IBM RS/6000 Troubleshooting Guide
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Fault diagnosis on the IBM RS/6000 starts at the operator panel. The Micro Channel machines report their self-test, power-on and configuration progress, and any halt, as a number on a three-digit display; later PCI machines such as the 7043 use four-character firmware checkpoints and eight-character error codes. Hardware errors found by the diagnostics are reported as a service request number (SRN), which IBM's service documentation maps to field-replaceable units (FRUs). The code lists below are IBM's own; they differ between machine families, so use the service guide for the machine type in front of you.
Operator panel (Micro Channel machines)
[edit | edit source]IBM's diagnostic operator guide describes these panel features:[1]
- Power-on light: on when all voltages in the power supply are present and within limits and the fans are running. If a fan sensed by the supply stops or fails to start, the supply turns the system unit off.
- Key mode switch: Secure prevents an initial program load (IPL) and disables the Reset button, and an IPL attempted in Secure shows 200. Normal loads the operating system from disk after POST and configuration. Service loads the diagnostic controller, searching diskette, then non-disk SCSI devices, then disks, then the network.
- Reset button: restarts the system in the mode set by the key, reads out a crash or diagnostic message after a flashing 888, and starts a dump.
- Three-digit display: tracks the progress of the built-in self-test (BIST), power-on self-test (POST) and configuration programs; if a test stops, its number stays on the display.
Check stops, machine checks and other processor-detected errors reset the system and start an IPL. A second check stop during that IPL stops the system with 113; uncorrectable memory errors and addressing errors stop it with a flashing 888.[1]
Three-digit display codes
[edit | edit source]The following are from Appendix C of IBM's 1992 operator guide.[2] Numbers 100 to 199 belong to BIST, 200 to 299 to POST, and 500 to 999 to the configuration programs.
| Code | IBM's meaning |
|---|---|
| 100 | BIST completed successfully; control passed to IPL ROS |
| 101 | BIST started following reset |
| 102 | BIST started following power-on reset |
| 103 | BIST could not determine the system model number |
| 104 | Equipment conflict; BIST could not find the CBA |
| 105 | BIST could not read from the OCS EPROM |
| 106 | BIST detected a module error |
| 111 | OCS stopped; BIST detected a module error |
| 112 | Checkstop during BIST; results could not be logged out |
| 113 | BIST checkstop count greater than 1 |
| 121-127 | CRC checks of the OCS EPROM, NVRAM (OCS and time-of-day areas) and 8752 EPROM; odd numbers are "bad CRC" results |
| 888 | BIST did not start |
| Code | IBM's meaning |
|---|---|
| 200 | IPL attempted with the key in the Secure position |
| 201 | IPL ROM test failed or checkstop occurred (irrecoverable) |
| 211 | IPL ROM CRC comparison error (irrecoverable) |
| 212 | RAM POST memory configuration error or no memory found (irrecoverable) |
| 213 | RAM POST failure (irrecoverable) |
| 214 | Power status register failed (irrecoverable) |
| 215 | A low voltage condition is present (irrecoverable) |
| 217 | End of boot list encountered |
| 221 | NVRAM CRC error during IPL in Normal mode; reset NVRAM by doing an IPL in Service mode |
| 222-237 | Attempting a Normal mode IPL or restart from the devices in the NVRAM or IPL ROM device lists (planar devices, SCSI, 9333, 7012 direct-bus disk, Ethernet, token ring) |
| 229 | Cannot IPL from any device in the NVRAM list, or the list has no valid entries |
| 242-258 | The same device searches in Service mode |
| 262 | No keyboard detected on the keyboard port |
| 281-293 | POST of the keyboard, parallel and serial ports, graphics, token ring, Ethernet, adapter slots, standard I/O, SCSI and 7012 direct-bus disk |
| 290 | IOCC POST error (irrecoverable) |
| 297 | System model number does not compare between OCS and ROS (irrecoverable) |
| 299 | IPL ROM passed control to the loaded program code |
Configuration codes 500 to 508 show the configuration manager querying the native I/O slot and slots 1 to 8, 510 and 511 device configuration starting and completing, and 520 to 539 bus configuration and errors in the configuration manager or its ODM database (IBM marks 521 to 529, 531, 532, 534 and 536 irrecoverable). 551 means IPL varyon is running, 552 that it failed, and 553 that IPL phase 1 is complete. Numbers from 581 upwards show individual software components, devices and adapters being configured; if the display stops on one, that item is the first suspect.[2]
Flashing 888
[edit | edit source]A flashing 888 means a crash message or a diagnostic message is waiting. To read it (IBM's procedure, pp. 3-14 and 3-15):[3]
- Have paper ready. Make sure the key is in Normal or Service. Hold Reset for about one second each time you press it.
- Press Reset once and record the number: this is the message type (102, 103 or 105).
- Type 102 (crash): press Reset and record the crash code, press again and record the dump status code. If 888 then flashes again, the message is complete; otherwise a 103 or 105 message follows.
- Type 103 or 105 (diagnostic): press Reset twice to read the six-digit SRN in two halves, then keep pressing to read up to four FRU location codes, each shown as a c0x prefix followed by eight numbers, until 888 flashes again.
- The system must be turned off to recover from the halt.
| Code | IBM's meaning |
|---|---|
| 000 | Unexpected system interrupt |
| 200-207 | Machine check: memory bus parity (200), memory timeout (201), memory card failure (202), address out of range (203), write to ROS (204), uncorrectable address parity (205), uncorrectable ECC error (206), unidentified (207) |
| 300 | Data storage interrupt from the processor |
| 32x, 38x | Data storage interrupt from an I/O exception on the IOCC or SLA (x is the bus unit ID) |
| 400 | Instruction storage interrupt |
| 500, 501 | External interrupt: scrub memory bus parity error, or unidentified error |
| 51x-54x | External interrupt on IOCC x: DMA memory bus error (51x), channel check (52x), bus timeout (53x), keyboard check (54x) |
| 558 | Not enough space to continue the program load |
| 700 | Program interrupt |
| 800 | Floating point not available |
Service request numbers
[edit | edit source]When the diagnostic programs find a problem they report an SRN, which the service documentation maps to the FRUs to replace, in order. Type 103 and 105 messages give the SRN and the location codes of up to four FRUs.[3] The SRN-to-FRU lists are in IBM's diagnostic service guides and the machine service guides, not in the operator guide.
7013 500 series: power supply failure codes
[edit | edit source]On the 7013 500 series, when the supply detects a power failure it turns the power light off and shows a status on the three-digit display. Blanks in all three positions mean no failure, or none that can be detected. A zero is not a failure.[4]
| Position | Digit | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 / 4 / u | Fan on P49B failed / fan on P49C failed / both |
| 2 | 8 | Power supply fan on P47 failed |
| 2 | 4 | Fan on P46A or P46 failed |
| 2 | 2 | Fan on P49A failed |
| 2 | 6, c, u, inverted F | Combinations of 4+2, 8+2, 8+4 and 8+4+2 |
| 3 | 8 | Temperature in the power supply excessive |
| 3 | 4 | Power failure inside the power supply |
| 3 | 2 | Power failure outside the power supply |
| 3 | 1 | Loss of primary power |
If several failures are shown and one is in the right-hand position, IBM says to correct that one first. Any fan connector (P46A, P46B, P49A, P49B, P49C) without a fan must have the fan sense jumper fitted: the supply will not run with any of them open.[4]
7043 43P: firmware checkpoints and error codes
[edit | edit source]The 7043 Models 140, 150 and 240 use four-character firmware checkpoints on the operator panel (E100 onwards) and eight-character error codes. IBM's service guide lists them with repair actions:[5]
- A system that stops at a memory checkpoint (E122, E213, E214, E220 or E3xx) goes to the memory problem MAP.
- A display alternating between E1FD and another Exxx code: record both.
- 20E00004, "battery drained or needs replacement": replace the battery, then the system planar. 28030005 is an RTC battery error. IBM notes that NVRAM and real-time clock errors can be caused by low battery voltage.
- When the keyboard indicator appears during start-up, F1 (or 1 on an ASCII terminal) starts System Management Services, whose Utilities menu holds the error log. F5 (or 5) boots the diagnostics from the default list, for example from the diagnostic CD-ROM.
A diagnostic sequence
[edit | edit source]- Check the key mode switch: 200 on the display means it is in Secure.
- Watch the display from power-on and note where it stops. A number that stays up identifies the unsuccessful test or the device being configured.
- If the power light goes out and a status appears (7013 500 series), use the power failure table above; check that unused fan connectors have their sense jumpers.
- For a flashing 888, read out the whole message before turning the system off.
- Run the diagnostics in Service mode and record the SRN and location codes, then look them up in the service guide for the machine type.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 IBM, POWERstation and POWERserver Diagnostic Programs: Operator Guide, Version 2.1, SA23-2631-06, April 1992, pp. 1-5 to 1-7 (File:IBM RS6000 Diagnostic Programs Operator Guide SA23-2631-6.pdf).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 IBM, SA23-2631-06, Appendix C, "Three-Digit Display Numbers", pp. C-1 to C-8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 IBM, SA23-2631-06, "Reading Flashing 888 Numbers", pp. 3-14 to 3-16, and Appendix C, p. C-8.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 IBM, RS/6000 7013 500 Series Installation and Service Guide, SA38-0531-00, November 1996, MAP 1520, pp. 2-1520-1 and 2-1520-2, and "Power Supply Connectors", pp. 1-15 and 1-16 (File:IBM RS6000 7013 500 Series Installation and Service Guide SA38-0531-00.pdf).
- ↑ IBM, RS/6000 7043 43P Series Service Guide, SA38-0512-03, October 1998, chapters 2 to 4 and 7 (File:IBM RS6000 7043 43P Series Service Guide SA38-0512-03.pdf).