After replacing the system planar on a machine equipped with the ServeRAID-8k or the ServeRAID-8k-l, the operating system might be inaccessible. A Linux operating system might mount the file system in read-only mode. A Microsoft Windows operating systeminstalled on a dynamic disk might fail to boot correctly.
Source
RETAIN tip: H194257
Symptom
After replacing the system planar on a machine equipped with the ServeRAID-8k or the ServeRAID-8k-l, the operating system might be inaccessible.
A Linux operating system might mount the file system in read-only mode.
A Microsoft Windows operating system installed on a dynamic disk might fail to boot correctly.
Affected configurations
The system may be any of the following IBM servers:
- System x3550, Type 1013, any model
- System x3550, Type 1913, any model
- System x3550, Type 7978, any model
- System x3650 T, Type 7980, any model
- System x3650, Type 1914, any model
- System x3650, Type 7979, any model
- System x3655, Type 7943, any model
- System x3655, Type 7985, any model
- System x3755, Type 7163, any model
- System x3755, Type 8877, any model
The system is configured with one or more of the following IBM Options:
- ServeRAID-8k SAS Controller, Option 25R8064
- ServeRAID-8k-l SAS Controller, Option 39R8729
This tip is not software specific.
Solution
Download and install firmware v5.2-0 Build 15424, or higher.
The operating system should become accessible after applying the firmware referenced above.
The referenced file will be available from the "Servers - ServeRAID Software Matrix" at the following URL:
Workaround
Reformat the drives and reinstall the operating system.
It is possible that some recovery tool could resize the partition and make the system accessible again.
Additional information
An issue in the ServeRAID firmware causes the RAID adapter to hide the last 10 MB of drive space. It is important to note that no data is actually lost as the adapter simply makes the area inaccessible to common read/write operations.
Applying Build 15424 restores access to the area for read/write operations.
System x:Operating system independent / None
System x Hardware Options:Operating system independent / None
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