Incomplete firmare/NVSRAM upgrade on MD3220i: bridge firmware 'Not upgradeable'

Question

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We have a PowerVault MD3220i that we have been using for storage for several years. Due to issues with stability that have been encountered recently as its utilization has increased, we decided to upgrade the firmware. The original firmware version that was installed was 07.70.06.63. Per the upgrade instructions, we upgraded it to the bridge firmware version of 07.75.28.60. During the upgrade, the NVSRAM version was also changed. However, in the case of the NVSRAM it appears to have been a downgrade from N26X0-770890-005 to N26X0-784890-004. This occurred on the controller in slot 0 but not for the controller in slot 1.

The controllers are now currently marked as Unupgradeable due to the following data validation error:

Data validation error: The storage array cannot be upgraded as host port type representation in RAID Controller Module A did not match with those of RAID Controller Module B.

This appears to be due to the NVSRAM version mismatch. Despite re-clearing the event log and rebooting the entire array (and leaving it powered off for 10 minutes), we have not been able to get the controllers to sync the NVSRAM version. Additionally, although we can connect to the controller using the serial port, during the controller boot process the output is either garbled or not displayed (the cursor blinks rapidly as though data is being received but not rendered). We are hoping to get some insight on how to get past being "stuck" on the bridge firmware/NVSRAM.

Thank you for any help.

DELL-Sam L · Accepted Answer

Hello txthenning,

Have you tried swapping the slots that the controllers are in and running the firmware update a second time? I have seen this in the past that one controller will not get updated and by putting that controller in slot 1 and running the firmware again it resolves the issue. Did you happen to pull a support bundle before you tried to upgrade the firmware?

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

txthenning · Answer

Hi Sam, It did not occur to us to try swapping the controllers. Is there anything specific that should be done prior to swapping them, or can we just power it off and swap the controllers? We did not take a support bundle immediately before the upgrade, but we have one that was taken about a month prior when we were investing the issues we were having. Thanks

txthenning · Answer

Hi Sam, After swapping the two controllers the RAID became 'Upgradeable' and we were able to successfully complete the firmware upgrade. Thank you for your assistance! Edit: spelling

PowerVault

Incomplete firmare/NVSRAM upgrade on MD3220i: bridge firmware "Not upgradeable"

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