Re: Flashing lights on my disk drives on an Alphaserver ES40

From: Matt Finbow (matthew.finbow_at_btinternet.com)
Date: 01/28/04 

Date: 28 Jan 2004 04:54:02 -0800

rcbryan@hotmail.com (RC Bryan) wrote in message news:<fbcf38dc.0401271228.44398a76@posting.google.com>...
> > > on the front. When it came up again, it could not read from any DKA
> > > devices and the lights on my disk drives were all flashing together.
> >
> > Try first !
> >
> > >>> SHOW DEVICE
> >
One thing to check for might be where are the disks plugged into?

The fact that the lights are all 'flashing together' seems to indicate
a RAID controller - check to see where the disks actually go to and
then check that the controller is seen by the SRM console

i.e. show config should return something like
'Bus nn Slot nn:CPQ SmartArray 5300 pyan.n.n.n.n'
or whatever the controller is - even if it is not a RAID controller it
should be listed in SRM e.g. a PKxn device. If the system can't see a
controller then it won't see disks the other side.

If it is a 5300, check the installation manual to see if the SRM
variables have changed - i.e. the HEAP_EXPAND and the BOOTBIOS

If the RAID controller is seen by SRM, go into the RAID config utility
and check that (a.) your physical drives are seen and (b.) your
logical drives are still defined

At a wild guess, if you had a RAID 0 stripe set across all the disks
and one failed I would imagine that the logical drive would not be
available - but I don't know whether it would flash the lights

try posting the 'show device' and 'show config' output for more
detailed help, also get a look at the drive controller (physically).

Also note that if you have embedded SCSI adaptors on the system board
AND a RAID card, it might be normal to have no devices showing on the
internal SCSI bus(es), so if the RAID card disappears then there would
be 'unused' controllers - make sure you follow the disk cables back!

Disclaimer: I don't have an ES40, the only OpenVMS RAID controller I
have is a KZPAC running unsupported 36Gb disks and the above is only a
gut feeling. (Although PC RAID controllers do tend to flash drive
lights to indicate groups / problems), on the otherhand I did do some
reading up on the SA5300A to see if I could use a secondhand Proliant
(PC) version in a DS10

Matt.
>
> The way I know it does not see any DKA devices is because I did a
>
> >>> show device
>
> I was kind of baffled by the results since it listed a SCSI bus. I
> had to go to another system and compare the results to see that I was
> supposed to see the disks. I expect this is one of those problems
> that will go away as soon as I take everything apart and put it
> together again. If it was my PC, I would have had it in pieces a long
> time ago. Since it is a 4 processor ES40 alphaserver, I think I may
> just wait for a tech from HPQ.
>
> The way all the lights are flashing together tells me something, I
> just don't know what. I need a magic decoder ring/book/CD or
> something.

>
> Thanks,
> /RC Bryan

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