Messages about a failing battery

[Infodatek]

Hello all,

First of all some specs and info:

The Server: IBM System x3500 M3

Processors: 2x Intel Xeon X5675

Memory: 80GB, ECC, Registered (40GB per processor)

Hard Disk Controller: IBM ServeRAID M5015 with BBWC and Advanced Feature Key (LSI MegaRAID 2808 based)

Hard Disk Drives: 10x 600GB SAS, 10 000 RPM, 6Gbps (Running in RAID-6)

All the firmware was updated to the latest versions yesterday. VMware 4.1 U1 has also been updated to the latest build yesterday.

The problem we're having:

VMware is reporting that the BBWC (Battery Backed Write Cache) is not in a good health condition. I checked this with the MegaCli and this is telling me that the battery is in a good condition and that it is fully charged and had one learning cycle (it's a new battery). I was wondering if there is some way to get VMware to report it as OK or is is just safe to ignore the warning.

The exact error VMware produces:

Error: Health State Not Good (Message: Battery Fully Charged)

[arturka]

Hi

Is a common know error on IBM servers, just ignor it.

Cheers
Artur

Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[Infodatek]

Thank you for the information. I'll just ignore the message then 🙂

[Troy_Clavell]

I believe the official answer from IBM was the battery discharges and recharges about every 3 days to help extend the life.  During the discharge process is when the alarm gets triggered.  As stated, we ignore these messages as well.