SC4020 Unable to boot

Hello @fahadhumayun,

Is the data still accessible, as in are there still I/O running within the storage? You may need to shutdown the storage to reseat the controller to check if it helps the issue. There are a few steps to reseat the cache battery. 

Controller#1 battery LED is blinking, it might be indicating it is charging. 

Blinking green (on 0.5 sec. / off 1.5 sec.): Battery heartbeat
Fast blinking green (on 0.5 sec. / off 0.5 sec.): Battery is charging

When you mentioned you are unable to take any control of Controller#1, is there any errors? 

Hello Joey,

Thanks for the response. No I cannot access any data neither I can access data collector. I have shutdown and reseated both the controllers many times but no success.

For your convenience I have uploaded 2 short videos of showing the blinking status 1 from behind and  1 from front of SAN. Kindly help me as how can I access SAN so I can further troubleshoot?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_x5x42RKSg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlzqBjP9Kts

I don't actually get any error. Normally we use to connect the sAN through Dell Storage Manager. But now I am unable to get PING from that IP. The only thing I can access is megarac console through web browser.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Hello @fahadhumayun,

Do you have a serial cable to check if there is any information shown?

This look like a hardware error to me and eventually you may need to open a case with a log and check if a hardware replacement is necessary.

Regards.

I will try to get a usb to ethernet cable as my laptop doesnt have serial port. Can you tell me how can I connect it? Do I need putty for this? Also what configuration? And If it gets connected what will be intial commands that I can use to check what's going on inside?

Can you also tell me by video the status of batteries light blinking? What is it saying? It just never stops and keeps blinking. Is it a heartbeat or being charged?

Yes putty will be fine. But you have to select "serial" and than specify COMx  with 115200/8/1/N where x is one of your comport. I check windows device manager first about my com port or just try one after another. You need to press  "enter" key within the putty windows than to get a responce.

Regards,
Joerg

Hi @fahadhumayun,

Based on the video, the LED status of the battery is showing it heartbeat. Not a major issue. You can refer to the link below, no#1 of component.

You may actually need a 3.5mm jack to DB9 serial for the controller, no#13 of component in the link below. You can google Dell DN#4R3WX to see how it looks like. 

I notice in the video, there is no cables connected to the management port. Could you check that and see if the management is able to detect the storage. 

The video of the front chassis is showing multiple disk issues, that might be main issue. 

If data is still in the storage and not accessible, I would suggest like Diego mentioned, you may need to open a case with support to check what is the main issue, they will be able to guide you through. 

I am trying to find the 3.5mm jack and db9 cable. I havent got it from my local market.

I had to take off all the wires to make a clean video. Even with all the cables

 connected management was unable to shake hand with system.

What if i dont want data to be secured. I just want the hardware to be in running condition so I make it a available. Data inside it is not important. Please guide

Fahadhumayun,

As Joey and Diego stated, you may need to call in to support, so they can directly analyze the system for you.

Even with a factory resetet SCOS you need the db9 serial to reconfigure(at least with an older version of SCOS). But again if you loose the SCOS License you most likely have bricked your SC if youre not the legal and original owner of this system.

The SC4020 have a BMC included witch also contains a JAVA based Video redirection so you can see whats the system is doing. Question is if and how the BMC is configured.

Why not simply ask what the part # of that db9 is and than order one or check ebay/craiglist.

Regards,
Joerg

Thank you for your reply on this. I have attached the screen shot of what I found on megarac BMC after logging in. 

If possible can you guide me on how configuration is stored? I had 6 1.9TB SSD drives from which 4 drives became faulty? Somewhere I read that first 6 SSD drives contain the configuration. Rest drives are of 1.8TB SAS drives.

Also, each controller has 32GB memory card. What is this used for?  Below are their pics

What is the way of resetting the SC4020 without loosing license? 

Hello fahadhumayun,

A factory reset would need a call into support so that we can capture the license & some other important data before reset.

Support is the only ones who can reset the system as there are quite a few steps that have to be done correctly to ensure that all data is removed.

let me know your contact information. I can remote assit you.

Could you guide me on contacting Dell support so they can send an engineer. I live in Karachi Pakistan.

Thanks. You may contact me on whatsapp

Hi @fahadhumayun,

You may need to contact your local Dell partner listed here in the search: https://dell.to/3KVkHbB to open a support ticket and help you with the storage issue.