Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 4/DC and 4/SC Firmware Update
Version: 352D
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Performing the Firmware Upgrade
3.0 Important Information
4.0 Fixes
5.0 Enhancements
1.0 Introduction
This firmware update delivers bug fixes for following PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controllers.
PERC 4/DC
PERC 4/SC
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 352D 352C
BIOS 1.10 1.10
Ctrl-M U827 U827
Boot Block 1.7.8ADell 1.7.7Dell
2.0 Performing the Firmware Upgrade
Webpack Instructions:
---------------------
This program creates a bootable diskette to upgrade the firmware of the
controllers. You will need a formatted 3 1/2 inch floppy diskette for the
following procedure.
1. Download the file to a directory on your hard drive. The file downloaded is
a self extracting executable.
2. Insert a blank diskette into the system's diskette drive.
3. Double click on the file that you downloaded and follow the instructions on
the screen to extract the files to the diskette.
4. Insert the diskette into the system with the RAID controller for which you
want to update the firmware and boot the system.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to update the firmware.
NOTICE: Pflash.exe will be executed automatically and will report existing code
level and prompt you to reconfirm before starting the firmware upgrade
process.
To perform this process in non-interactive mode please execute,
Pflash /?
and read about possible command line switches.
6. Remove the diskette and reboot the system.
Windows Update Package Instructions:
------------------------------------
Download
1. Click the "Download Now" link to download the file.
2. If the Export Compliance Disclaimer window appears, click the "I agree" link
to accept the agreement.
3. When the File Download window appears, click "Save" to save the file to your
hard drive.
Installation
Before you begin the firmware update, stop all I/O operations and utilities.
1. Browse to the location where you downloaded the file and double-click the new
file.
2. Read over the release information presented in the dialog window.
3. Download and install any prerequisites identified in the dialog window before
proceeding.
4. Install any necessary Embedded Systems Management firmware prior to this BIOS
update.
5. Click the Install button.
6. Follow the remaining prompts to perform the update.
The Update Package can also be used with Dell OpenManage Server Administrator.
See the Dell Update Package User's Guide for more information.
Linux Update Package Instructions:
----------------------------------
Download
1. Click the "Download Now" link to download the file.
2. If the Export Compliance Disclaimer window appears, click the "I agree" link
to accept the agreement.
3. When the File Download window appears, click "Save" to save the file to your
hard drive.
Installation
Before you begin the firmware update, stop all I/O operations and utilities.
1. Read over the release information presented by executing the
./<filename>.bin --version command from the shell.
2. Download and install any prerequisites identified in the above step before
proceeding.
3. Run the update by executing ./<filename>.bin from the shell.
4. Follow the remaining prompts to perform the update.
3.0 Important Information
Firmware upgrade while controller is doing background I/O task:
The firmware upgrade may fail if any of the RAID controllers in the system are
performing an I/O background task. (ie. check consistency, background initialization,
rebuild, or reconstruction). Allow the background task to complete before attempting
to upgrade the firmware. Patrol Read tasks will not affect a firmware upgrade.
Current RAID configuration will not be modified or cleared during the Firmware
Upgrade process.
The program will stop at the "Flash Download" screen with the following message:
"Consistency Check of logical drive(s) in progress for adapter-X. Failed Writing
Image on Adapter X with Baseport ...".
Universal CTRL-M:
Multiple adapters can be configured from CTRL-M, but the adapter must be selected
using "Select Adapter" and should be verified before performing any configuration
changes.
Applying Factory Defaults on Clustered Configs:
When the factory default settings are applied for a PERC controller in clustering
mode, the card will remain in cluster mode, but BIOS will be enabled. BIOS should
be disabled after applying factory default settings to avoid any system boot issues.
Drive Migration:
When hard drives are moved from one controller to another, the target controller
configuration must be cleared to ensure a configuration mismatch does not occur.
Any ongoing hard drive operations, such as a rebuild or reconstruction, should
be completed before migrating drives to the new controller.
Verifying Cache Integrity:
When there is data in cache from an improper shutdown, the system may take up to sixty
seconds to verify that the data in the cache is correct and does not contain any
errors. The delay may appear to be a system hang, but this behavior is normal and
is required to confirm the integrity of the data.
TTY History:
This firmware update package will disable the TTY History debug feature. If
this feature is required for additional debug, then it must be reenabled after the
firmware update has completed and the system has been rebooted.
Consistency check:
After installing this firmware and rebooting, a consistency check will automatically begin
on RAID 5 and 50 virtual disks with 5 or more physical disks to ensure parity information is
correct. The consistency check cannot be terminated and will resume at its last point following
a reboot. This consistency check will appear as a Background Initialization but will only perform
a consistency check with no data being modified. The consistency check runs in the background,
allowing the virtual disks to remain accessible during the check. While this background check is
designed to minimize performance impact, some degradation in performance may occur until the
check is complete, especially under heavy I/O.
4.0 Fixes
1. This fix addresses a potential RAID rebuild issue in case of back to back disk failures.
5.0 History changes
Changes from 352B to 352C
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 352C 352B
BIOS 1.10 1.10
Ctrl-M U827 U827
Boot Block 1.7.8ADell 1.7.7Dell
Bug Fixes:
1. Fixed issue on PERC Controllers where LUNs go missing in VMware ESX environments.
2. Fix in firmware for PERC4e Dobson based controllers for correcting a Dobson Erratum workaround implementation, to counter a possible system freeze issue.
Changes from 352A to 352B
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 352B 352A
BIOS 1.10 1.10
Ctrl-M U827 U827
Boot Block 1.7.8ADell 1.7.7Dell
Bug fixes:
1. Corrected an issue where the cluster mode setting was not being held when multiple PERC 4/DC cards
are installed in a PE6650.
Changes from 351X to 352A
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 352A 351X
BIOS 1.10 1.10
Ctrl-M U827 U827
Boot Block 1.7.7Dell 1.7.7Dell
1. Fixed an issue that could cause a blue screen, file system error or system hang when using
EVPD inquiry commands.
2. Fixed an issue where the write cache policy is reported incorrectly under rare circumstances.
Changes from 351S to 351X
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 351X 351S
BIOS 1.10 1.10
Ctrl-M U827 U827
Boot Block 1.7.7Dell 1.7.7Dell
Bug fixes:
1. Fixed a timing issue that may occur when accessing RAID 5 or 50 arrays.
2. Fixed an issue that could cause a blue screen or hang when Patrol Read finds a bad block
on a RAID array that is configured in a sliced config, which is when 2 or more RAID arrays
are created on the same set of physical disks.
Changes from 350O to 351S
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 351S 350O
BIOS 1.10 1.09
Ctrl-M U827 U821
Boot Block 1.7.7Dell 1.7.6Dell
Bug Fixes:
1. Fixed an issue that optimized cache flush algorithms while switching between no
read-ahead to read-ahead cache modes.
2. Modified the Fast Initialization function to delete all operation system partition
table information.
3. Fixed an issue where Ctrl-M was incorrectly reporting that the PERC4/SC was
missing a battery. PERC4/SC controllers do not have batteries.
4. Fixed an issue where a Seagate hard drive model M3637 was not negotiating
correctly with PERC 4 adapters.
5. Fixed a SES Timeout error caused by a media error recovery defect in cluster
mode on a PERC4/DC and a PERC3/DC.
6. Modified Ctrl-M to clear physical drive media error count upon drive replacement.
Note: System must be powered on during the drive replacement in order for media
errors to be cleared.
7. Modified caching algorithms to not switch from Write-back to Write-through
during a battery fast charge.
8. Fixed a performance degradation issue when using RAID 10 virtual disks, when
configured to use no read ahead or write caching and direct IO on PERC4 controllers.
Enhancements
1. Added Patrol Read feature. Patrol Read involves the review of the system for
possible hard drive errors that could lead to drive failure, then action to
correct the errors. The goal is to protect data integrity by detecting physical
drive failures before the failures can damage data. Patrol Read adjusts the amount
of RAID controller resources dedicated to Patrol Read operations based on outstanding
disk I/O.
2. Added Rebuild Checkpoint feature. The Dell PERC firmware has a feature to resume a
rebuild on a physical drive in case of an abrupt power loss or if the server
rebooted in the middle of a rebuild operation.
3. Enhanced write algorithms to increase I/O performance for RAID 5 and RAID 50
virtual disks using four or more disks that are configured to use write-through
write cache mode.
Changes from 3.41 to 350O
Component Current Version Previous Version
Firmware 350O 3.41
BIOS 1.09 1.06
Ctrl-M U821 U812
Boot Block 1.7.6Dell 1.7.1Dell
Bug Fixes:
1. Addressed issues found with the Firmware status Queue. This was causing the firmware to
post status completion of command IDs still in progress, causing the driver to reuse those
command IDs
2. Addressed an issue in the media error counter logic when drives with media errors are
replaced.
3. Improved rebuild logic to handle multiple media error in the same array in corner case
conditions.
4. Improved Firmware error handling and messages for TBBU related events.
Enhancements:
1. Improve firmware behavior and reporting when a multi-bit error is encounter at boot time.
If an unrecoverable (multi-bit) error is encountered, during a cache scrub at initialization,
the cache is re-initialized.
2. Improve the Firmware interrupt handling for all possible interrupts and takes specific
actions based on the type and source of the interrupt.
3. Improve firmware failure algorithm for failed drives based on SAF-TE information.
4. Improved firmware error handling for cable pulled/removed situations.
5. Improved firmware algorithm and error handling for drive roaming scenarios and deleted
Logical Disks.
6. Improved error logging and debug information collection when the firmware hangs or crashes.
7. Improved BIOS status reporting and messaging during POST.
8. Improved error firmware handling when drives return Hardware Error (sense key code 04)
in some configurations.
9. Improved Firmware behavior and error handling for SCSI bus resets when in a cluster
configuration.
Change from 3.28 to 3.41
Firmware Enhancements
1. Improved I/O performance.
2. Improved hard drive status logic when virtual disks are spanned across channels.
3. Firmware will automatically change cache settings to WriteThru when a battery
problem is detected to preserve data. If WriteBack was originally selected,
firmware will switch back once battery problem has been corrected.
4. In the Rebuild function of CRTL-M, a new status called “INCON” will be displayed
after a rebuild operation completes if any unrecoverable errors are found in any
of the hard disk drives. To identify the location of the error and if any data was
present, run a check disk from the O/S (e.g. chkdsk in windows).
Note: Dell recommends that a check disk or consistency check should be run after
any RAID rebuild operation is completed by the controller.
Firmware Bug Fixes
1. When multiple hard drive media errors are encountered, array rebuild operation
will complete.
2. Consistency checks are aborted after reboot in cluster or stand alone mode.
User must restart consistency check manually if needed.
3. Manual initialization calls will be rejected if a background initialization or
consistency check is in progress on the logical drive.
4. Address potential controller lock-ups that could occur during either degraded,
rebuilding or multiple drive pull and reinsert scenarios.
5. Addressed potential controller freezing during driver failure on possible
Raid configurations.
Change from 3.18 to 3.28
Firmware Enhancements
1) Added additional debug capability
Firmware Bug Fixes
1) Fixed issue where misbehaving drive may cause Blue screen
2) Changed request sense length to reduce CRC errors from drives
3) Fixed issue where misbehaving drive would cause the system to hang
4) Fixed NVRAM issue related to downgrading firmware
5) Fixed issue where BGI would run during an NVRAM mismatch.
6) Firmware now checks for additional hot spares if first rebuild fails.
7) Fixed a problem where the controller would negotiate to ASYNC during
clustering if node went offline while rebuild was occurring.
8) Fixed a problem where the firmware would continuously respond to an auto
request sense failure from a failing hard drive
9) Fixed a conflict with Direct I/O, No Read-Ahead, and Write-Through cache
parameters and platforms with more than 4 GB of system memory.
Version 3.18
1) Initial release of PERC 4/SC firmware
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.