Troubleshooting event ID 9, 11, and 15 on Cluster Servers

When you are using Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) or the Cluster service in Windows 2000, events 9, 11, and 15 should not appear in the event log in normal operation. A single occurrence of one of these events may not indicate a problem, but repetitive occurrences may warrant investigation. When you are troubleshooting these events, bear in mind that these events are issued by the device driver for the attached storage devices. These events are not caused by or issued from the cluster software. The events may indicate the need to examine or troubleshoot attached storage devices.

Event ID 9

Event ID 9 indicates that an I/O time-out has occurred within the storage system, as detected from the driver for the controller. This time-out does not involve the cluster software in any way. The I/O request made to the device was not completed within a reasonable amount of time. When the I/O request expires (times out), the driver resets the SCSI bus. Although this could indicate other problems, this could also be caused in some configurations by powering on or off devices on the shared bus, if the bus is differential. Time-out events could indicate cabling, termination, or SCSI hardware configuration problems.

Event ID 11

Event ID 11 is a more serious error than an I/O time-out. This error could be a result of a bad or corrupted device driver, a hardware problem, a malfunctioning device, poor cabling, or termination issues. This is an error occurring within the driver or hardware itself, not the cluster software.

Use the troubleshooting steps in the "General Troubleshooting" section of this article, paying particular attention to:

• Check the version of the SCSI controller BIOS and the device firmware revision. Contact the manufacturer for the latest updates.
• Check the SCSI device driver version. The SCSI driver is located in the %Systemroot%\System32\Drivers folder. Look for the version in the file properties, and check whether the SCSI manufacturer has a newer version.

Event ID 15

Event ID 15 indicates that the device is not ready. This can be the result of SCSI host adapter configuration issues or other problems. Check with the manufacturer for updated firmware, drivers, or known issues. This could also indicate a malfunctioning device. This error occurs at the device level; the cluster software is not likely to be involved. Event ID 15 may also be accompanied by these error messages from the Cluster service: Important For troubleshooting event ID 1069, you may have a corrupted GUID.

General Troubleshooting

Use the following general troubleshooting methods to help resolve event ID 9, 11, or 15:

• Check for loose connections.
• Check for physical damage to cables or connector pins.
• Make sure that the driver and firmware versions match those used on all servers in the cluster. Check with the manufacturer for updates.

For SCSI-based storage:

• Make sure that you have a "Y" cable with an external physical terminator.
• Verify that you have the proper terminator for your SCSI implementation. For example, you need a different type of terminator for a SCSI2 and an Ultra2 LVD SCSI system (because different resistance is needed).
• Verify that you do not have duplicate termination (for example, there are two physical terminators on the bus and one of the controllers has its software termination enabled).
• Make sure that you have disabled the internal termination in the BIOS of the controller.
• Make sure that the total combined cable length does not exceed the maximum SCSI length specification (this varies depending on your implementation).
• Check for duplicate SCSI IDs on the same bus.
  
  NOTE: By default, both controllers are set to ID 7; you need to make sure that one of the controllers is set to ID 6.
• Make sure that the automatic bus reset option is turned off in the controller's configuration.

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