Dell PowerEdge 1750 RAID Controller 4/Di Firmware Update Version: 422D TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Performing the Firmware Upgrade 3.0 Important Information 4.0 Fixes 5.0 Enhancements 6.0 Known Limitations 1.0 Introduction This firmware update delivers bug fixes and enhancements for the PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 4/Di in PowerEdge 1750 systems. Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 422D 422C BIOS H430 H430 Ctrl-M U827 U827 Boot Block R.2.1.9 R.2.1.9 2.0 Performing the Firmware Upgrade Webpack Instructions: --------------------- This program creates a bootable diskette to upgrade the firmware of the controllers. You will need a formatted 3 1/2 inch floppy diskette for the following procedure. 1. Download the file to a directory on your hard drive. The file downloaded is a self extracting executable. 2. Insert a blank diskette into the system's diskette drive. 3. Double click on the file that you downloaded and follow the instructions on the screen to extract the files to the diskette. 4. Insert the diskette into the system with the RAID controller for which you want to update the firmware and boot the system. 5. Follow the instructions on the screen to update the firmware. NOTICE: Pflash.exe will be executed automatically and will report existing code level and prompt you to reconfirm before starting the firmware upgrade process. To perform this process in non-interactive mode please execute, Pflash /? and read about possible command line switches. 6. Remove the diskette and reboot the system. Windows Update Package Instructions: ------------------------------------ Download 1. Click the "Download Now" link to download the file. 2. If the Export Compliance Disclaimer window appears, click the "I agree" link to accept the agreement. 3. When the File Download window appears, click "Save" to save the file to your hard drive. Installation Before you begin the firmware update, stop all I/O operations and utilities. 1. Browse to the location where you downloaded the file and double-click the new file. 2. Read over the release information presented in the dialog window. 3. Download and install any prerequisites identified in the dialog window before proceeding. 4. Install any necessary Embedded Systems Management firmware prior to this BIOS update. 5. Click the Install button. 6. Follow the remaining prompts to perform the update. The Update Package can also be used with Dell OpenManage Server Administrator. See the Dell Update Package User's Guide for more information. Linux Update Package Instructions: ---------------------------------- Download 1. Click the "Download Now" link to download the file. 2. If the Export Compliance Disclaimer window appears, click the "I agree" link to accept the agreement. 3. When the File Download window appears, click "Save" to save the file to your hard drive. Installation Before you begin the firmware update, stop all I/O operations and utilities. 1. Read over the release information presented by executing the ./.bin --version command from the shell. 2. Download and install any prerequisites identified in the above step before proceeding. 3. Run the update by executing ./.bin from the shell. 4. Follow the remaining prompts to perform the update. 3.0 Important Information Firmware upgrade while controller is doing background I/O task: The firmware upgrade may fail if any of the RAID controllers in the system are performing an I/O background task. (ie. check consistency, background initialization, rebuild, or reconstruction). Allow the background task to complete before attempting to upgrade the firmware. Patrol Read tasks will not affect a firmware upgrade. Current RAID configuration will not be modified or cleared during the Firmware Upgrade process. The program will stop at the "Flash Download" screen with the following message: "Consistency Check of logical drive(s) in progress for adapter-X. Failed Writing Image on Adapter X with Baseport ...". Universal CTRL-M: Multiple adapters can be configured from CTRL-M, but the adapter must be selected using "Select Adapter" and should be verified before performing any configuration changes. Verifying Cache Integrity: When there is data in cache from an improper shutdown, the system may take up to sixty seconds to verify that the data in the cache is correct and does not contain any errors. The delay may appear to be a system hang, but this behavior is normal and is required to confirm the integrity of the data. TTY History: This firmware update package will disable the TTY History debug feature. If this feature is required for additional debug, then it must be reenabled after the firmware update has completed and the system has been rebooted. Consistency check: After installing this firmware and rebooting, a consistency check will automatically begin on RAID 5 and 50 virtual disks with 5 or more physical disks to ensure parity information is correct. The consistency check cannot be terminated and will resume at its last point following a reboot. This consistency check will appear as a Background Initialization but will only perform a consistency check with no data being modified. The consistency check runs in the background, allowing the virtual disks to remain accessible during the check. While this background check is designed to minimize performance impact, some degradation in performance may occur until the check is complete, especially under heavy I/O. 4.0 Fixes 1. This fix addresses a potential RAID rebuild issue in case of back to back disk failures. 5.0 History changes Changes from 422A to 422C Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 422C 422A BIOS H430 H430 Ctrl-M U827 U827 Boot Block R.2.1.9 R.2.1.9 Bug Fixes: 1. Fixed issue on PERC Controllers where LUNs go missing in VMware ESX environments. 2. Fix in firmware for PERC4e Dobson based controllers for correcting a Dobson Erratum workaround implementation, to counter a possible system freeze issue. Changes from 421X to 422A Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 422A 421X BIOS H430 H430 Ctrl-M U827 U827 Boot Block R.2.1.9 R.2.1.9 Bug Fixes: 1. Fixed an issue that could cause a blue screen, file system error or system hang when using EVPD inquiry commands. 2. Fixed an issue where the write cache policy is reported incorrectly under rare circumstances. Changes from 421S to 421X Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 421X 421S BIOS H430 H430 Ctrl-M U827 U827 Boot Block R.2.1.9 R.2.1.9 Bug fixes: 1. Fixed a timing issue that may occur when accessing RAID 5 or 50 arrays. 2. Fixed an issue that could cause a blue screen or hang when Patrol Read finds a bad block on a RAID array that is configured in a sliced config, which is when 2 or more RAID arrays are created on the same set of physical disks. Changes from 413O to 421S Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 421S 413O BIOS H430 H418 Ctrl-M U827 U821 Boot Block R.2.1.9 2.1.2 Bug Fixes: 1. Fixed an issue that optimized cache flush algorithms while switching between no read-ahead to read-ahead cache modes. 2. Fixed an issue where Windows systems would blue screen during a long erase. 3. Fixed an issue where Linux systems would experience IO timeouts during a long erase. 4. Modified the Fast Initialization function to delete all operation system partition table information. 5. Fixed an issue where a Seagate hard drive model M3637 was not negotiating correctly with PERC 4 adapters. 6. Modified Ctrl-M to clear physical drive media error count upon drive replacement. Note: System must be powered on during the drive replacement in order for media errors to be cleared. 7. Fixed a performance degradation issue when using RAID 10 virtual disks, when configured to use no read ahead or write caching and direct IO on PERC4 controllers. Enhancements 1. Added Patrol Read feature. Patrol Read involves the review of the system for possible hard drive errors that could lead to drive failure, then action to correct the errors. The goal is to protect data integrity by detecting physical drive failures before the failures can damage data. Patrol Read adjusts the amount of RAID controller resources dedicated to Patrol Read operations based on outstanding disk I/O. 2. Added Rebuild Checkpoint feature. The Dell PERC firmware has a feature to resume a rebuild on a physical drive in case of an abrupt power loss or if the server rebooted in the middle of a rebuild operation. 3. Enhanced write algorithms to increase I/O performance for RAID 5 and RAID 50 virtual disks using four or more disks that are configured to use write-through write cache mode. Known Limitations: 1. Powering off a tape device during a system backup may cause operating system errors to occur. Changes from 412W to 413O Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 413O 412W BIOS H418 H406 Ctrl-M U821 U812 Boot Block 2.1.2 1.0.6 Bug Fixes: 1. Addressed issues found with the Firmware status Queue. This was causing the firmware to post status completion of command IDs still in progress, causing the driver to reuse those command IDs. 2. Addressed an issue in the media error counter logic when drives with media errors are replaced. 3. Improved rebuild logic to handle multiple media error in the same array in corner case conditions. 4. Improved Firmware error handling and messages for TBBU related events. Enhancements: 1. Improve firmware behavior and reporting when a multi-bit error is encounter at boot time. If an unrecoverable (multi-bit) error is encountered, during a cache scrub at initialization, the cache is re-initialized. 2. Improve the Firmware interrupt handling for all possible interrupts and takes specific actions based on the type and source of the interrupt. 3. Improve firmware failure algorithm for failed drives based on SAF-TE information. 4. Improved firmware error handling for cable pulled/removed situations. 5. Improved firmware algorithm and error handling for drive roaming scenarios and deleted Logical Disks. 6. Improved error logging and debug information collection when the firmware hangs or crashes. 7. Improved BIOS status reporting and messaging during POST. 8. Improved error firmware handling when drives return Hardware Error (sense key code 04) in some configurations. Change from 4.10 to 4.12W Component Current Version Previous Version Firmware 412W 4.10 BIOS H406 H111 Ctrl-M U812 7.09 Boot Block 1.0.6 1.0.2 MPT Firmware 1.03.11.05-IT 1.03.06.00-IT Firmware Enhancements 1. Improved hard drive status logic when virtual disks are spanned across channels. 2. Firmware will automatically change cache settings to WriteThru when a battery problem is detected to preserve data. If WriteBack was originally selected, firmware will switch back once battery problem has been corrected. 3. In the Rebuild function of CRTL-M, a new status called “INCON” will be displayed after a rebuild operation completes if any unrecoverable errors are found found in any of the hard disk drives. To identify the location of the error and if any data was present, run a check disk from the O/S (e.g. chkdsk in windows). Note: Dell recommends that a check disk or consistency check should be run after any RAID rebuild operation is completed by the controller. Firmware Bug Fixes 1. When multiple hard drive media errors are encountered, array rebuild operation will complete. 2. Consistency checks are aborted after reboot in cluster or stand alone mode. User must restart consistency check manually if needed. 3. Manual initialization calls will be rejected if a background initialization or consistency check is in progress on the logical drive. 4. Address potential controller lock-ups that could occur during either degraded, rebuilding or multiple drive pull and reinsert scenarios. 5. Addressed potential controller freezing during driver failure on possible Raid configurations. Change from 4.04 to 4.10 Component Current version Previous version Firmware 4.10 4.04 BIOS B111 B109 Ctrl-M 7.09 7.05 WebBios 1.65 1.64 Firmware Bug Fixes 1. Some structures in the MPT target mode structure were not aligned on cache line boundaries. When these structures were invalidated, it caused other data adjacent to these structures (that was dirty) to be forgotten. 2. Added logic to reissue REQUEST_SENSE commands that are failed with a CHECK CONDITION so certain drives will not remain in a Contingent Allegiance condition. Some 160M drives will frequently fail a REQUEST_SENSE command due to CRC errors. These drives remain in a CA condition until an untagged REQUEST_SENSE command is issued. 3. Fixed issue where rebuild might not restart after a reboot 4. Resolved issue where errors on a drive could cause the adapter to hang. 5. Fixed issues where the firmware would start a background initialization during a NVRAM mismatch Ctrl-M Changes 1. Fixed Misspellings 2. Fixed issue where Ctrl-M would hang if user had a combination of PERC 4 DC and PERC 4 Di. Change History from 4.01 to 4.04 Component Current version Previous version Firmware 4.03 4.04 BIOS B109 B109 Ctrl-M 7.05 7.05 WebBios 1.64 1.64/2.27 Firmware Bug Fixes 1. During a state transition, battery HW will sometimes cycle through invalid states. FW was changed to ignore intermittent state changes. 2. Previously the FW would not kick off a negotiation upon insertion. It would also try to transfer at the speed of the previously inserted drive. It now renegotiates all inserted drives. Firmware Enhancements 1. Background initialization for all redundant LDs.