Smart-UPS 1400 RM - Environment Errors

[Anonymous user]

We have a rack mounted 1400 for a few small servers at a Quaker school in Princeton, NJ.  It has functioned well.  However, the (web-interface) Environment gives the following in red:  Thresholds OK, Contact Alarm Present, Relay Disabled.  I have done internet searches and read my manuals but I don't know what the significance is of these messages.

I imaging the Thresholds OK is indeed OK and simply got dragged along into red.

Contact Alarm Present doesn't sound good but I have no idea where to look or what to do next.

I can imagine hat Relay Disabled might be OK since the UPS is configured, in addition to power issues, solely for temperature - but I could be wrong and would like advice on what to look for.

Advice or pointing me to the right documentation would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[BillP]

Hi mikepfs

I can help you with this. Do you know the model of card? Is it AP9619 or AP9631? I am betting AP9619. You can verify in the web UI under Administration->General->About assuming you have recent firmware.

This means that someone has configured the dry contacts options on the management card. Do you use dry contacts to signal something externally, such as an alarm beacon, a fan, a PLC, etc? If not, then this is not a concern. I imagine you'd know if it was a concern by what the device attached to your dry contacts is doing.

More often than not, I see these blindly configured and the user not understanding what they are for. When I ask about dry contacts, I am talking about the blue keystone jack on the front faceplate of the management card itself. Most likely there is an active condition on the card or UPS causing it to change to an abnormal state. If no dry contacts are in use, then it doesn't matter.

If this is an AP9619 as I suspect (or even AP9618), I'd go to the Environment tab and look at input contacts and output relay sections and see what's configured in there. You can also remove all of the configurations in this screen too.

Let me know if you have further questions or need any screenshots.

[Anonymous user]

We actually have 2 1400s.  The one with the red messages has older firmware.  The one with the newer firmware has less "scary" messages and the card is an AP9619 as you concluded.  I presume the Network Mgmt Cards (NMC) are the same on both.

As far as I know, we don't use the dry contacts.  I can't see the NMC interface since we have rack mounted devices that are too close to the wall for me to see the back without a major effort.

There are input contacts Contact 1 and a Contact 2.  Both are enabled and both read Fault Present.  The output relay is disabled.  We do sense temperature but not sure how that is setup.

From what you have said, this sounds like a configuration issue and not a true fault or alarm.  Is that a reasonable conclusion?

And thank you very much for the swift and thorough response - I was kinda surprised.

Mike

[BillP]

You're welcome.

Are you interested in updating the older firmware? The latest would be v3.7.3 AOS and v3.7.2 sumx application.

I believe your conclusion is correct. We should be able to just remove any input contact configurations to make them go away and stop alarming at you. Were you able to see what was enabled for configuration to see why the contacts are active?

[Anonymous user]

I either couldn't see or don't know how to see what was enabled for configuration to make contacts active.  We just monitor temperature (and power!).

The newer firmware is AOS 3.6.1; the older 73.14.D from 2006.  I'd be interested in upgrading.  If invasive, it'll have to wait until we do maintenance.  Otherwise I can do it whenever.

[Anonymous user]

This is great info.  Just to make sure, is it safe to assume that both 1400s have the same network management card?

Also I can get no aos or sumx info for the 1400 with the older firmware.  Does that make sense?  Does it matter since I assume the upgrade procedure will be the same?

[BillP]

The 73.14D number just refers to the actual UPS firmware which cannot be modified. We are only interested in the AP9619 firmware version which you've mentioned is AOS 3.6.1 and application version 3.5.8 for the sumx application module.

Anyway, I will attach the latest firmware file to this post. It only requires the network management card itself to reboot and you don't need to account for any downtime on the UPS because that does not affect UPS power output. In our knowledge base, there are some instructions on how to do this if you need them. The firmware comes in a wizard which is easiest but if you need to do it manually, instructions are listed for that.

http://www.apc.com/site/support/index.cfm/faq/ -> search for FA156047.

When you go to your Environment tab, you should see something similar:

You'd Just click on contact 1 or 2 and in the next screen there is an "enable" checkbox you could unselect for each.

For the output relay, I assume you just have all of these unselected? If not, that's what I would do to avoid any future alarms.

[BillP]

Unless you purchased them in the last 2-3 years (the Network Cards), then they are most likely the AP9619.

Also, why can't you see the firmware on the older 1400? What are you able to see? No matter the version of the Network Management Card firmware, you should be able to find it somewhere. If its an older firmware, it probably has a Help menu on the left hand side (rather than the tabs at the top) and then an About System section which will give you the aAOS and sumx version. We should just verify it before we proceed so we know what we're working with - it can also be helpful if the upgrade fails in the middle, we can always dig up the old files to make it functional and re-try. The only note I'd point out is if the AOS is below a certain number, then you need to do a special step (which the firmware wizard does automatically).

[Anonymous user]

Totally missed that.  The aos is 2.6.1 and the sumx is 2.6.4.

[BillP]

ok, great. As long as it was not version 1.0, you're OK. you can go ahead and apply the update at any time now if you want. let me know if you have any issues.

[Anonymous user]

Getting close to end of day so will put this off until tomorrow.  I always leave time to clean up the mess.  I will certainly let you know how things turn out.

I am totally pleased with your great customer service.  It certainly will influence futute purchases.  Later

Mike

[Anonymous user]

Had a rocky start on the upgrade for the 1st UPS (the one with the older NMC firmware) in that it acted as though it had failed.

Using AOS file            : AOS = apc_hw02_aos_373.bin
Using Application file  : APP = apc_hw02_sumx_372.bin

Checking network connection ...  Checking version information ...
*************** Next **************

Before Upgrading the NMC the AOS is: apc_hw02_aos_264.bin
Attempting to log in to ups001 ... Log in sucessful
Loading OS, please wait ...                      OK
Please wait (2 minutes ) for system restart  OK
Attempting connection to verify restart        OK
Attempting to log in to ups001 ...
Could not log into ups001.

Not all Network Management Cards were upgraded successfully:
ups001: Could not log into the Management Card's FTP server.

Encountered 1 failures during upgrade.

When I tried to login, I also got an error message.  But after about 5 minutes, I received a message from the NMC telling me it was back.  I checked and all was upgraded and fine.

However, the 2nd UPS failed the initial login which I verified (several times) and tried again - failed again.  Here's the message:

Using AOS file            : AOS = apc_hw02_aos_373.bin
Using Application file  : APP = apc_hw02_sumx_372.bin

Checking network connection ...  ERROR!!! Login unsuccessful.

Not all Network Management Cards were upgraded successfully:
ups002: Could not log into the Management Card's FTP server.

Encountered 1 failures during upgrade.

I tried several times with no luck.  Any ideas?

Mike

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike - can you see if you could do it manually via FTP and not using the little wizard? Those instructions should be in the knowledge base article I mentioned in a few replies earlier -> http://www.apc.com/site/support/index.cfm/faq/ -> search for FA156047

If you can't log in via FTP on the card outside of the wizard then verify FTP is enabled on that card  (or you can actually try that first) and make sure the user account you are using is an administrator. The other thing I can think of is that you are using a non-default port for FTP which I don't think the wizard can do. That just means you'd have to do it via the manual FTP instructions. Refer to NMC1.

Let me know how that goes.