Field Notice: FN - 63651 - UCS-B M3-Series Blade Servers Might Get Memory Errors Due to Voltage Regulator Setting - BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

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Updated:May 22, 2018

Document ID:FN63651

Notice

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	21-Jun-13	Initial Release
10.0	13-Nov-17	Migration to new field notice system
10.2	22-May-18	Fixed Broken Image Links

Products Affected

Affected Product ID	Comments
UCSB-B200-M3
UCSB-B200-M3=	Part Alternate
UCSB-B22-M3
UCSB-B420-M3
UCSB-B420-M3=	Part Alternate
UCSB-B22-M3=	Part Alternate
UCSB-B200-M3-D
UCSB-B200-M3-U
UCSB-B420-M3-CH
UCSB-B420-M3-D
UCSB-B420-M3-U
UCSB-B200-M3-CH
UCSB-B22-M3-D
UCSB-B22-M3-CH
UCSB-B22-M3-U
UCSB-DBUN-B200-301
UCSB-DBUN-B200-302
UCSB-DBUN-B200-303
UCSB-DBUN-B200-304
UCSB-DBUN-B200-305
UCS-SP4-PERF-B2M3
UCS-SP4-ENTV-B2M3
UCS-SP4-ENTS-B2M3
UCS-EZ-ENTV-B2M3
UCS-EZ-ENTS-B2M3
UCS-EZ-B200M3-384
UCS-EZ-B200M3-256
UCS-EZ-PERF-B2M3
UCSB-DBUN-B420-342
UCSB-DBUN-B420-341
UCSB-DBUN-B22-364
UCSB-DBUN-B420-343
UCSB-DBUN-B22-363
UCSB-DBUN-B22-362
UCSB-DBUN-B22-361
UCSB-DBUN-B420-344
CBI-B200-M3-D
UCS-SP-ENTS-B22
UCS-SP5-ENTV-B200
UCS-EZ-PERF-B200
UCS-EZ-ENTV-B200
UCS-EZ-ENTS-B22
UCS-SP-PERF-B200
UCS-EZ-ENSC-B200
UCS-SP5-ENSC-B200
UCUCS-EZ-B200M3
UCS-EZ-PR-FIO-B200
UCS-SP-PERF-B200M3
UCS-EZ-PERF-B200M3
UCS-SP-ENTV-B200M3
UCS-SP-ENTS-B200M3
UCS-EZ-ENTV-B200M3
UCS-SP-ENTS-B22M3
UCS-EZ-ENTS-B200M3
UCS-EZ-ENTS-B22M3
UCS-EZ-ENVP-B200M3
UCS-EZ-ENSP-B200M3
UCS-SP-ENVP-B200M3
UCS-SP-ENSP-B200M3
UCS-EZ-VDI-B200PK
UCS-EZ-ENTV-B420M3

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCug93076	B200M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load
CSCug93221	B420M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load
CSCug98662	B22M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load

Problem Description

A voltage regulator on affected UCS B-Series Blade Servers can cause excessive loss in drive voltage on the DDR3 power rails when under light loading conditions. This can cause correctable or uncorrectable memory errors. A firmware update is recommended to improve the performance of the voltage regulator.

Background

A firmware setting for a voltage regulator on affected UCS B-Series Blade Servers can cause signal corruption which can lead to memory errors and failure to boot in some cases. This issue has been observed in the Cisco manufacturing facility as a failure to boot Linux OS. The problem is fixed in an updated firmware image for affected UCS Blade Servers. These Cisco bug IDs are related to this issue:

CSCug93076 - B200M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load
CSCug93221 - B420M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load
CSCug98662 - B22M3-DDR voltage regulator may have excessive noise under light load

Problem Symptom

Memory errors caused by the excessive voltage drop could show up in these ways:

Increased correctable memory error rates might cause DIMMs to be mapped out at boot time or be flagged as Degraded or Inoperable.
Uncorrectable memory errors might cause DIMMs to be mapped out at boot time, or might cause the system to crash while the operating system is booting or running. A system crash is accompanied by a catastrophic error (CATERR) in the System Event Log (SEL).

Example:

Key word to search for: "Predictive Failure asserted | Asserted" often followed immediately by "Predictive Failure deasserted | Asserted"

91 | 05/31/2013 10:39:36 | CIMC | Processor CATERR_N #0x74 | Predictive Failure asserted | Asserted

92 | 05/31/2013 10:39:36 | CIMC | Platform alert LED_BLADE_STATUS #0x99 | LED color is amber | Asserted

93 | 05/31/2013 10:39:37 | CIMC | Processor CATERR_N #0x74 | Predictive Failure deasserted | Asserted

94 | 05/31/2013 10:39:37 | CIMC | Platform alert LED_BLADE_STATUS #0x99 | LED color is green | Asserted

Instructions on how to retrieve SEL information can be found here:

Workaround/Solution

The issue is resolved in these Cisco UCS B-Series software releases:

UCS B-Series Software Release 2.0(5c) or later
UCS B-Series Software Release 2.1(1f) or later

Note: A host power off and a Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) reboot is required for this fix to take effect. This is NOT a normal upgrade sequence. Please carefully read and follow the steps documented in the release note.

UCS software can be downloaded from Cisco.com from this location:

Download Software

UCS software upgrade instructions can be found at this location:

UCS Install and Upgrade Guides

How To Identify Affected Products

Some UCS B-Series M3 Blade Servers have shipped from Cisco with updated voltage regulator firmware and an older software version than those noted in the Workaround/Solution section. These Blade Servers can be identified by a deviation sticker affixed near the front of the unit. These Deviations apply for the issue described in this Field Notice:

B200 M3: D135723
B22 M3: D136090
B420 M3: D135856

Deviation Label examples:

A UCS B-Series M3 Blade Server with the versions noted in the Workaround/Solution section have the required fix for the issue described in this Field Notice.

In order to view the version installed on the UCS Blade Server in UCS Manager, navigate to this location for each blade:

UCSM > Chassis > Servers > Server > Installed Firmware

Example:

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

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