tell you in no uncertain terms what it thinks the status of the disks and array are. That's why I asked you to power off (remove power cables) and power on. Watch the POST messages and see if the system prompts you to press F1 at the conclusion of the POST sequence. If it doesn't, there's really nothing wrong with your disks or array.

If the light issue persists, you should be looking at a few things. This server is most likely outdated in terms of system BIOS and controller firmware. Download the HP Service Pack for ProLiant bootable DVD and run it. Evaluate the system's condition after doing so...

If this doesn't remediate the problem, you'll likely be in for a system board replacement (including the P410i RAID controller) or a drive backplane replacement.

ewwhite
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  • Yes you're correct the server is a HP ProLiant DL360 G7 which has been in service since September 2010. We did an unplanned reboot on Friday and there was no `F1` prompt, admittedly the server wasn't completely detached from it's power supply. Thank you for the suggestions, I'm moving some tasks over to another box and we will follow these recommendations as soon as we can. – QFDev Jun 30 '14 at 14:06
  • @QF_Developer You could call HP support and let them deal with it. It's clearly abnormal behavior and you've tried the basic troubleshooting steps. – ewwhite Aug 05 '14 at 19:53