Help Needed. Disk 5 Red X. Can;t determine if hardware or software problem

[tomjrob]

Long time happy UNRAID user. This problem has me stumped, and I cannot tell if it is a hardware or UNRAID software problem.

 

Yesterday, I found that Disk 5 in the array had a red X. This has happened before occasionally, and every time it does, I have found that the actual drive experiencing the error show no hardware problems. Have always been able to use partition magic on another system to wipe the partition, do extensive testing including surface test and find no errors. I can then introduce it back into the array the next time the red X occurs on Disk 5, and parity rebuild completes without error and the array runs fine until the next time it happens. Have been swapping (2) 2TB drives like this for over a year, and the problem only happens very occasionally. It is ALWAYS Disk 5.

 

Yesterday, when the problem happened, I tried swapping Disk 5 again, but this time the new drive did not work. Immediately had red X on new drive.

 

Here is what I have done to isolate.

 

Tried a third drive in Drive 5 slot. Same Red X.

Replaced the cable from the controller, which is an LSI 9211-8i. Same Red X.

I am using only 2 ports of the controller, so I moved the cable to the other half of the controller, and no change. Same Red X.

Swapped the power plug, in case of power problem. No fix.

Tried introducing a spare 4TB drive into Disk 5 slot, and the array recognized it, but when I went to start rebuilding parity, it immediately failed with RED X.

At this point, UNRAID would not allow me to put a 2TB drive into the slot, saying it was too small, so everything subsequently is done with the 4TB drive.

 

Next step was to try and use an external esata enclosure to house DISK 5, instead of attaching to the LSI controller. Put the 4TB drive into the esata enclosure, and everything worked! Did a complete parity rebuild (11 + hours) and the array returned to normal.

However, I do not want to have the array drive housed in the esata enclosure.  I use that for unassigned drives.

 

This is where it gets really weird.  This morning I put another 2TB drive into the array, attached it to the same LSI port that was getting the errors, and it worked great as an unassigned drive. There is a lot of data on the drive and I could read it all just fine. Based on that, I assumed the port, cable, power, etc. was good, so I took the next step, shut down the array normally,  and removed the 2TB drive, and moved the 4TB (array Disk 5) drive back from the esata enclosure to the spot where the unassigned drive was working. As soon as I booted the array,  DISK 5 got red X and errors! Back to square one!

 

I moved it back to the esata enclosure, did the procedure to have UNRAID "forget" the serial number, and reintroduced the same drive as Disk 5 again, and it is currently doing the parity rebuild without error.

 

Bottom Line is that it seems that the array cannot use any LSI port for Disk 5, even though Disk 4 of the array is attached to it and working fine, AND any drive seems to work fine attached to the same port as long as it is an unassigned drive and not part of the array.

 

I have uploaded the hardware profile of my setup to Limetech.

Finally, I tried to download diagnostics while it was failing with the Red X, but it just hung. I did a screen capture of the Syslog at failure time, and I am attaching it.

 

I am at a loss for next steps, so any help from the forum is appreciated. I am afraid to try to move Disk 5 out of the esata enclosure now, because every attempt if unsuccessful means an 11 hour rebuild before trying again.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Tower Syslog Snapshot.docx

[trurl]

See the Need Help sticky pinned near the top of this same subforum for alternative ways to get us useful diagnostics.

[tomjrob]

trurl, Thanks for response. Not sure what you are suggesting. Should I stop the rebuild, put Disk 5 back into the array (out of esata enclosure), experience the Red X, and then do what? Diagnostics hangs, so should I try running the diags from the array console?

 

 

[trurl]

2 hours ago, tomjrob said:

Not sure what you are suggesting.

Did you read the link I gave? That .docx you posted is useless.

 

Don't do anything except try to get us better diagnostics. Or at least a complete syslog (plain text file). As for the hardware profile you uploaded to Limetech, we can't see it here on the forum. See the last paragraph on that page I linked.