HP DL360P Gen8 Smart Array P420 cache disabled replace supercap

I have a few HPE DL360P Gen8 servers in my home lab for testing and learning purposes. They’re older and out of support but they work just fine for my lab testing. Recently one of them had an amber indicator light illuminated. I checked the ILO management interface and noticed that the Smart Array controller was reporting the following error in the IML log:

POST Error: 1705-Slot X Drive Array - Please replace Cache Module Super-Cap. Caching will be enabled once Super-Cap has been replaced and charged.

When I logged into the host and ran the ssacli utility I got some more detail on the problem.

# ssacli "ctrl slot=0 show" |grep Cache
Cache Board Present: True
Cache Status: Permanently Disabled
Cache Status Details: Cache disabled; backup power source failed to charge to an acceptable level
Cache Disable Reason: Permanent disable condition. The posted write cache has been disabled because the backup power source attached to the flash-backed write cache module has failed to charge.
Drive Write Cache: Disabled
Total Cache Size: 1.0
Total Cache Memory Available: 0.8
No-Battery Write Cache: Disabled
Cache Backup Power Source: Capacitors
Cache Module Temperature (C): 35

I can imagine a scenario where a supercap has failed, I recently had to replace a pair of them on my Liftmaster garage door opener. However I thought I would try some troubleshooting before ordering replacements online. When I looked at the firmware I noticed was version 8.00. A quick search online revlealed a much newer firmware was available for the controller on the hpe website.

After downloading and extracting the latest firmware ( 8.32 as of this writing) I flashed it to the controller following the instructions provided by HPE with the firmware.

hp-firmware-smartarray-46a4d957a7-8.32-1.1]# ./hpsetup 
Supplemental Update / Online ROM Flash Component for Linux (x64) - Smart Array P220i, P222, P420i, P420, P421, P721m, and P822 (8.32), searching...
1) Smart Array P420i Smart Array P420i in Slot 0 (8.00)
Select which devices to flash [#,#-#,(A)ll,(N)one]> 1
Flashing Smart Array P420i in Slot 0 [ 8.00 -> 8.32 ]
Deferred flashes will be performed on next system reboot
============ Summary ============
Smart Component Finished

Summary Messages
================
Reboot needed to activate 1 new FW image

Exit Status: 1
Deferred flashes will be performed on next system reboot
A reboot is required to complete update.

After a reboot of the lab host the smartarray cache error went away and it appears to have resolved the issue.

# ssacli "ctrl slot=0 show"|grep Cache
   Cache Board Present: True
   Cache Status: OK
   Cache Ratio: 10% Read / 90% Write
   Drive Write Cache: Disabled
   Total Cache Size: 1.0
   Total Cache Memory Available: 0.8
   No-Battery Write Cache: Disabled
   Cache Backup Power Source: Capacitors
   Cache Module Temperature (C): 35

If the issue returns running the new firmware I’ll update this blog post.