Power6 Mid-Range Firmware

Applies to: 9117-MMA and 9406-MMA

This document provides information about the installation of Licensed Machine or Licensed Internal Code, which is sometimes referred to generically as microcode or firmware.

1.0 Systems Affected
2.0 Cautions and Important Information
2.1 Cautions
2.2 Important Information
3.0 Firmware Information and Description
4.0 How to Determine Currently Installed Firmware Level
5.0 Downloading the Firmware Package
6.0 Installing the Firmware
7.0 Change History (Revised 12/02/08)

1.0 Systems Affected

This package provides firmware for System p 570 (9117-MMA), System i570 (9406-MMA) and Power 570 (9117-MMA) servers only. Do not use on any other systems.

The firmware level in this package is:

EM320_083

Updating your system firmware from EM320_031 or EM320_040 directly to EM320_083 (in one step) can not be performed concurrently. An interim firmware level, EM320_046, has been created that will allow an update to EM320_083 concurrently.

To reduce the amount of time required to perform this update and to activate any deferred content in EM320_083, Product Engineering recommends that the firmware update from EM320_031 or EM320_040, directly to EM320_083 is performed disruptively during a scheduled window.

If you plan to install this firmware concurrently, it will require two firmware updates:
1 - Install system firmware level EM320_046.
2 - Then, install system firmware level EM320_083.

Note: Service pack EM320_046 contains a HIPER fix to correct a service processor communications hang which could result in a system checkstop. If you are unable to update your firmware to the latest level (EM320_083), Product Engineering recommends that you minimally install the EM320_046 level to obtain the HIPER fix.

2.0 Cautions and Important Information

2.1 Cautions

New minimum system firmware requirements for model MMA systems shipped starting in May 2008

9117-MMA systems shipped beginning in May of 2008 have a unique system VPD value which identifies them to the HMC. These systems will ship with EM320_059 or higher system firmware installed. Installing a level of system firmware lower than EM320_059 will result in an error condition with SRC B155A46B being logged when the system is powered on.

HMC-Managed Systems

NOTE:

For systems shipped beginning in May 2008, you must upgrade your HMC code to Version 7, Release 3.3.0 with MH01130 before attempting to load this system firmware on your server.

For system shipped before May 2008, you may continue using HMC code Version 7, Release 3.2.

For information concerning HMC releases and to access the HMC code packages, go to the following URL: http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hmc/home.html

NOTE: You must be logged in as hscroot in order for the firmware installation to complete correctly.

Updating firmware from EM320_031 to EM320_083

Prior to updating server firmware from EM320_031 to EM320_083, ensure a backup of partition profile(s) is current and HEA settings are collected (when applicable).

The following steps may be required if the HMC shows Recovery state after updating server firmware.

Restore partition data from the backup
Check/Reset any of the following settings which may have been lost during the server firmware update:
    Promiscuous partition flag
    HEA
    Boot device
    Other

9117-MMA Systems with IBM i partition(s) at EM320_040 or EM320_046 updating to EM320_083

9117-MMA systems with IBM i partition(s) currently running server firmware level EM320_040 or EM320_046 must check that the system is enabled to run i5/OS. This option is specified within the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI), under the Power/Restart Control, Power On/Off System menu. If this setting is not set to Enabled, change it to Enabled, Save Settings, and then perform a disruptive firmware update (system IPL required) to EM320_083. After the disruptive firmware update is complete, verify that i5/OS Capable = 'True' on the HMC. This managed system setting is shown on the HMC, via the System properties, under the Capabilities tab.

System stability may be affected by the installation of downlevel system firmware, or using the i5/OS operating system's firmware installation procedure

Both of these actions may affect systems stability:

1. Installation of system firmware via the i5/OS operating system (also know as inband update).

2. Downleveling the system firmware using the HMC (an out-of-band installation) from EM320_059 or EM320_061 to a lower level, then performing a concurrent firmware installation of EM320_059 or EM320_061.

Neither of the above actions is supported; both may result in SRC 11001611, 11001621 or 11001631 being displayed on the operator panel and logged as a serviceable event in service focal point. These SRCs indicate a regulator failure, which can be a recoverable error (logged only, no affect on the state of the system) or a hard error (the system powers down due to the regulator error). Since an HMC is attached to the system, the only supported method of installing system firmware is via the HMC (the way the system was originally shipped from manufacturing).

Do not backlevel from EM320_031 to EM310

Do not attempt to backlevel firmware from the EM320_031 level to the EM310 release level. This will corrupt the service processor(s) code and will require the service processor(s) to be replaced. Firmware update or upgrade fails with SRC E302F842.
This problem will occur when the following conditions apply:

HMC is at V7.3.2 with fix MH01081 installed and the managed system being updated or upgraded is at firmware level EM310_048.

To determine if MH01081 is installed:
Enter the following command on an HMC command line:
lshmc -V

This command will produce a report similar to the following:
MH01081: Pegasus security fix, code update fix, and new DST updates (01-09-2008)

To prevent this failure from occurring, install fix MH01084.

If you have experienced this problem, install fix MH01084, and then reinstall the system firmware. For information about the recovery procedure call you next level of support.

2.2 Important Information

IPv6 Support and Limitations

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is supported in the System Management Services (SMS) in this level of system firmware. There are several limitations that should be considered.

When configuring a network interface card (NIC) for remote IPL, only the most recently configured protocol (IPv4 or IPv6) is retained. For example, if the network interface card was previously configured with IPv4 information and is now being configured with IPv6 information, the IPv4 configuration information is discarded.

A single network interface card may only be chosen once for the boot device list. In other words, the interface cannot be configured for the IPv6 protocol and for the IPv4 protocol at the same time.

A failure will occur if the overall device pathname string and its parameters exceed 255 bytes. One symptom of the string being too long is an odd-looking boot device string in the AIX start banner as in the following example:

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Welcome to AIX.
                           boot image timestamp: HH:MM MM/DD
                     The current time and date: 10:15:24 04/22/2008
            processor count: 2; memory size: 1024MB; kernel size: 28034141
                                    boot device: /l
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several things that can be done to try to get the overall string length reduced are:

A. Use the compressed form of the IPv6 IP addresses whenever possible. For example, change the address

FEA0:0:0:0:3CD6:F0FF:FD00:3004

FEA0::3CD6:F0FF:FD00:3004

B. Keep the TFTP filename as short as possible.

C. Leave the gateway IP address blank unless it is required.

4. When global IPv6 addresses are used for the client and the server, and there are more than two gateways on the same link, the gateway with the best route to the server should be used. Using a gateway that does not have the best route to the server can cause the ping test or network boot to fail.

Signal Cable in an InfiniBand loop, and InfiniBand I/0 drawer power on/off

The problems noted in this section in earlier levels of this description file were corrected in the EM320_059 firmware level by the last two fixes in the "affects certain systems" section.

ECA702 Released for 9117-MMA Systems

ECA702 was released on 12/07/2007 to update 9117-MMA systems to firmware level EM310_063_048 (or higher). In addition to system firmware, the ECA also provides corresponding HMC updates. Product Engineering strongly recommends the installation of the ECA. Customers wishing to have IBM service perform the installation of this firmware, free of charge, should call 1-800-IBM-SERV or their country's service organization to request mandatory ECA702.

Memory Considerations for Firmware Upgrades

The increase in memory used by the firmware is due to the additional functionality in later firmware releases.

3.0 Firmware Information and Description

Use the following examples as a reference to determine whether your installation will be concurrent or disruptive.

For systems that are not managed by an HMC, the installation of system firmware is always disruptive.

Note: The concurrent levels of system firmware may, on occasion, contain fixes that are known as deferred. These deferred fixes can be installed concurrently, but will not be activated until the next IPL. Deferred fixes, if any, will be identified in the "Firmware Update Descriptions" table of this document. For deferred fixes within a service pack, only the fixes in the service pack which cannot be concurrently activated are deferred.

Note: The file names and service pack levels used in the following examples are for clarification only, and are not necessarily levels that have been, or will be released.

System firmware file naming convention:

01EMXXX_YYY_ZZZ

XXX is the release level
YYY is the service pack level
ZZZ is the last disruptive service pack level

NOTE: Values of service pack and last disruptive service pack level (YYY and ZZZ) are only unique within a release level (XXX). For example, 01EM310_067_045 and 01EM320_067_053 are different service packs.

An installation is disruptive if:

The release levels (XXX) are different.

Example: Currently installed release is EM310, new release is EM320

The service pack level (YYY) and the last disruptive service pack level (ZZZ) are equal.

Example: EM310_120_120 is disruptive, no matter what level of EM310 is currently
installed on the system

The service pack level (YYY) currently installed on the system is lower than the last disruptive service pack level (ZZZ) of the service pack to be installed.

Example: Currently installed service pack is EM310_120_120 and
new service pack is EM310_152_130

An installation is concurrent if:

The service pack level (YYY) is higher than the service pack level currently installed on your system.

Example: Currently installed service pack is EM310_126_120,
new service pack is EM310_143_120.

Firmware Information and Update Description


*Filename*	*Size*	*Checksum*
01EM320_083_045.rpm	21940645	09581

EM320
EM320_083_045 09/24/08	Impact: Serviceability Severity: HIPER System firmware changes that affect all systems: DEFERRED and HIPER: A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, an application could cause a processor to go into an error state, and the system to crash. DEFERRED and HIPER: The system initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a system crash under certain circumstances. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate abnormally with SRC B131E504. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused a system to fail to reboot after a B1xxE504 SRC was logged due to a processor interconnection bus failure. The same SRC, B1xx E504, was logged when the reboot failed. HIPER: A problem was fixed that might cause a partition to crash during a partition migration before the migration was complete. DEFERRED: A problem was fixed such that under certain rare circumstances, if a service processor failover occurred, the new secondary service processor was not able to communicate with the system. A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818A10 to be erroneously generated after the successful installation of system firmware. Enhancements were made to the firmware to improve the FRU callouts for certain types of failures of the time-of-day clock circuitry. A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, caused the system to crash if an L2 or L3 cache failure occurred. The firmware was enhanced so that the contents of /tmp are included when a service processor dump is taken. A problem was fixed that caused a predictive SRC, B181EF88, to be erroneously logged after a successful installation of system firmware, and a subsequent slow-mode IPL, of the system. A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, caused the system to crash with SRC B7005191 being logged. A problem was fixed that prevented the system from rebooting if an error occurred during a memory-preserving IPL. A problem was fixed that prevented the diagnostic commands in AIX (diag and lsmcode, for example) from working after a partition migration. A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, caused a partition shutdown or partition reboot to hang with SRC D200B077. A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, caused the hypervisor to loose its communication link to the service processor and log SRC A181D000. A problem was fixed that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, might have caused dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations on memory to fail. A problem was fixed that prevented I/O hardware operations from completing before dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations were performed on memory. This caused PCI bus errors, and multiple instances of SRC B7006971 to be logged. A problem was fixed in the hypervisor that, under certain rarely occurring circumstances, caused a system-level activation to fail. A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7006971 to be generated because the firmware was incorrectly performing operations on PCI-Express I/O adapters during dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations on memory. A problem was fixed that might have caused a processor checkstop after a node repair or node add operation. A problem was fixed that caused the message "BA330000malloc error!" to be displayed on the operating system console after a partition migration, even though SRC BA330000 had not been logged. When this problem occurred, the partition migration appeared to be successful. However, a process within the partition was either hung or had failed, and in most cased the partition had to be rebooted to fully recover. The firmware was enhanced to improve the description and service actions that are logged with SRC BA210012. A problem was fixed that, under certain rare circumstances, prevented a partition migration from completing successfully if processors were removed from the partition being migrated prior to the migration using dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations. A problem was fixed that, under certain rare circumstances, caused a system crash during partition migration operations. A problem was fixed that, under certain rare circumstances, caused the hypervisor to crash when it was booting. System firmware changes that affect certain systems: On systems that are managed by a hardware management console (HMC), a problem was fixed that caused the HMC to show an "Incomplete" state after it attempted to read a file with an incorrect size from the service processor (or system controller). This problem also occurred if the "factory configuration" option was used on the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus. On systems with I/O drawers attached, a problem was fixed that might have caused some I/O slots in the drawers not to be configured when the system was booted. On i5 partitions using IOP-based I/O adapters which are configured to use i5 clustering (SAN), a problem was fixed that caused the failover of an I/O drawer or tower, to a system which previously owned the drawer or tower, to fail. On systems with a large number of fibre channel disks, a problem was fixed that caused SRC BA210003 to logged (which called out the fibre channel adapter) when the system management services (SMS) boot firmware was searching for a boot disk. In systems with clustered processors, various problems were fixed in the InfiniBand interconnection networks.
EM320_076_045 06/09/08	Impact: Serviceability Severity: HIPER System firmware changes that affect all systems: DEFERRED and HIPER: The processor initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a processor going into an error state and causing a checkstop or system crash. HIPER: A problem was fixed in the hypervisor that might cause a partition migration to fail. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused large numbers of enhanced error handling (EEH) errors to be logged against the 4-port gigabit Ethernet adapter, F/C 5740, under certain circumstances. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the firmware to erroneously log VPD errors against the processors. This prevented drawers from powering on. HIPER: On system with a redundant service processor installed and enabled, a problem was fixed that caused a communications hang between the two service processors. When this occurred, it triggered a reset/reload of the primary service processor, and the resulting fail-over to the secondary service processor failed in such a way that the system crashed and logged SRC B1813410. Service processor dumps were also taken. HIPER: On systems with redundant service processors installed and enabled, the firmware was enhanced so that if a failure occurs during a service processor failover, the firmware will attempt to reset/reload one of the service processors. This may allow the system to recover and stay up instead of crashing. HIPER: On systems with redundant service processors installed and enabled, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash if a service processor failover occurred when the VPD files were being synchronized. The firmware was enhanced to improve the system memory error recovery. A problem was fixed that caused the /tmp directory on the service processor to fill up, which results in an out-of-memory condition. When this problem occurred, the service processor usually performed a reset/reload. This is one possible cause of SRC B1817201 being logged. A problem was fixed that caused panel function 02 to fail when trying to set the "next IPL speed" or "next IPL side". The firmware was enhanced so that serial port S1 is not automatically designated the local console, even if the console is not selected within 60 seconds of the system is first booted. This enhancement allows the console to be selected again, if no selection was made on the previous boot, instead of defaulting to the S1 port.
EM320_061_031 Mfg Only 05/09/08	Impact: Serviceability Severity: HIPER HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent firmware installation to hang with SRC BA00E840 being logged. This problem may also cause a partition migration to hang, under certain circumstances, with the same SRC, BA00E840, being logged. This SRC will be logged when this level of firmware is installed and will generate a call home; it should be ignored. It will not be logged during subsequent installations.
EM320_059_031 Mfg Only 05/06/08	Impact: Function Severity: Special Attention New features and functions: Support for the concurrent addition of a node (drawer) was added. Support for the "cold" repair of a node (repair with power off while other nodes are running) was added. Support for IPv6 was added. Support for logical volumes bigger than 2 TB was added. Virtual switch support for virtual Ethernet devices was added. This requires HMC V7 R3.3.0.0 with efix MH01102 to be running on the HMC. Fixes that affect all systems: HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused capacity-on-demand (COD) data to be retrieved in an unreadable format from the Anchor (VPD) card. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused enhanced error handling (EEH) to fail on certain I/O adapters. HIPER: A problem was fixed that might cause the system to terminate while IPLing partitions soon after a system boot. This problem might also have been seen if the partitions were set to "autostart". This failure is typically seen on systems with a large amount of memory; SRC B181D138 is usually logged when this error occurs. DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused the system to appear to hang with C10090B8 in the control (operator) panel during a slow mode boot. A problem was fixed that prevented the processor clock from being deconfigured with the fabric bus after a hardware error. A problem was fixed that caused the L2 deconfiguration option to be displayed advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus on systems on which it is not supported. A problem was fixed that caused the GX adapter slot reservation option to be displayed on the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus on systems on which it is not supported. Fixes problem where wrong slot location was provided in message when no slot reservations were available for adding next Feature Code 1800 or 1802 adapter. A problem was fixed that caused the location code reported with enhanced error handling (EEH) errors on certain imbedded slots have a -Cx suffix instead of the correct -T# suffix for the underlying adapter. This also impacted the HMC's System Planning tool. A problem was fixed that caused the Linux boot loader to lose its command line parameters (and fail to boot a Linux partition) during a reconfiguration reboot. A problem was fixed that caused the "iSCSI" and "network1" aliases to be created incorrectly in the SMS menus; this might have prevented the system or partition from booting from that device. A problem was fixed that caused this informational message to be erroneously sent to the operating system console: subq[5][0] destination address is 0!!! Check whether the subq is needed. If it is, allocate MEM. A problem was fixed that caused the AIX command lsvpd to hang if it was executed during a partition migration. A problem was fixed that caused the system or partition to hang at the "Welcome to AIX" banner, following an iSCSI boot, during the installation of AIX. A problem was fixed that caused an iSCSI login to fail under certain circumstances. When this failure occurred, the message sent to the console looked something like this: iscsiFailed to LOGIN to target, rc = 1 failed to login. could not open target 0x9034751 :system04 for r/w, aborting... tcpOPEN: iscsi open failed !BA012010 ! A problem was fixed that caused the location codes of devices attached to the integrated USB ports to have a duplicate port suffix. For example, when this problem occurred, the location code of the device was shown as: /usb-scsi@1 U789D.001.DQDGARW-P1-T2-T2-L1 instead of the correct location code, which is /usb-scsi@1 U787D.001.DQDGARW-P1-T2-L1 Two translation issues were fixed. The first one caused the string "No alias" to always be displayed on the iSCSI menus in SMS in English even though it should have been translated into the other languages that the SMS menus support. The second one caused the NIC (network interface card) parameters such as the client IP address in the SMS ping menu to be displayed with message strings in English; these should have been translated as well. A problem was fixed that caused the SMS menus to drop into the open firmware prompt with the message "DEFAULT CATCH!" when the ping test failed. A problem was fixed that prevented the operating system from setting the boot device list in NVRAM. A problem was fixed that caused approximately 20-25 occurrences of informational SRC B7005300 to be logged during every IPL, which was filling up the error logs. A problem was fixed that prevented the "100 Mbps/full duplex" setting for the HEA 1 Gbps ports from being implemented from the HMC. When this occurred, there was no error message on the HMC, but the setting never took effect. A problem was fixed that caused the MAC addresses displayed on the HMC, in the HEA logical port information for the second port group, to show invalid addresses. A problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump to be generated with SRC B181EF88 when the advanced system management interface (ASMI) client was closed abruptly, or a network failure disconnected the client and the ASMI. Enhancements were made to improve the field replaceable unit (FRU) isolation for phase-locked loop (PLL) clock failures on multi-CEC drawer system. SRCs B114F6D2, B114F6C1, B113F6C1, B157F12E, B18187EF, and B158E500 were typically seen with this type of failure. Enhancements were made to the error analysis firmware to provide better FRU callouts for certain types of processor fabric bus failures. SRCs B114E504, B114B2DF, and B181B10B were typically seen with this type of failure. Enhancements were made to the firmware to improve the reliability of memory DIMMs. A change was made to the firmware such that predictive SRCs B18138B0, B1813862, or B1813882 are now logged as informational. System firmware changes that affect certain model MMA systems: On system using the EnergyScale^(TM) technology, enhancements were made to include status, log, and error information about the Power Save mode in the service processor error logs. On systems with redundant service processors enabled, a problem was fixed that caused the "restore factory configuration" function on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) to fail. On systems with 7314-G30 drawers attached, a problem was fixed that caused the InfiniBand I/O device to drop packets, which resulted in an unrecoverable error. On systems with 7314-G30 drawers attached, a problem was fixed that caused the drawer to fail when performing concurrent maintenance on the associated InfiniBand loop. On systems with 7314-G30 drawers attached, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to become unresponsive when an InfiniBand cable in a redundantly-cabled loop was disconnected. Note: The last two defects in this section corrected the issues detailed in the section titled Signal Cable in an InfiniBand loop, and InfiniBand I/0 drawer power on/off in earlier levels of the firmware description file.
EM320_046_031 06/09/08	Impact: Serviceability Severity: HIPER Fixes that affect all model MMA systems: HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent firmware installation to hang with SRC BA00E840 being logged. This problem may also cause a partition migration to hang, under certain circumstances, with the same SRC, BA00E840, being logged. This SRC will be logged when this level of firmware is installed and will generate a call home; it should be ignored. It will not be logged during subsequent installations. HIPER: On systems with redundant service processors installed and enabled, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash if a service processor failover occurred when the VPD files were being synchronized. HIPER: On systems with redundant service processors installed and enabled, the firmware was enhanced so that if a failure occurs during a service processor failover, the firmware will attempt to reset/reload one of the service processors. This may allow the system to recover and stay up instead of crashing. HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the firmware to erroneously log VPD errors against the processors. This prevented drawers from powering on.
EM320_040_031 03/03/08	Impact: Serviceability Severity: Special Attention Fixes that affect all model MMA systems: DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused a system crash (with SRC B131E504) by changing the initialization settings of the I/O control hardware. A problem was fixed that could cause the hypervisor to hang after a reset/reload of the service processor. A problem was fixed that, under certain circumstances, caused the InfiniBand adapter to stop responding to InfiniBand requests. A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1813014 to be logged after a successful system firmware installation. This SRC will be logged when this level of firmware is installed and will generate a call home; it should be ignored. It will not be logged during subsequent installations. The FRU list was changed so that clock card failures in a multi-drawer system will be easier to debug and require fewer parts to fix. A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to get stuck in a reset/reload loop, which prevented the system from booting to standby. System firmware changes that affect certain model MMA systems: On systems with redundant service processors enabled, a problem was fixed that could cause a significant increase in system boot time. On systems with two service processors installed and with redundancy disabled, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to go into the dump state, and remain in the dump state, after a platform dump. On systems with redundant service processors, SRCs B1813833 and B1813834, which were being logged intermittently after a side-switch IPL, were changed to informational. On systems with a 1519-100 tower attached, a problem was fixed that caused the location code of a connector on the integrated virtual IOP to be displayed as Un-SE1-SE1-T1 instead of Un-SE1-T1. On systems with 7134-G30 I/O drawers attached in certain cabling configurations, a problem was fixed that prevented the I/O port labels from being displayed for the port location codes on the hardware topology screens.
EM320_031_031 12/03/07	Impact: Function Severity: Attention New Features and Functions: Support for redundant service processors with failover on model MMA systems. Support for the concurrent addition of a RIO/HSL adapter on model MMA systems. Support for the concurrent replacement of a RIO/HSL adapter on model MMA systems. Support for the "hyperboot" boot speed option in the power on/off menu on the Advanced System Management interface (ASMI). Support for the creation of multiple virtual shared processor pools (VSPPs) within the one physical pool. (In order for AIX performance tools to report the correct information on systems configured with multiple shared processor pools, a minimum of AIX 5.3 TL07 or AIX 6.1 must be running.) Support for the capability to move a running AIX or Linux partition from one system to another compatible system with a minimum of disruption. Support for the collection of extended I/O device information (independent of the presence of an operating system) when a system is first connected to an HMC and is still in the manufacturing default state. Improved VPD collection time on model MMA systems. Support for the migration of DDR2 memory DIMMs during the MES upgrade from a 9117-570 server to a 9117-MMA server when processor card F/C 5621 is ordered when the initial system upgrade MES order is placed. Support for EnergyScale^tm and Active Energy Manager^tm. For more information on the energy management features now available, please see the EnergyScale^tmwhite paper.
EM310
EM310_069_048 02/11/2008	Impact: Availability Severity: HIPER Fixes that affect all model MMA systems: HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused some functions that perform hardware operations during runtime to generate temporary extended error handling (EEH) errors. DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused a system crash (with SRC B131E504) by changing the initialization settings of the I/O control hardware. Note: This fix is not in the EM320_031_031 level listed above; it is included in the EM320_040_031 level. A problem was fixed that prevented a system from recovering after SRC B1xxB9xx was logged. A problem was fixed that caused a firmware installation to fail with SRC B1813028. A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818A10 to be erroneously logged during a disruptive firmware installation. A problem was fixed that, under certain circumstances, caused the buttons on the control (operator) panel to be inoperative. A problem was fixed that prevented the system planning tool from deploying a sysplan with certain HEA MCS values. A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1813108 to be erroneously logged during system boot. A problem was fixed that, under certain circumstances, caused the InfiniBand adapter to stop responding to InfiniBand requests. A problem was fixed that caused the error "MSGVIOSE0300E002-0154 There is insufficient memory available for firmware" to be logged on the HMC. System firmware changes that affect certain model MMA systems On model MMA systems with multiple drawers, a problem was fixed that prevented the pin-hole reset switch on the control (operator) panel from resetting the system. On model MMA system with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) attached, a problem was fixed the prevented the UPS from notifying the operating system that a utility failure or low battery condition had occurred. On systems with at least 3 or more licensed processors and 2 or more unlicensed processors, a problem was fixed that caused the system boot to be slower than normal, or to hang with SRC C700406E. On model MMA system with 7314-G30 I/O expansion drawers attached, problems were fixed that caused the wrong FRUs to be called out with SRC B70069ED, and caused the hypervisor to loop if certain invalid cabling configurations are encountered. On model MMA systems with a large number of I/O towers attached, a problem was fixed that caused the HMC to go to the incomplete state when an additional tower was added to a loop.
EM310_063_048 11/19/07	Impact: Availability Severity: HIPER HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused a time-out in a hardware device driver. This time-out must include both SRCs B181B920 and B181D147. Other SRCs may be present including, but not limited to, B1xxB9xx, B1xxE504, and B150D141. Occasionally the system crashes. If B181B920 and B181D147 SRCs are logged, check for any resources that were deconfigured at the time of these errors and reconfigure them using the ASMI menus. No hardware should be replaced. To recover from this error condition, the service processor must be reset by removing, then reapplying, the managed system's power. DEFERRED: On multi-drawer model MMA systems, a problem found in testing was fixed which when the L3 cache was disabled, under very unique (and rare) circumstances may result in data being overwritten in the cache and the system to crash. Although the exposure to this issue is very low, and there have been no reported problems from the field, the system impact if this occurred would be high. Product Engineering recommends that you schedule time to install this deferred fix at you earliest convenience.
EM310_057_048 9/14/07	Impact: Availability Severity: HIPER Additional features and functions: Added support for 9406-MMA. System firmware changes that affect all 9117-MMA systems: HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B170E450. HIPER: A problem was fixed that, in rare circumstances, could cause the system to hang due to the improper handling of certain exceptions. HIPER: A problem was fixed that prevented the operating system from being notified of certain EPOW conditions that could lead to the system or partition being shut down, with the possible loss of data. These EPOW conditions included the ambient temperature being too high, the loss of utility power (with or without UPS backup), and a user-initiated power off using the white power button or the HMC. A problem was fixed that could cause a firmware installation from the HMC to fail with SRC E302F85C on the HMC, and SRC B1813088, B1818A0F, or B1813011 logged in the service processor error log. A change was made so that if a failure occurs during a memory-preserving reboot, the system continues to reboot rather than remaining in the termination (powered off) state. A problem was fixed that caused EEH (enhanced error handling) errors to be erroneously logged against certain I/O adapters. A problem was fixed that prevented "linked" resources that had been guarded out from being reconfigured during the next reboot after a service action on one of the guarded parts. A problem was fixed that, after the backplane was replaced in a 7314-G30 I/O drawer, prevented the partition that owned the drawer from seeing those resources. A problem was fixed that caused the serial connection to a partition to be lost. When this occurred, SRCs B181D307, B200E0AA, and/or B200813A were generated by the service processor and the hypervisor. A problem was fixed in partition firmware that, in some circumstances, prevented a CD-ROM or tape device from being in the default service mode boot list, even if one was present in the system. A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to go to the incomplete state, and SRC B182953C to be logged in the service processor error log every five minutes or so, when the managed system was booted. A problem was fixed that caused the system to intermittently fail to configure devices attached to the integrated USB port when booting. A problem was fixed that might have caused erroneous callouts if a problem was found with certain levels of memory controller chips. A problem was fixed that caused the system to call home and reboot instead of allowing the failing part (a memory controller or DIMM) to be deconfigured by PRD (processor runtime diagnostics). Additional information concerning this service pack: In addition to the fixes described above, this service pack also contains a fix for a low probability problem and content intended for newly-manufactured systems, or enhancements to system internal interfaces, which is not required for systems already in production use. This content will not be activated on systems that install this service pack concurrently. Even though this content is not required for systems which are already installed and in use, a disruptive installation of this service pack or a re-IPL after installing it will cause this content to become active. It is not necessary to plan a window for re-IPL the system the activate this content.
EM310_048_048 6/22/07	Impact: New Severity: New Original (GA) level.

4.0 How to Determine Currently Installed Firmware Level

You can view the server's current firmware level on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) Welcome pane. It appears in the top right corner. Example: EM320_083.

5.0 Downloading the Firmware Package

Follow the instructions on the web page. You must read and agree to the license agreement to obtain the firmware packages.

Note: If your HMC is not internet-connected you will need to download the new firmware level to a CD-ROM or ftp server.

6.0 Installing the Firmware

The method used to install new firmware will depend on the release level of firmware which is currently installed on your server. The release level can be determined by the prefix of the new firmware's filename.

Example: EMXXX_YYY_ZZZ

Where XXX = release level

If the release level will stay the same (Example: Level EM310_075_075 is currently installed and you are attempting to install level EM310_081_075) this is considered an update.
If the release level will change (Example: Level EM310_081_075 is currently installed and you are attempting to install level EM320_096_096) this is considered an upgrade.

Instructions for installing firmware updates and upgrades can be found at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/scope/hw/topic/ipha1/updateschapter.htm

7.0 Change History

Date	Description
Dec 02, 2008	Revised the link in Section 6.0 for updating and upgrading firmware.
Nov 14, 2008	Added paragraph concerning Updating firmware from EM320_031 to EM320_083, in Section 2.1
Sep 30, 2008	- Updated HMC level from MH01119 to MH01130 forV7 R3.3.0. - Added the following information to the EM320_083 fixlist: DEFERRED: A problem was fixed such that under certain rare circumstances, if a service processor failover occurred, the new secondary service processor was not able to communicate with the system. A problem was fixed that might have caused a processor checkstop after a node repair or node add operation. In systems with clustered processors, various problems were fixed in the InfiniBand interconnection networks.