Steady red light on 2 HP SAS drives in RAID 1

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I have a HP ProLiant web server with two HP 300GB SAS SFF 2.5 inch drives (Model: HP 507127-B21). Both drives have a solid red light, however there is no indication within the management software that either are in a pre-failure state. Also one of these drives was only replaced approximate 3-4 months ago.

Could these lights indicate anything else other than an impending drive failure? Perhaps a firmware update or some warning further downstream relating to the health of the RAID controller? I've looked at the HP documentation here, but a steady amber or red light is said to indicate a failed drive.

There's nothing critical on the server but I'd like to resolve this if I can.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Here's a screenshot from the HP Array Configuration Utility.

enter image description here

Here's a picture of the drives with the illuminated warning lights. The lights may be amber, it's hard to say from the picture I was given.

Picture from data-center

UPDATE 30th June

I have discovered that HP have issued a Customer Advisory on a known fault for this precise drive. I am running the diagnostic software issued by HP to confirm for sure.

UPDATE 5th August

OK I had to wait some time before I could power down the machine. Having completely rebooted the machine from a cold start the warning lights persist. Still no indication anything is wrong on the Array Config Utility and no warnings or prompts on boot up. In a couple of weeks I'll be retiring the machine so it can live out the rest of it's life doing non-critical stuff until it finally croaks.

Best Answer

The photo looks like your system is an HP ProLiant DL360 G6 or G7 1U rackmount server.

I saw your note about defective HP disks. I work with a considerable number of HP servers and haven't seen this as a widespread problem. I do think that you could provide more information about the Smart Array RAID controller's status during the system's POST process.

The Smart Array P410i RAID controller in that system will tell you in no uncertain terms what it thinks the status of the disks and array are. That's why I asked you to power off (remove power cables) and power on. Watch the POST messages and see if the system prompts you to press F1 at the conclusion of the POST sequence. If it doesn't, there's really nothing wrong with your disks or array.

If the light issue persists, you should be looking at a few things. This server is most likely outdated in terms of system BIOS and controller firmware. Download the HP Service Pack for ProLiant bootable DVD and run it. Evaluate the system's condition after doing so...

If this doesn't remediate the problem, you'll likely be in for a system board replacement (including the P410i RAID controller) or a drive backplane replacement.

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