HP ML350 G5 E200i Smart Array not always show at POST

Too many imponderables. For example, how are the disks set up? If the logs and data share the same disks the random I/O from the data areas will disrupt the log traffic, which is mostly sequential I/O and is disproportionately affected by a busy random access workload on the same disks.

Without some more insight into your configuration I can't really say what might be causing the problem.

For example, 60MB/sec off a RAID is about right for a 4-disk RAID-5 or RAID-10 with 64k stripes and 15k drives. Each drive will read one 64k stripe per revolution of the disk (about 250/sec for a 15k drive) which gives you 15MB/sec per drive.

The average seek time for a 15k disk is around 3ms across the whole disk. On a mostly contiguous 10GB file on a RAID volume with (say) 146GB or 300GB disks and a bit of help from the cache I could see 30MB/sec being a reasonable figure for a disk array configured as described above. It would indicate averaging a data read about every two revolutions of the disks.

That's a thought off the top of my head for a configuration one might reasonably expect to see on an ML350. However, I have no idea if that matches your actual configuration, so I can't really comment on whether the observations are relevant in your case.

You're correct. Firmware version 7.24 is the current release.

If you have the downtime window, power the server off entirely (remove power cables), wait a few minutes, and power up again. See if that jump-starts the battery charge process.

But short of that, if your system is still under warranty (P400-equipped systems went away in 2009), call for another battery unit. Sometimes HP technicians grab components from the wrong bin at the parts depot.

HP isn't in the battery business much anymore... The two most recent generations of HP Smart Array controllers can use flash-backed cache, which eliminate the impact of cough battery malfunction.

HP can analyze the battery status using a dump from the HP Array Diagnostic Utility (HPADU), but for a disposable part, it's better for everyone involved to just try a new unit.

Finally, if you're experiencing an unbearable drop in performance because of the dead battery, you can override the cache disablement. Look for the No-Battery Write Cache: Enabled option.