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List:       linux-raid
Subject:    Re: AW: data corruption - the nightmare continues (now I hate IBM)
From:       Justin <jb () dslreports ! com>
Date:       2002-03-20 20:38:17
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This is getting off topic, but maybe useful to someone.

Upgrading IBM drive firmware is as hard as it can be made..

One has to call ibm support, 1-888-IBM-5214, option 2,
tell your tail of woe - including the model number of the
drive AND the controller, and a description of the problem.

Then, reluctantly, they will ask for the *serial* numbers
of the drive (available electronically via their 'drive fitness
test' program which is probably a DOS thing)... or by pulling
out the drives and inspecting the sticker.

This has to be done for ALL drives you claim to want to
upgrade. Then, (guessing, here, as the data center with 
the bad drives is not unfortunately located under my desk), 
they may send you the magic program you need (another DOS
thing I guess)..

Pretty poor support, I reckon. I will cheer on the class
action lawsuit:
  http://www.sheller.com/IBM_complaint.pdf
over the deskstar drives.

-Justin

On Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 03:17:23PM -0500, Justin wrote:
> A posting to the freebsd-scsi mailing list I dug up indicates the
> same problem that was dropping my RAID1 to U_ on a regular basis.
> 
> http://www.geocrawler.com/mail/msg.php3?msg_id=5421515&list=168
> 
> the problem install mentioned in this post used the exact same
> drives (IBM DDYS-T18350M) and the same SCSI controller ..
> 
> The person answering, suggesting a possible firmware bug with the drive
> that causes it to completely disconnect, and recommends upgrading.
> I'm using Rev S80D firmware.
> 
> He also mentions the re-assignment process for failed sectors..
> 
> I also found a 'critical update' note from a hardware raid maker,
> which includes this:
> 
> MANY 144GB RAID ARRAY SYSTEMS INCLUDED IBM HARD DRIVES WHICH HAD
> AN OLDER VERSION OF THE DRIVES' FIRMWARE (S80D and S93E), WHICH
> CAN RANDOMLY CAUSE DRIVES TO DROP OUT OF THE ARRAY, CAUSING CRITICAL
> (CAUSING POOR PERFORMANCE) OR OFFLINE (CAUSING LOSS OF ALL DATA
> CONDITIONS.  
> 
> So i guess I've pretty much solved my particular U_ problems now :)
> 
> (goes off to find out how to upgrade hard drive firmware)
> 
> -Justin
> 
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 08:48:40PM +0100, Jakob Østergaard wrote:
> > On Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 04:57:33PM +0100, Martin Bene wrote:
> > > Hi Jakob,
> > > 
> > > > To me it has been fairly common.
> > > 
> > > I can confirm that, I've also seen this a few times.
> > 
> > Actually, a year or so back, I didn't see this. But the past half year or few
> > months at least I've had heaps of disks do this...  IBM...  Not just GXP75,
> > or whatever the name of the "doomed series" were.
> > 
> > ...
> > > As long as we're talking about raid5 or raid1, you should still be able to get \
> > > the correct data from the raid device, use this to try a rewrite after a read \
> > > error. if the write works and a read afterwards works as well => don't kick the \
> > > disk. 
> > > Having this functionality could be worthwile; of course if this triggers, it \
> > > should write a warning to syslog.
> > 
> > Hmm.  I suppose you're right - that would be neat indeed.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > -- 
> > ................................................................
> > > jakob@unthought.net   : And I see the elder races,         :
> > > .........................: putrid forms of man                :
> > > Jakob Østergaard      : See him rise and claim the earth,  :
> > > OZ9ABN           : his downfall is at hand.           :
> > > .........................:............{Konkhra}...............:
> > -
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-- 
Justin Beech                      http://www.dslreports.com
Phone:212-699-3606                  FAX inbox: 212-937-3800
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