RAID Controller Failure

RAID Controller Failure – Diagnosis and Resolution

KB Article: RAID Controller Failure – Diagnosis and Resolution

Summary

This document details the diagnosis and resolution of a critical RAID controller failure identified on the RTA client system. Analysis of BIOS warnings, BMC health logs, and RAID diagnostics confirms an intermittent hardware failure of the Broadcom SAS 3916 RAID controller.

Issue Overview

The system experienced repeated storage-related failures, performance degradation, and unexpected crashes. Investigation confirmed RAID controller instability as the root cause.

Affected Component

Component: RAID Controller


Observed Symptoms

- Cached write journals may have been lost
- RAID volumes inconsistent
- Multibit ECC errors detected
- Forced write-through mode
- System crashes and storage access degradation

Battery / Cache Failure

Battery or super capacitor reported as missing. Cache-backed write protection disabled. Battery recharge attempts did not resolve the issue, confirming hardware failure.

Impacted Logical Drives (VD number mentioned here are for reference)

VD 238 – RAID
VD 239 – RAID 6

BMC Health Event Findings

- StorageController0 access degraded
- CPU CHA cache fatal error
- CPLD CATERR assertion
- Runtime critical stop
- Power and NIC events

Storage Configuration

6 physical drives (Samsung & HGST)
2 logical drives
3 JBODs
Total capacity: 15.3 TB

Root Cause Analysis

The RAID controller hardware is faulty. Continued operation risks data corruption and downtime.

Replace the Broadcom SAS 3916 RAID controller immediately. Perform consistency checks and monitor logs post replacement.


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