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  • 1.  how to fail a battery

    Posted Wed August 17, 2011 07:30 AM

    Originally posted by: tokengirl


    Hello

    I have a Predictive Battery Pack Failure on my machine, and have arranged for an engineer to replace said battery pack. However, he says that before he can change the battery, I will need to "fail the battery" and shut down the server.

    How do I fail the battery please?


  • 2.  Re: how to fail a battery

    Posted Wed August 17, 2011 05:00 PM

    Originally posted by: SystemAdmin


    Hi,

    Do you want to replace the cache battery ? what's the model of your machine ?
    Kannan


  • 3.  Re: how to fail a battery

    Posted Thu August 18, 2011 09:55 AM

    Originally posted by: alethad


    Your engineer should be able to do that for you at least be able to explain it to you.

    Have you checked the errpt to see if there is more info? or tried to run diag on the device that the errpt says is the problem? You should have the name of a specific device with this error. Or is the system down?

    My IBM CE does these tasks for me or walks me thru a few steps before he comes to be sure of what he needs to do.
    good luck


  • 4.  Re: how to fail a battery

    Posted Wed August 24, 2011 07:30 AM

    Originally posted by: tokengirl


    Hello
    sorry, I didn't realise anybody had replied (I was expecting an automated email).

    This is for a power 5 system; and since I posted the original thread, helpfully the hardware engineer has provided me with a pdf document which contains in it the steps needed to fail the battery.
    For anyone else who might need to do this on a power5 machine, this is what you do:

    To display information about the controller's rechargeable battery, do the following:

    1. navigate to the PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager -
    smitty diag
    task selection
    Raid Array Manager
    PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager
    2.select diagnostics & recovery options
    3. select controller rechargeable battery maintenance
    4. select display controller rechargeable battery information
    5. select the pci x scsi raid controller

    In order to replace the battery you have to place it into an error state, as described below. Note: once you've done this, you will have to replace the battery.

    ###In order to replace it you will need to shut down the managed system and all the associated LPARS on that managed system, so you will need an outage on all associated LPARs to do the work.###

    Forcing a Rechargeable Battery Error
    This option allows you to force your PCI-X SCSI RAID Controller to put its Cache Battery Pack into an error state. This state requires replacement of the battery. Typically, performing this task ensures that write caching is stopped prior to replacing a Cache Battery Pack.

    To force the battery error, do the following:
    1. Navigate to the PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager
    smitty diag
    task selection
    Raid Array Manager
    PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager
    2. Select Diagnostics and Recovery Options.
    3. Select Controller Rechargeable Battery Maintenance.
    4. Select Force Controller Rechargeable Battery Error.
    5. Select your PCI-X SCSI RAID Controller whose battery you want to replace.Note: Using this option places the battery into the error state, which requires it to be replaced.
    6. Press Enter.
    7. Replace the Cache Battery Pack as described in “Replacing the Rechargeable Cache Battery Pack.”

    To replace the battery pack:
    1. Determine that it is safe to replace the Cache Battery Pack (see method at top of page). It is safe to replace the Cache Battery Pack when the display lists Yes next to Battery pack can be safely replaced.
    2. shut down any apps on the LPARS connected to the managed system
    3. cd / ; shutdown -h
    4. shutdown the managed system from the HMC.
    HMC console / systems management / servers
    select check box next to server (managed system)
    click on right arrows next to server name and select Power Off from the list
    select Normal Power Off from the options in the dialog box
    it may take a couple of minutes to power down ; status on the HMC will change to Power Off
    5. get hardware on-site people to replace the battery
    6. once battery changed, power on the managed system from the HMC
    HMC console / systems management / servers
    select check box next to managed system
    click on right arrows next to managed system name and select Power On from the list
    7. once managed system is back up, power on the lpar from the HMC
    HMC console / systems management / servers / servername
    select check box next to LPAR
    click on right arrows next to LPAR name and select Operations / Activate / Profile
    select the profile you want to activate (assuming you are given a choice) and check the "open a console window" box so you can watch it do its thing

    8. after the LPAR has come back up, check errpt for any new issues (especially battery-related ones)

    9. contact application support to check the apps are OK

    10. check status of new battery -
    a. navigate to the PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager -
    smitty diag
    task selection
    Raid Array Manager
    PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager
    b.select diagnostics & recovery options
    c. select controller rechargeable battery maintenance
    d. select display controller rechargeable battery information
    e. select the pci x scsi raid controller

    Status should look something like the below:

    RAID Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . : sisioa0
    Battery Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
    Battery State . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No battery warning/error
    Power-on time (days) . . . . . . . . . : 0
    Adjusted power-on time (days) . . . . . : 0
    Estimated time to warning (days) . . . : 1003
    Estimated time to error (days) . . . . : 1087
    Concurrently maintainable battery pack. : No
    Battery pack can be safely replaced . . : No