If your system contains a RAID, this is the RAID Controller warning you that the array is not complete.
The first thing to check is that all the drive bay LEDs/switches are illuminated below the RAID drive racks. The two on the left are warning LEDs and the five on the right are drive power LEDs. If one of the drive power LEDs is not lit up, push it in (to turn it on) with a paper clip or CD removal tool. Rough shipping can sometimes switch them off.
If all LEDs/switches are on, as the image above shows, continue with the following troubleshooting steps.
You'll need to get into the RAID controller to see the condition of the RAID (when prompted for a password it should be "secret" or "0000"). If you cannot get beyond the password prompt (perhaps somebody else changed it), the override password is "MNO974315743924".
ARECA RAID Card (systems after May, 2012)
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If you're not sure how to interpret the RAID's condition from the instructions below, please send some pictures from the following menus in the RAID card utility:
Raid Set Function/Raid Set Information
Physical Drives/View Drive Information
View System Events (There may be several pages to Page Down through)
Ideally, if Windows is operational, you can run ArcSAP and forward its log file instead of these pictures. If you have a newer system, ArcSAP is already installed, so you can just type ArcSAP into the Start Menu to locate and run it. If ArcSAP is not installed on your system, we recommend that you install it via the instructions at https://digitalintelligence.com/support/knowledgebase/3-setup-troubleshooting/docs/134-windows-utilities-for-the-areca-raid-card.
If the alarm is sounding off you can silence it by expanding the menu on the left until you can select your 188x RAID card and then pressing the "Mute Beeper" option on the lower right section of the ArcSAP window.
Export the RAID log from ArcSAP's RAID Operations/Collect Controller Data... menu. Attach this log to any ticket or email correspondence. The information contained in this log file can often determine the root of the problem very quickly.
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1. Boot up and get into the RAID controller utility by hitting F8 during bootup and then selecting the Areca controller to launch it.
For older systems hit TAB or F6 when you see the Waiting for F/W to become ready. 000/300 seconds elapsed.. message.
2. After entering the RAID controller utility Silence the alarm in Raid System Function/Mute the Alert Beeper. When prompted for a password, type in secret, or 0000 (if the card has been reset).
3. Go to the Raid Set Function/Raid Set Information and select a RAID.
4. Notice what the Member Disks and Raid State are (for every array). If the Member Disks shows 4/5 this means it only sees 4 of the 5 drives in an array and the Raid State will hopefully show as Degraded.
Under certain circumstances the Raid State under Raid Set Function/Raid Set Information may show as Incomplete. This is telling you that the array has deactivated itself. The array will need to be reactivated before any changes (such as the Hot Spare Assignment) are applied. To do this go to Raid Set Function/Activate Raid Set and select the deactivated array. You should now be able to configure the array normally.
5. Viewing the View System Events pages may also be helpful in determining the sequence of events leading to the problem (hit the Page Down/Page Up keys to cycle through the log pages).
Some errors you may see:
Device Removed / Device Inserted - This is either a bad RAID chassis or the drive needs to be reseated. With the system off, try reseating the drive in the slot that's reporting this error. See if the error recurs.
Time Out Error - This is almost always due to a bad drive. Try reseating it first as it may have a bad connection, which can cause communication issues with the drive.
6. Go to the Physical Drives/View Drive Information menu. Hopefully one of the drives is listed as FREE in the list. If this is the case you need to set this free drive as the Hot Spare. If you wish to attempt repairing the array, go to Raid Set Function/Create Hot Spare and select the drive that's FREE (hit ESCAPE to continue once it's selected). Choose Dedicated to Raidset and select the array with the missing drive when prompted.
7. If the drive is listed as Missing or Inaccessible in the Physical Drives/View Drive Information menu try and re-seat the drive which is represented by a Connector/Device Number both in the RAID utility and on the RAID drive levers. You can also try re-seating the data cables on the back of the RAID chassis, inside the case. If the drive is good it should show up in this menu after about 45-60 seconds (you may have to escape this menu and go back in to refresh the display). If it does show up as FREE, perform the Hot Spare assignment in step 6. If it still shows up as Missing or Inaccessible you could try removing the drive and plugging it into something like a write blocker to see if it's detectable. If the drive is undetectable by the write blocker you will need to open up a Support Ticket to determine warranty status for a replacement drive.
8. If you replace the drive yourself, replace it with the exact model, if possible. If one's not available select a drive (non Green) that is equivalent to, or has a greater capacity, than the original drive.
Adaptec RAID Card (systems before May, 2012)
1. Power on the system and get into the RAID utility (CTRL-A when prompted during system initialization).
2. Silence the alarm in the SerialSelect Utility/Controller Configuration/Alarm Control menu.
3. Check the array by going into the Array Configuration Utility/Manage Arrays menu.
4. Select the array and determine which drive is bad. It's possible the bad drive has a red light on the chassis, but is not always the case.
5. If a drive shows as FAILED, try re-seating it first. You can also try re-seating the data cables on the back of the RAID chassis, inside the case. If it is still not detected try connecting it to a write blocker as described in the section above. If the drive is undetectable by the write blocker you'll need to replace it with another equivalent or larger (non Green and SATA2 rated) HD.
If these steps don't help please forward us pictures of what you see when going through these steps.
