Media Experience Engine 3500 MegaRAID Battery Backup Issue

Introduction

This document describes a problem that the Media Experience Engine 3500 (MXE 3500) might experience in the bootup process with the Battery Backup Unit (BBU) of the MegaRAID controller.

Problem

The console displays this error message when there is a problem with the BBU:

The battery hardware is missing or malfunctioning, or the
 battery is unplugged, or the battery could be fully
 discharged.  If you continue to boot the system, the
 battery-backed cache will not function.  If battery is
 connected and has been allowed to charge for 30
 minutes and this message continues to appear, then
 contact technical support for assistance.  Press 'D'
 to disable this warning (if your controller does
 not have a battery).
...
Press any key to continue, or 'C' to load the
 configuration utility.

If you press any key the device boots up, but it is not clear if the battery is in a good state or not.

Solution

See Set up CIMC for UCS C-Series Server for information on how to configure the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC).

Note: These steps require that the CIMC is configured and works correctly.

The first step is to check the MXE 3500 in order to see if it recognizes the BBU. Use a Secure Shell (SSH) client to connect to the MXE 3500 with the CIMC management address. Enter the commands shown in bold in this example:

MXE-3500-1# scope chassis
MXE-3500-1 /chassis # show detail
Chassis:
    Power: on
    Serial Number: xxxxxxxxxx
    Product Name:
    PID : MXE-3500-V2-K9=
    UUID: xxxxxxxxxx
    Locator LED: off
    Description:
    Power Restore Policy: restore-last-state
    Power Delay Type: fixed
    Power Delay Value(sec): 0
MXE-3500-1 /chassis # show pci-adapter detail
Slot 6:
    Vendor ID: 0x14e4
    Device ID: 0x1639
    SubVendor ID: 0x14e4
    SubDevice ID: 0x1639
    Product Name : Broadcom 5709 1 Gbps 2-or-4 port NIC
Slot 7:
    Vendor ID: 0x1000
    Device ID: 0x0079
    SubVendor ID: 0x1000
    SubDevice ID: 0x9260
    Product Name : LSI 9260-4i MegaRAID SAS HBA

## Note the slot number the MegaRAID controller is installed in.
## This slot number is used in the next command.

MXE-3500-1 /chassis # scope storageadapter SLOT-7
MXE-3500-1 /chassis/storageadapter # show detail
PCI Slot SLOT-7:
    Info Valid: Yes
    Info Invalid Cause:
    Product Name: LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i
    Serial Number: xxxxxxxxx
    Firmware Package Build: 12.12.0-0087
    Product ID: LSI Logic
    Battery Status: charging
    Cache Memory Size: 0 MB
MXE-3500-1 /chassis/storageadapter # show bbu detail
Controller SLOT-7:
    Info Valid: Yes
    Info Invalid Cause:
    Battery Type: iBBBU08
    Battery Present: true
    Voltage: 4.086 V
    Current: 0.000 A
    Charge: 100%
    Charging State: charging
    Temperature: 32 degrees C
    Voltage Low: false
    Temperature High: false
    Learn Cycle Requested: false
    Learn Cycle Active: false
    Learn Cycle Failed: false
    Learn Cycle Timeout: false
    I2C Errors Detected: false
    Battery Replacement Required: false
    Remaining Capacity Low: false
MXE-3500-1 /chassis/storageadapter #

In the example you can see that the BBU is present, is charging, and shows a normal status.

Complete these steps if you receive an error message when you enter the show bbu detail command or if the Battery Present state is false:

1. Reboot the MXE 3500.

2. If 'The battery hardware is missing or malfunctioning' message continues to display after each reboot, there might be a hardware failure of the BBU. Contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for further assistance.

3. If the device boots up without an error it might have been a transient error. No further action is required.