Problem: I have a Proliant DL380G3 that went off-line and would not restart. The machine functions primarily as a SQL Server.
Equipment:
Proliant DL380G3, dual Pentium Xeon 2.80GHz processors
Windows Server 2003
Proliant BIOS P29
Integrated Lights Out 1.64
HP Smart Array 5i version 2.56
Four 36.4GB 10krpm drives configured as RAID 5 with one logical drive ( Windows Server is then divided into a C and D drive )
I was getting an error message about a logical disk being disabled. It gave me two options F1 to leave the current state of logical drive as disabled. F2 to enable logical disk but risk data loss. After choosing F1 it would give the error non system disk. Drive 2 had the orange light on when the machine was still powered, drives 0,1, and 3 were green.. I powered down the server, disconnected power and pulled each drive out and then reseated them. I received the same result when I powered back up.
I restarted the machine and opened the RAID controller. This confirmed that drive 2 was a problem. All other drives were fine.
I powered off and inserted a new, identical drive into slot 2 with the notion that the RAID would recognize the new drive and write the data back to it. It did seem to initialize the drive and in a matter of minutes the new drive was green. Inspecting the logical drive showed all four drives healthy.
When attempting to boot now, the server acts properly right up to the point it attempts to boot from CD, Floppy, then Hard Drive and at this point the machine just sits there as if waiting to start Windows.
I have 6 brand new 36.4GB 10Krpm drives available on the shelf along with one 72.8GB drive. I had visions of just replacing all of the drives one by one allowing the RAID to rebuild them. This would give the server all new drives. I would also like to add a hot spare to the existing setup.
I hope what I have is recoverable. I'm not well versed in dealing with the RAID issues. I'm primarily a network and security person, but this issue has fallen to me today.
I would greatly appreciate any ideas or assistance in getting this server online again.
Thank you
Bill
