AX-4 Not booting completely

What is the blink rate of SP Fault LED?

I have been reading a bit more on this and it seems I am also able to access the SHIP_it menu and use the recovery partition.

I have now tried to reload the OS on both SPs and while the operation succeeded, I still get exactly the same problem as before (the com port console is stuck at get drive parameters (extended) and all lights green, but unit cannot get detected).

I would appreciate a lot of someone could post some info on how to diagnose the problem further. Since the COM port connection does not show any errors and gets stuck after the get drive parameters line it is difficult to debug the problem.

The ones on the back are off for both SPs. I have also tested if the LED itself works by pressing the password reset lock and it does light up if I push on that button.

I will describe the lights:

Before the post, the lights blink very slowly. When the POST is happening (3 lines of some base64 appering) it blinks about once per second.

Then it starts blinking rapidly and the COM port console freezes on the get drive info. This rapid blinking continues for a few minutes and then the amber led on the front of the chassis lights up and goes away after a few minutes.

The amber lights on the back always stay off.

That was the reason I asked the full log, for boot failure and success I saw last line similar to 'int13 - GET DRIVE PARAMETERS (Extended)' . In that case we will not get any clue regarding the issue (the reason may be in the middle of the log) ...

  Vipin V.K

torqhost , you have mentioned SP LED lights green after the blinking stages, please let me know how you confirmed SP not booted propely ?

That's the end of it! There won't be any log after 'int13 - GET DRIVE PARAMETERS (Extended) (1679)'

torqhost mentioned about outdated software. I believe its most likely due to dated FLARE but lets see. What he has to say! I am still waiting for FLARE version.

Can you post the full bootlog here ? I was checking a boot log for CX series after a successful boot, it is also ending with 'int13 - GET DRIVE PARAMETERS (Extended) (1679)'

If you are still getting  “Int 13” messages, this is most likely a software issue. Use the “force degraded mode” procedure. There is a Knowledge Base article emc79101 to bring the SP up into degraded mode for CX Series Arrays but I suspect it should work for AX too. What is the FLARE Version for this AX?

Please, note the procedure is for support only, so it is possible you won't be able to see the procedure.

Thank you. I will borrow and XP box and try it out. I think this may be the fastest way to get to the bottom of the problem.

Thank you, the console issue is a bit more clear then and a bit of a relief - I was thinking I got a bricked unit.

The array itself is not new. It was used by a local bank and I got it from them at an auction. I have tried putting the computer interface to 1.1.1.1/8 and running the wizard, but did not think to ping it, I will also try doing that.

I will post the full log once I get to office tomorrow.

The flare version is from 2008. I believe it was 2.23. I will try to lookup a newer version to perform an upgrade if this is possible when the boot issue is solved.

FLARE 23 is the initial release. What are the last three digits?

If its FLARE 23, I don't think you require a patch upgrade for this issue. However, this needs to be investigated by EMC Certified Field CE. If this storage system is still under a support contract I would request you to open a Service Ticket with EMC Technical Support.

I could not confirm that the boot is broken. Basically, I was expecting it to be like cisco's boot, where it would not freeze-up mid stage and proceed to a login prompt.

But the reason I think it is broken is because the initializer utility cannot find it. I was trying it in 192.168.0.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24 subnets. A computer is connected via a switch to the SPs and there are no vlans or anything. The seller also said it was reset to factory defaults (no sure how they did that, from what I read it is not possible), so the IP should be in those ranges.

I left it running overnight now and left nmap scanning common local network IP spaces. Maybe it did boot, but there is just no way to tell that it has due to the console freezing.

I will lookup the final digits once in office as well. I think support is unavalble however, since this is a used unit, I am guessing it is not transferred to the new owner.