HP Smart Array 1783-Slot 0 Drive Array Controller Failure (Command Failure (cmd=11h, err=020h)]

This is a common error with a failed controller with HP.   It could mean some of the following issues are wrong.

-          Broken Controller

-          Controller needs reseating

-          Controller Cache needs clearing / reseating

-          SAS Drive Failure

Above mentioned are some of the common causes related to the error.   Let’s take a look at some of the things we can do to try troubleshoot the issue.   

Typically when seeing this error on the screen you have usually waited approximately 5 minutes for your raid controller to time out then tell you it has failed.  

Broken Controller

This could be due to the controller actually being broken.   If you have an “I” series controller, this means it is integrated with the system board and the entire board will need to be replaced.

Controller Needs Reseating

If you don’t have an “I” series controller, this means you have a separate raid controller card which could be loose.   If you open up the case you can reseat the controller card and try rebooting the server.

Controller Cache Needs Clearing / Reseating

IF you have an integrated or separate raid controller, they come with cache modules.  This may need to be taken off the system board or the raid controller card and reseated.

SAS Drive Failure

This is a known issue with some SAS SFF drives from HP.  Your raid controller may not even initialize due to a faulty or incompatible SAS drive.  Please try taking out the drives and rebooting the machine with no SAS drives installed and see if the card will initialize.  If it does you may have faulty hard drives