Re: CACHE BATT EXP 90 DAYS???

Vern/Debbie

Vern is correct there are videos and such and it's really not hard to find the cards. If you are at all skilled with service tools the location of the card is detailed right to the tower and slot even on the largest multi-rack systems. Depending on the cards they do need to be removed from the system in order to swap the battery, this is true. Vern's comment about the vice grip to get the battery free though is a slight exaggeration, you only need a good pair of 10" Channel Locks. :-) Seriously though the plastic clip that holds the battery onto the RAID cards is seriously tight. Scary tight even, and while I've never broken either the clip or the card getting one on or off, I seriously have wondered why that they need to be so tight. Fortunately it's a mute point because all the new cards from the FC #2780 forward have access to the battery from the rear and NO tools are required! (No downtime either!)

While I wish we could all get superbly trained System i specialized CEs in our shops for every little issue, this simply cannot happen all the time. There aren't enough of them around and the primary reason for this is that the System i is So reliable that IBM simply can't keep enough System i specialized CEs trained and available. As a result it sounds like your CE was likely not used to working on this system. In this case he should have called for help sooner. Use of the car key is something I would be shocked to see ANY IBM CE try though and that is more than a little scary.

Just this morning I responded to a post in iSociety.common.org about a similar situation and my comments there fit here as well. It is in nobodies best interest for the CE to simply 'get out', rather their goal should be (and 99% of the time it is) to 'get done'. Getting done in the most efficient manner is also in everyone's best interest. He should have known where the card was before you had to take down the system. He should have reviewed documentation on how to swap the battery and how to flag it as failed (it it wasn't already) to force all cache data to disk. If he didn't know those things then he should have contacted his next level of support for that help BEFORE your system was made unavailable. And, if at any time you are not comfortable with what is happening with your system, PLEASE contact IBM service and speak to the duty manager. I don't want to get anyone in trouble but if there are technicians out their putting customer systems in danger they need to get training, get support, or get out.

- Larry

Vernon Hamberg wrote:

Hi Debbie

WOW - I printed all that information from InfoCenter - it's not rocket science. Card locations, everything. I've done both a 270 and an i5 - anyone want a CE cheap? NOT

For the i5 there are even nice videos at infoCenter - FOR the service personnel, as well as civilians such as I - and one does not have to take the whole blasted machine apart to get at these things.

If I can do it, anyone from IBM with a little instruction should be able to do it. Sheesh!!

As to popping the battery out - they don't just pop - unless there is a secret - the paperwork says to squeeze the bracket - yeah, sure - with a vicegrip, thank you very much. Fortunately these reinforced circuit boards are tough!!

Next time, call LarryB - he probably knows more than most CE's ever will these days!!

Later
Vern

At 12:21 PM 6/5/2007, you wrote:

We just had to replace our batteries Friday night. The CE who came out to
do this wasn't even quite sure where the cards were located. He pulled just
about every panel off of both of our towers to locate the cards. He called
our usual CE, who was working at another customer & IBM to determine exactly
how to swap the batteries. One of the set of batteries had to be hot swapped
to get them recognized & one had to be cold swapped. He pulled both cards
all the way out. When he started using his car key to pop the batteries out
of the first card it made me nervous & I offered him our set of screwdrivers
to use instead. I was so glad that I had done a full save before he got
there!! The man had my nerves on edge. What should have been a 5 minute
job took over an hour and a half.

- Debbie Kelemen
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Chefs Catalog
5070 Centennial Blvd
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Work: (719) 272-2617
Fax: (719) 272-2627

Larry Bolhuis IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert - System i Solutions
Vice President IBM Certified Systems Expert:
Arbor Solutions, Inc. System i Technical Design and Implementation V5R4
1345 Monroe NW Suite 259 eServer i5 iSeries LPAR Technical Solutions, V5R3 Grand Rapids, MI 49505 IBM Certified Specialist
System i Integration with BladeCenter and System x V1
(616) 451-2500 System i IT Simplification: Linux Technical V5R4
(616) 451-2571 - Fax iSeries System Administrator for OS/400 V5R3
(616) 260-4746 - Cell
If you can read this, thank a teacher....and since it's in English, thank a soldier.