Update - Overnight, i removed both controllers. I took out both batteries and let it sit overnight. Now I have once controller with 5E Df, and the other has OE Lt.

There are now 24 hard drives installed, none of them have blinking lights. 

My next angle will be to let this sit powered up overnight to see if the battery errors fix themselves. (indicator lights on both controllers still on). 

I added this next part as a new post, so this thread can be closed if need be. But in case someone happened to be watching it, here is an update... 

I made great progress since my last post.

I still get a constant error on both of my controllers (MD3820i) as follows:

RTC Warning: Battery for real-time clock and NVSRAM must be replaced

I changed both of the CR2032 batteries. These batteries have been on a shelf for a few years but I tested them with a volt meter and they are at 3.25V and 3.3V which according to what everyone says, are good batteries. (but could still possibly be the problem?)

If I shut the unit down and wait for the controller caches to offload and then restart, each controller comes up having the correct date and time. I get this message (on both controllers)... 

3900 Real-Time Clock
01 RT Clock Tick ** Failed **

*** Error (0005): Real time clock/NVSRAM battery low

STATUS: Real time clock/NVSRAM battery low

*** Current Loop Count: 1 Date: 12/12/2019 Time: 12:25:02

*** Master Error Code: 2701-3900-01-0005

D)isplay R)etry C)ontinue M)onitor S)hell A)bort ?

Choosing C) on each controller allows the array to boot to optimal status, and can be accessed via the MDSM software with no issues. But it does hang on these errors every time I reboot it which could be a nuisance since I work in a school that does experience power outages sometimes. 

I know the cache battery has an age reset command. Do the CR2032 batteries have a similar reset command? 

Thanks again in advance. 

hi.. i got exactly the same problem. is there no one to help us?

Hi, As a thread's owner already tried the above posts but still it could be related to the real time clock chip or battery. The RTC battery is actually a watch-style battery that powers the RTC chip; it is not the cache backup. The battery is very similar in a video here https://dell.to/3YsE6YI

Might be these commands are helpful "lemClearLockdown" and "clearHardwareLockdown" but it will ask you for a shell username and password. Unfortunately, Dell does not provide the password to customers to avoid they can do harm to their system. For this, if it is under warranty, I can recommend calling your local support and they can try to clear the lockdown via commands. Or if you find credentials via googling and have an experience in such cases you can take a shot. However if still doesn't work then the RTC chip or clock battery itself could have an issue and need to be replaced. 

Hope that helps!

replacing the battery wont fix the issue as the RTC will be wrong and need to be set.

but that can only be done through the engineering menu

Thank you all for attention. i already tried 'lemclear' and 'clearhardware' commands and also setted time with  'settime' command from shell. unfortunately nothing changed. controllers keep giving RTC battery error. i tried many kind of RTC batteries. still same. 

Storage working perfect after bootup but the error interupts the boot process. so i cant use the storage with this condition.

Hello,

if you have done all those steps then you need to contact support as it also could be an hardware problem on the storage processor.

Thanks

First of all, Thank you. )

We have 2 storage appliances with this issue. One of them is 3820f and its almost brand new. but unfortunately both of them are out of warranty. when i call prosupport, they tell me that if you would buy warranty extension still you couldnt replace your controller because of TSR log control.

so please tell me what should i do with these garbage devices ?

third party repair centers could probably help.

where are you based?

istanbul/turkey.

We are already Dell Gold partner. if there is, which repair center that we dont know about it?