Power5 Firmware

04/03/07
 

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:
 
• HIPER:  On systems using  virtual I/O services (VIOS), a problem was fixed that caused a system checkstop, with SRC B182E500, during a DLPAR memory removal action.
• HIPER:  On systems using virtual I/O adapters, a problem was fixed that caused physical I/O adapters to be left in an unusable state, and therefore unavailable to the partitions. 

03/07/07

 New features/functions: 

• On systems with a redundant service processor, a function was added so that a call home with SRC B181601E is made when the system is booted with failover disabled.  ATTENTION:  On systems with redundant service processors that are being upgraded from an SF235 release level to SF240_298 or later, SRC B181601E will be posted during the firmware upgrade process.  In this case only, the SRC B181601E can be ignored. 

• HIPER:  On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused service processor failover to be erroneously disabled after a CEC deconfiguration action. 
•  HIPER:  On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate with SRC B1xx951C after a failover to the secondary service processor.  This problem can also cause the system to terminate with SRC B1xx9523 after a reset/reload of the primary service processor.
•  A problem was fixed that was causing multiple service processor reset/reload operations with SRC B1817201. 
• On a partitioned system running i5/OS, a problem was fixed that caused error CPF9E75 ("i5/OS usage limit exceeded - operator action required") to be posted about once an hour, even though the system had a valid number of processor licenses. 
• The firmware was changed so that HMC surveillance errors with SRC B1xxE433 are logged as informational (without hardware callouts) instead of predictive. 
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a service processor failover to fail with SRC B181E911.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused platform dump data files to be unavailable from the new primary service processor after a service processor failover.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818A0E to be logged when the system was rebooted after a dump was captured.
• A problem was fixed that caused the managed system to appear to be hung when viewed from the HMC. 
• On model 590 and 595 systems,SF240_298 is the minimum firmware level required for FC 4503 CUoD DDR2 memory cards.

• HIPER:  For systems in an Opticonnect cluster with firmware levels prior to SF240_284 installed, a problem was fixed that caused a system to terminate with SRC B182E500.  Unlike the fix provided for this problem in SF240_284, this fix can be concurrently activated. 
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC 10009118 to be posted erroneously on systems in an Opticonnect cluster.
• A problem was fixed that caused systems in an Opticonnect cluster to terminate with SRC B700F103 during the reset of an HSL connection.

• The firmware was updated to include additional resources on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) deconfiguration menu for the celogin user. 
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate with SRC B1xx9523 after a reset/reload of the service processor.
• A problem was fixed that caused incomplete (including lacking the CEC memory data) and corrupted platform dumps to be collected. 
• A problem was fixed that caused an "I/O slot vary on" operation to fail after a partition power-on, or after a DLPAR operation on that slot.
• A location code was added to the error log entry when SRC BA188001 is posted. 

• On systems running i5/OS, a problem was fixed that caused the copying of a main store dump to fail with the message "data transfer error".
• On systems that are not managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused the temporary (T) side of the flash to report its level as "unknown", and SRC B181300A to be posted, after an firmware installation from the operating system. 

11/30/06
 

System firmware changes that affect systems using HSL Opticonnect:

• A problem was fixed that caused a system in an Opticonnect cluster to crash with SRC B182E500 when partitions were activated.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused partitions running on systems in an Opticonnect loop to become unresponsive.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused HSL Opticonnect connections between partitions in a cluster (which has three platforms in a common HSL ring) to fail when one of the platforms is rebooted.
• A problem was fixed that prevented errors on PCI buses (connected by an HSL Opticonnect loop) from being handled properly; unpredictable results occurred in active partitions that were using the failing hardware. 
• A problem was fixed that caused the HSL loops to fail, when the loop had switchable towers, and one of the servers on the loop was booted. 
• A problem was fixed that prevented the hypervisor from correctly moving an IOP-less adapter if an I-ASP failover occurred.
• A problem was fixed that caused the ownership of the IOP to be out of sync after an I-ASP failover.
• A problem was fixed that caused the adapters that were not involved in an I-ASP failover to be missing, because they were not fully processed. The symptom depends on the adapters that were not fully processed.

• HIPER:  On model 575, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused a memory failure with SRC B123E500 after the concurrent repair of a CEC DCA. 
•  In a large cluster of systems, a problem was fixed that caused the clustered system manager to receive the same IP address for multiple managed systems - causing no connect or incomplete status to be displayed on the HMC for those managed systems.
• In a large cluster of systems, a problem was fixed that caused the AIX  DHCP server to assign a new IP address to a service processor, even though the service processor was already using its old (valid) IP address.  When this problem occurs, the HMCs start seeing different frames and/or CECs in the list of managed systems from the ones they normally see.
• On model 590 and 595 systems, this firmware level fixes a problem that prevented capacity upgrade on demand (CUoD) DDR2 memory from being activated properly when it was installed in a system that had been running with non-CUoD DDR2 memory.  The problem is usually seen as having less memory activated than expected, possibly not enough to activate a partition.  To correct this problem if it currently exists on the system, after installing this firmware level the system must be rebooted (to recollect the memory configuration data) and new activation code for the CUoD memory have to be entered.  SF240_284 becomes the new minimum firmware level required for FCs 4500, 4501 and 4502 CUoD DDR2 memory cards. 
• On a partition booting i5/OS, a problem was fixed that prevented the partition from booting if the partition had a large amount of memory (greater than approximately 200 GB) allocated to it. 
• On systems that are partitioned, a problem was fixed that caused a partition with more than 128 MB of memory, and with a logical memory block (LMB) size of 16 MB, to fail to boot.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a partition with huge pages (with a page size of 16 GB) from completing the power-off process.
• A problem was fixed that prevented some partitions from being reactivated after a short power outage caused them to be deactivated.
• A problem was fixed that caused dynamic logical partitioning (DLPAR) operations to fail (with SRC HSCL025A:  "Service processor lock failed.") even though there appeared to be no other activity that would cause them to fail. 
• A problem was fixed that caused a switchable tower to fail to recover after a tower switch operation.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to go to the incomplete state when utilization data was requested from the managed system.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to erroneously go to the incomplete state with SRC B7000602. 
• A problem was fixed that was delaying the reporting of some platform errors to the partitions running on the system.
• A problem was fixed that caused an IOP-less i5/OS partition with a large amount of memory and a small logical memory block (LMB) size to fail to boot.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the enclosure LED from being turned on when the FRU identify LED on one of the components in the enclosure was turned on.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B181B013 to be erroneously generated when the system firmware was upgraded from SF235_xxx to SF240_xxx.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a duplicate IP address to be assigned to the eth0 port of the service processors.  This problem is most likely seen at first install of the machine, with an "invalid readiness" connection status shown on the HMC and an SRC B1xx3598 posted n the error log.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused an entry in the service processor error log that erroneously indicated that the secondary service processor had been guarded out.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to reset/reload after several months of run time (with SRC B1817201), due to an out-of-memory condition.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B1815008 to be erroneously logged in the secondary service processor's error log.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the wrong service processor to be called out in the error log entry for SRC B7006990.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the connection state to toggle between "Incomplete", "No Connection" and "Already Connected".
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that could have allowed the firmware to initiate a service processor failover, even though the secondary service processor was not ready for the failover.

• On model 520, 52A, 550 and 55A systems, a problem was fixed that caused the second power supply to be called out as defective if power was applied to it after the system had started to power on.  If this error condition is already present on the system, the power supply will have to be reseated to clear the error.
• A problem was fixed that would have caused the memory DIMMs to be replaced prematurely if correctable errors start to occur.  This applies to model 561 systems with processor features code 7295 or 7781 installed, and model 570 systems with processor feature code 7782 installed.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused the wrong memory DIMM to be called out if a memory failure occurs.  This applies to model 561 systems with processor features code 7295 or 7781 installed, and model 570 systems with processor feature code 7782 installed.
• On model 561 systems, a problem was fixed that caused B181B08E to be erroneously posted during the cold repair of a service processor.  This problem may occur in systems with processor feature code 7295 or 7781 installed.
• A problem was fixed that might prevent the system from booting to runtime with power SRCs 11008456 and 110015x4, even though the power subsystem was functioning within specifications. 

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B150D133. A system dump is generated as a result of the problem (SRC B181F03B).
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system or partition to crash when corruption was detected in low memory.
• HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused I/O paths to be deconfigured after certain types of failures, indicated by SRC B170100A, until no I/O paths were left.  The firmware has been changed so that the I/O paths are no longer deconfigured under these circumstances.
• DEFERRED:  A change was made to improve the reliability of system memory.  This change reduces the likelihood of SRC B123E500 occurring, and also reduces the likelihood of a system crash with SRC B1xxF667.
• A problem was fixed that caused the "ping" command in the system management services (SMS) to fail during a NIM installation.
• A problem was fixed that caused a large number of B181C00A SRCs to be erroneously posted in the service processor's error log.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to run out of memory with SRC B1817201 and generate a service processor dump. 
• A problem was fixed that prevented the service processor's serial ports from being configured to run at 50 baud and 2400 baud.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the protocol menu in the system management services (SMS) menu for virtual LAN adapters from being displayed. 
• A problem was fixed that caused AIX to incorrectly report errors that occurred during booting and were then passed to the AIX error log.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a beep or bell sound from being heard when an error occurred in an X window.
• A problem was fixed that erroneously caused a service processor dump when a power-off request was issued before a reboot that was in progress was complete.
• The firmware was changed so that SRC B1xx3008 will not be reported to the error logs during and after a concurrent firmware update.
• The firmware was changed so that SRCs B1xxE676, B1xxE678, and B1xxE67A will not be reported during and after a concurrent firmware update unless a threshold is reached.

09/26/06

System firmware changes that affect model 575, 590 and 595 systems:

• On model 590 and 595 systems, additional enhancements were made to the memory timing parameters for systems with feature codes 4500, 4501 and 4502 installed (DDR2 memory cards).
• On model 575, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused SRCs 11008720 and 11008721 to be erroneously generated when the HMC was off-line (due to an HMC code update or network problem) for more than 21 minutes.  Bulk power code BP240_197, or a later level, must also be installed to fully implement this fix. 

08/29/06
(Mfg Only)

System firmware changes that affect model 561 and 570 systems:

• A problem was fixed that caused an erroneous system memory failure with SRC B123E500 on model 561 systems with processor feature code 7781 and model 570 systems with processor feature code 7782.

08/18/06
(Mfg Only)

New functions and features:

• With this service pack, 1 TB segments, and 64 KB and 16 GB large pages, are supported on model 590 and 595 systems. 
• New processor feature code / CCIN code combination are supported.  Service pack SF240_258_201 provides the minimum firmware support level for these processor feature code/CCIN combinations.

• New Power 5++ processor feature codes are supported on the following systems:

System firmware changes that affect clustered systems using InfiniBand switches:

•  HIPER: Various fixes and enhancements were made in firmware that supports InfiniBand switches attached to partitions running AIX or Linux.  This set of changes only affects clustered systems using InfiniBand switches.

• DEFERRED and HIPER: On model 575 systems with feature codes 7675 and 7676 and DDR2 memory, a problem was fixed that caused a system crash with SRC B1xxE500.  This only affects model 575 systems with processor feature codes 7675 and 7676.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused a partition to terminate during boot with SRC B6000103.  This change only affects systems participating in an HSL Opticonnect cluster environment.
• A problem was fixed that prevented an HSL Opticonnect loop from reconnecting to one system in the cluster after a system in the Opticonnect cluster was rebooted.
• A problem was fixed the prevented an HSL Opticonnect loop from initializing correctly for high bandwidth operation. 
• A problem was fixed that caused partitions to fail to establish a connection with an HSL Opticonnect loop.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B131E500, an I/O hub error.  This affects the following:  all 9131-52A systems, and 9405-520 and 9406-520 systems with processor feature code 8325, 8327, or 8330.

• Enhancements were made to memory timing parameters for systems running DDR2 memory. 

• A problem was fixed that kept entitled weight from being added to a partition if the logical partition (LPAR) group was changed while the partition was active. 
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B700F103 to occur if, when adding memory to a partition and the size requested exceeded the maximum amount of memory allocated to the partition, there were already dynamic logical partition (LPAR) changes in progress.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a service processor failover from being completed successfully after the primary service processor experienced a DMA transfer timeout.
• On model 575, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused the IPL time to possibly be longer than normal.  If this problem is encountered, the system will complete the IPL but the IPL may be delayed by as much as 40 minutes.  During this delay, a C7004091 SRC with word 7 equal to 00000402 will be displayed.
• A problem was fixed that caused system dumps to be truncated when more than one HMC was attached to the managed system.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to truncate dumps that were larger than 4 GB.
• A problem was fixed that caused a platform dump to fail internally in a way that the dump did not terminate the system, and no dump was available.  When this failure occurs, the service processor dump data should be available on the HMC.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to be guarded out when the network the service processor was on was set up incorrectly.
• A problem was fixed that caused a platform dump to fail with SRCs B1xxF141 and B1xxE500, followed by multiple B1xxF511 SRCs, and possibly B1xxF6D3 SRCs.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused the service processor error logs to be overwritten.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that required a reset/reload of the secondary service processor to get it up to standby after an emergency power off (EPO).
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to be unresponsive, and the failover to fail, with SRC B113E500.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused SRCs such as 11001D02, 11001D03, and 11001D11 through 11001D18 to be erroneously logged during a failover.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused a platform reboot to fail with SRC B181850E.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that prevented redundancy from being restored after the communication link between the service processors was broken, then re-established.
• A problem was fixed that caused extraneous B181F000 SRCs to be posted. 
• A problem was fixed that caused an incomplete FRU list to be generated after an unrecoverable memory error.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B157F22A to be posted and the IPL to be halted after a platform dump.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused platform dumps to be corrupted.
• A problem was fixed that cause the HMC to report that a dump was incomplete, even though all of the dump data was present.
• A problem was fixed the prevented a concurrently-added expansion unit from being displayed on the HMC when there were active i5/OS partitions, and expansion units in the inactive state, on the system.
• A problem was fixed that caused certain operating system commands (such as snap and lsvpd) to hang after a hardware problem flooded the hypervisor with errors.
• On a system configured with the virtual partition manager (VPM), a problem was fixed that caused the F6 option in the i5/OS service activity log (SAL) to be unavailable when the system attention indicator was on.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system firmware to crash (indicated by "default catch") when booting a partition on a model 590 or 595 system with twelve fully configured 7040-61D I/O drawers.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition to boot very slowly, and the system management services (SMS) menu to be displayed incorrectly, on large model 590 and 595 systems with many USB adapters.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused SRC HSCL1400 to be erroneously generated, and the backup service processor to be guarded out, during the cold replacement of one of the service processors.

• HIPER:  On model 561, 570, 590 and model 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused memory to be deconfigured due to an erroneous memory controller failure, with SRC B121E500 and word 8 = 00EA0035.
• DEFERRED and HIPER: The hardware initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a system crash with SRC B114E500 and word 8 = 03010008.   This affects the following systems:
•  i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330. 
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A.
• On model 561, 570, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused the software portion of a dump to be lost, and SRC B150F62A to occur.
• On model 561, 570 and 575 systems, a problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to collect dump data, and post SRC B1xx1007, after a system crash.
• On model 505 systems, a problem was fixed the caused the HMC to incorrectly display the location codes of the PCI slots in the managed system. 

• A problem was fixed that caused system power control network (SPCN) error codes with the format 110015xx and 110016xx to be erroneously generated (against the drawer being serviced) during the replacement of the service processor at standby.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused C1001020 to persist in the control (operator) panel after the service processor that's in the same drawer as the operator panel was restored to the configuration and had come up to standby.
• A problem was fixed that caused a voltage regulation fault that persisted through a service processor reset to result in an erroneous posting of SRC 11001632.
• A problem was fixed that caused system power control network (SPCN) firmware downloads to expansion drawers to initially fail, with the system retrying the downloads until they were successful.
• In a system with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that prevented the IP information from the secondary service processor (that was deconfigured or not working) from being displayed by control (operator) panel function 30.

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that was causing the service processor to reboot with SRC B1817201 when dump files were extracted by the HMC.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC BA188002, an EEH error, to be posted during a dynamic memory removal operation or high adapter usage, which resulted in the loss of an I/O adapter.  The partition had to be rebooted to recover the adapter.
• A problem was fixed that caused platform dumps to be incomplete or missing.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang with SRC C700406E when the "reset PCI bus configuration" option was invoked. This option is in the factory configuration menu in the advanced system management interface (ASMI).
• A problem was fixed that caused the additional error data words with SRC B2001150 to be incomplete.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot with SRC B181F407 if the vital product data (VPD) for a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) was not available.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot with SRC B181B0BF, even though a recoverable error had been logged.
• A problem was fixed that caused incorrect hardware FRUs to be called out after a power failure.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot using the automatic power on restart function after AC power had been restored.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRCs 11001D11 through 11001D18 to be erroneously generated after a reset was issued from the advanced system management interface (ASMI).
• A problem was fixed that was causing firmware to fail to boot an AIX or Linux partition (indicated by displaying "default catch") when the firmware console had been changed from one graphics adapter to another.
• A problem was fixed that was causing the firmware to crash, when booting an AIX or Linux partition, when the boot device in the system management services (SMS) menu was changed to a SAN or SCSI device.

06/23/06

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:

• A problem was fixed that caused the hardware management console (HMC) to report that a partial platform dump was collected, even though all dump data are present.
• A problem was fixed that caused platform dumps to be incomplete.
• A problem was fixed that caused a logical partition to terminate during boot with SRC B6000103.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang with SRC C700406E when the "reset PCI bus configuration" option was invoked. This option is in the factory configuration menu item in the advanced system management interface (ASMI).
• A problem was fixed that caused the additional error data words with SRC B2001150 to be incomplete.

• HIPER: Various fixes and enhancements were made in firmware that supports InfiniBand switches attached to partitions running AIX or Linux. 
• DEFERRED and HIPER: On model 575 systems with Power5+ processors, a problem was fixed that caused a system crash with SRC B1xxE500.
• A problem was fixed that kept entitled weight from being added to a partition if the logical partition (LPAR) group was changed while the partition was active.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B700F103 to occur if, when adding memory to a partition and the size requested exceeded the maximum amount of memory allocated to the partition, there were already dynamic logical partition (LPAR) changes in progress.
• A problem was fixed that prevented an HSL Opticonnect loop from reconnecting to one system in the cluster after a system in the Opticonnect cluster was rebooted.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a service processor failover from being completed successfully.
• On model 575 and 59x systems, a problem was fixed that caused the IPL time to possibly be longer than normal.  If this problem is encountered, the system will complete the IPL but the IPL may be delayed by as much as 40 minutes.  During this delay, a C7004091 SRC with word 7 equal to 00000402 will be displayed. 

• A problem was fixed that caused system power control network (SPCN) error codes with the format 110015xx and 110016xx to be erroneously generated (against the drawer being serviced) during the replacement of the service processor at standby.

06/27/06
(Mfg Only)

DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed that caused SRC B131E500 ("A phased-lock-loop lock failure") to be erroneously generated. This affects the following systems:

• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
• p5:  9115-505, 9110-51A, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A

05/22/06

New functions and features: 

•  Support for 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB DDR II memory cards on the p5 models 9119-590 and 9119-595.

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to interpret a machine condition as requiring special attention handling, where no such special attention existed.  This could result in a system checkstop.  This problem is also known as the "Master Attention Alone" condition.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that could cause unpredictable results when the control logic on the service processor is reset.
• HIPER:  The hardware initialization settings were changed to prevent system checkstops with error code B1xxE500.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed that prevented a system dump from completing after a hardware failure, with error code B181F22A being logged.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot if the white power button was pressed within 10 seconds after reaching standby, but before C1802000 was posted on the control (operator) panel.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to perform a reset/reload too frequently, which caused too many dump files to be generated.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with error code B181F141 when a PCI adapter was hot-plugged.
• A problem was fixed that caused informational SRC B1813028 to appear in the service processor error log after a firmware update from one SF235 level to a subsequent SF235 level.
• A problem was fixed that was causing some types of error codes to be defined incorrectly in the service processor error log.
• The processor runtime diagnostic code was enhanced to more accurately point to the processor that is suspected to be failing when a dump is taken.
• A problem was fixed on p5 systems (that have a graphics adapter and a USB adapter) that caused the firmware's console selection to be lost when firmware level SF240_202_201 was installed.
• A problem was fixed that was causing the system or partition to drop to the open firmware prompt when  trying to view the fibre-channel boot devices in SMS menus.
• A problem was fixed that was causing error code B181B013 to be erroneously generated during a code update from an SF230 level to an SF235 level.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the "identify" LEDs from being toggled correctly on some enclosures.
• A problem was fixed that prevented virtual adapters from being configured.
• A problem was fixed that, in certain configurations, caused the HSL Opticonnect loop to fail when a single loop failed, even though a redundant path was available.
• A problem was fixed that was causing excessive B7006970 error codes to be logged when an I/O tower or drawer failed. 
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang when booting after a main storage dump.
• A problem was fixed that, under some circumstances, prevented remote support from gathering information about partitions that are running.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HSL Opticonnect ring between systems to fail when concurrently adding a tower to an HSL Opticonnect ring.
• A problem was fixed that caused a frame that had been concurrently removed from an HSL Opticonnect ring to remain in the configuration displayed by the hardware service manager tool. 
• A problem was fixed that caused the macro "nm lcsnm verifyvpd -xm" not to display all the bus VPD from XM.
• A problem was fixed that caused two successive inband server firmware installations attempts to fail, but the third one to succeed. 
• If the inband firmware installation fails on power down of the service partition, in some cases the next attempt will fail.  Retrying the inband update by powering down the service partition again will succeed.
• A problem was fixed that caused the error data that is captured after an extended error handling (EEH) event to be zeroed out.
• A problem was fixed that caused error code B7006970 to be logged after a partition is shutdown when certain types of DDR adapters are plugged into a DDR slot.
• A problem was fixed that caused some slots to be unusable by a partition, and error codes B7006970 and B7006971 errors to be logged, even though the hardware error for that slot or bus was recoverable.
• A problem was fixed that caused system firmware to report incorrect error information for some PCI slots, which prevented the adapters in these slots from being configured.
• A problem was fixed that caused the "ping" command in the system management services (SMS) to fail during a NIM installation.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A potential server checkstop issue exists in clusters using p5 models p575, p590, and p595, when these models are used to execute compute-intensive applications tuned with the November Power5 Fortran compiler.  Clusters executing applications that are compiled for optimal performance by utilizing the software pre-fetch function are exposed to a server checkstop (B1xxE500). Hardware initialization settings were changed to fix this problem and  the performance tools modified to take these new settings into account.
• DEFERRED and HIPER:  An initialization problem was fixed that was causing the high-performance switch (HPS) network adapter to hit the adapter error threshold during run-time.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the corruption of registry values on the primary service processor.  This registry corruption was evidenced by the fact that the hypervisor reported the amount of configurable memory incorrectly.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused error code B1818A09 to be generated intermittently.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused runtime fail-over to the secondary service processor to fail.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot, and one of the service processors to become deconfigured.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that was causing the power control code to time out when querying the vital product data (VPD) on large system configurations.
• DEFERRED:  A problem with the memory being allocated to high-performance switch (HPS) network adapters was fixed.
• A problem was fixed that was causing a model 59x system to fail to boot (with error code BxxxF7A9) when a memory card failure was detected during the boot.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a firmware installation to fail with multiple occurrences of error code B1818A0E.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused error code B181B013 to be logged in the secondary service processor's error log.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused both service processors to become "primary" after termination under certain conditions.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused error code B181E678 to be generated erroneously very early in the power-on sequence.
• In a model 59x system with a redundant service processor installed, a problem was fixed that caused the "concurrent addition" of a node to fail with error code B1xxE500.
• In a model 59x system or a model 570 system with a redundant service processor installed, a problem was fixed that caused the IPLing of the secondary service processor to fail due and error code B1xxF684 to be generated.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, the firmware was changed so that error code B181E911 is reported (with a recommendation to look at other error logs to isolate the problem), instead of B181E901 or B181E90C, when the firmware cannot identify the reason for a reset/reload.
• In a model 59x system with a redundant service processor installed, a problem was fixed that caused error code B181F684 to be erroneously logged by the secondary service processor.
•  In a model 59x system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused error codes 1000911C and 10009138 to be logged erroneously during a service processor failover.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the error "Message Not Found" to be generated during the cold repair of a service processor.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to be removed from the configuration under some circumstances during an emergency power off.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing the system to reboot continuously while the secondary service processor was attempting to mount a file system.
• For the model 59x systems, the FRU list for MCM and memory card VPD access errors was updated to include the MUX card.
• A problem was fixed that caused error code HSCL1400 to be generated when a redundant service processor was installed with firmware release SF230 or earlier.
• A problem was fixed that was causing all of the hardware in a processor node (in a multi-node 59x system) to be erroneously shown as "Deconfigured" with an error type of "Association" in the ASMI hardware deconfiguration menus.
• A problem was fixed that caused some error log entries not to be seen on the HMC. 
• A problem was fixed that caused multiple B176871C error codes to be generated.
• A problem was fixed that was causing dynamic logical partitioning operations in a Linux environment to hang intermittently.
• The firmware was enhanced so that the service processor will report a timeout if the hypervisor does not acknowledge a "memory resilience" message.
• A problem was fixed that prevented system power control network (SPCN) firmware downloads from occurring after a hardware service action is performed from the HMC.

• A problem was fixed that caused error code 11002600 SRC to be generated during the power-down sequence, and a failure of the subsequent power-on with error code B150F22A.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused certain I/O adapters to fail at runtime.  This affects the following systems:
• 5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330
• p5:  9115-505, 9110-51A, 9111-285, 9131-52A, and 9133-55A
• DEFERRED and HIPER: The hardware initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a system crash with SRC B114E500 and word 8 = 03010008.   This affects the following systems: 
•  i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330. 
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A. 
• Additional hardware initialization settings were changed to prevent system hangs with error code B7xx406E.  This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330
• p5:  9115-505, 9110-51A, 9111-285, 9131-52A, and 9133-55A

• A problem was fixed that caused error code B182E500 to occur during a slow mode IPL of a model 570 system with two drawers and processor card feature code 29AE, 7781, 7782, 832E, or 8338.

03/03/06

• A problem was fixed that caused the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus to be displayed incorrectly in languages other than English

02/21/06

New functions and features: 

• Support for the model 9116-561 (System p5 560Q).
• Support for model 9110-51A (OpenPower p5-511 and p5-511Q).
• Support for Power5+ processors on the pSeries models 510, 510Q, 520, 520Q, and 570.
• Support for Power5+ processors on the iSeries models 520, 550, and 570.
• Support for IOP-less configurations on iSeries models 520, 550, and 570.
• Support for mixing CoD-capable DDR2 memory with DDR2 memory that is not CoD-capable in a system.
• Support for F/C 0649 (internal version) and F/C 0650 (external version), a new high-performance SCSI adapter with RAID 6 disk controller.
• Support for the collection (and viewing on the HMC) of logical partitions' utilization of processor and memory resources.
• Support for a thin console on iSeries systems.
• Support for huge pages (16 GB) in the Advanced System Management  Interface (ASMI) menus.
• Enhancements  to the "Restore to factory default" option, CoD options, time-of-day menu, and firmware update policy menu on the ASMI menus.
• Location codes of the memory DIMMs were added to the memory deconfiguration menu interface in the ASMI menus.
• The option to set the number of virtual LAN (VLAN) switches was added to the ASMI menus.
• A feature to retry boot from a hard disk after an initial failure due to firmware timing, instead of immediate failure.  (This type of failure is typically seen on boot disks from external disk subsystem.)
• Various enhancements and fixes to DS6000 and DS8000 storage systems firmware.

• The System Management Services (SMS) password recognition code was changed so that passwords that are allowed in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) can now be typed to enter the SMS.
• Fixed a problem that kept an already-connected uninterruptible power supply (UPS) from being detected correctly  after the service processor performed a reset/reload operation. 
• Fixed a problem that was causing SRC B1xxE500 (with SRC word 8 equal to DD02) when processor runtime diagnostics were called during a dump.
• Fixed a problem that caused the subsystem ID (the xx in B1xx yyyy) to be changed between the time processor runtime diagnostics reported an error to the gard code and when the service processor error log entry was created.
• Fixed a problem that was causing the location codes in the VPD data to be invalid after the VPD (Anchor) card was replaced.
• Fixed a problem that caused the system firmware to report an RTAS error (with error code FFFF D8F1 and malfunction code of 0000 000C) when certain types of hardware errors were encountered.
• Fixed a problem that was causing the system firmware to crash when a certain type of KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch was used.
• Fixed a problem that caused a BA180010 error to be logged when a PCI-X DDR slot was empty.
• Fixed a problem that was causing an "IOP-less partition" to fail to boot; the partition was hanging at SRC B200F008.
• The firmware console selection code was changed so that the time-out for console selection (approximately one minute) is independent of the number of potential consoles.
• A problem with the slot allocation code was fixed that prevented partitions from being opened by the IVM (integrated virtualization manager).
• Fixed a problem that caused extended SRC data to be missing when SRC B7000103 was generated.

• On model 570 systems with more than one processor drawer, a problem was fixed that was preventing enclosure VPD keywords from being changed in the second, third, and fourth processor drawers using the ASMI menus.
• On a system in which a redundant service processor is installed, a problem was fixed that was causing the wrong service processor to be called out when certain types of failures occurred.

• Fixed a problem that was causing the status of the HMC's connection (to the service processor) to be reported incorrectly to the server firmware.

• On a system that is not managed by an HMC, progress codes were being displayed on the potential firmware consoles; this caused the console selection message to scroll off the screen.

01/03/07

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:
 

• DEFERRED:  A change was made to improve the reliability of system memory.  This change reduces the likelihood of SRC B123E500 occurring, and also reduces the likelihood of a system crash with SRC B1xxF667.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B150D133. A system dump is generated as a result of the problem (SRC B181F03B).
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused prevented correctable L3 errors from being recovered, with the result that an error threshold was reached, and an erroneous FRU callout was made.
• HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused I/O paths to be deconfigured after certain types of failures, indicated by SRC B170100A, until no I/O paths were left.  The firmware has been changed so that the I/O paths are no longer deconfigured under these circumstances.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that was preventing AIX system dumps with SRC D200A200 after a partition hang.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system or partition to crash when corruption was detected in low memory.
• A problem was fixed that caused the platform dump function to fail intermittently.  The symptoms were that the dump did not terminate the system, and only partial dumps were collected. 
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B150F62A to be erroneously generated during a dump; the software portion of the dump was lost as well.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B121E500 with word 8 = 00530006 to be erroneously generated after a memory steering operation.
• A problem was fixed in partition firmware that caused a system or partition to hang at progress code CA00E891 when booting.
• A problem was fixed that caused dynamic logical partitioning (DLPAR) operations to intermittently hang partitions running Linux.
• A problem was fixed that caused a system or partition to crash when trying to view the fibre-channel boot devices in the SMS menus.
• A problem was fixed that caused AIX to incorrectly report errors that occurred during booting and were then passed to the AIX error log.
• A problem was fixed that caused the "ping" command in the system management services (SMS) to fail during a NIM installation.
• A problem was fixed that caused the additional error data words with SRC B2001150 to be incomplete.
• A problem was fixed that caused multiple B7005190 SRCs to be generated when virtual Ethernet adapters were configured.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a tower from being viewed on the HMC after a concurrent replacement of the tower's backplane.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused a race condition in the hypervisor firmware to occur, which could cause a platform-wide hang. 

• HIPER:  On model 575, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused a memory failure with SRC B123E500 after the concurrent repair of a CEC DCA. 
• HIPER: On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the connection state to toggle between "Incomplete", "No Connection" and "Already Connected".
• On systems that have two HMCs attached, a problem was fixed that caused a system dump collected by the HMC to be truncated.
• On systems that have two HMCs attached, a problem was fixed that caused a firmware update to fail with SRC B181300A.
• On model 590 and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused the platform dump to be corrupted when the hardware content of the system dump (which is set using the service processor menus) was set to "maximum".
• On model 590 and 595 systems, the FRU callouts were enhanced to improve system reliability after an uncorrectable memory error occurs (with SRC B123E500).
• A problem was corrected in which a system dump (collected by the HMC) that is greater than 4 GB is incorrectly truncated and returns invalid data. This change properly returns a 4GB system dump when truncation is required.
• On systems managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused the HMC to report that an incomplete platform dump had been collected, even though the entire dump was available.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that prevented the IP addresses of the secondary service processor from being displayed using function 30 on the control (operator) panel.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to be guarded out when there was a failure in the network that connects the two service processors.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B1815008 to be erroneously logged by the secondary service processor after a firmware installation.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B1xxB013 to be erroneously logged after a firmware installation.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused an entry in the service processor error log that erroneously indicated that the secondary service processor had been guarded out.
• On systems with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the secondary service processor to reset/reload after several months of run time (with SRC B1817201), due to an out-of-memory condition.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a service processor failover from being completed successfully after the primary service processor experienced a DMA transfer timeout. 
• On a system configured with the virtual partition manager (VPM), a problem was fixed that caused the F6 option in the i5/OS service activity log (SAL) to be unavailable when the system attention indicator was on.
• A problem was fixed that prevented some partitions from being reactivated after a short power outage caused them to be deactivated.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to go to the incomplete state when utilization data was requested from the managed system.
• A problem was fixed that caused an IOP-less i5/OS partition with a large amount of memory and a small logical memory block (LMB) size to fail to boot.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B182E500, and a system dump to be created, when an I/O resource was removed by a DLPAR (dynamic logical partitioning) operation.

• HIPER:  On model 561, 570, 590 and model 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused memory to be deconfigured due to an erroneous memory controller failure, with SRC B121E500 and word 8 = 00EA0035.
• DEFFERED and HIPER: The hardware initialization settings were changed to reduce the likelihood of a system crash with SRC B114E500 and word 8 = 03010008.   This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A.

06/16/06

System firmware changes that affect the model 575, 59x, other HMC-controlled servers, and clustered systems:

• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused one of the service processors to fail, and be removed from the configuration, if an interrupt was pending during initialization.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused one of the service processors to fail during a failover, and the hypervisor was then unable to reset the system.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused PCI bus errors to occur when a hardware reset of the service processor occurred at runtime, and the service processor was on a shared PCI bus.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused certain types of I/O adapters to fail at runtime.  This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused erroneous B113E500 errors.  This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that intermittently caused a service processor performing a hardware reset to disturb other devices on the same PCI bus.  This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9406-570.
• p5:  9117-570 and 9118-575.
• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B131E500 ("I/O hub error").  This affects the following systems if Remote I/O (RIO) attachment card F/C 1806, F/C 1807, or F/C 2888 is installed, and one or more I/O drawers is attached to this adapter:
•     i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
•     p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A, and 9133-55A.
• A problem was fixed that caused erroneous errors during boot on certain slots.  This affects the following systems:
• i5:  9405-520 and 9406-520 with processor feature code 8325, 8327 or 8330.
• p5:  9115-505, 9111-285, 9131-52A and 9133-55A.

04/18/06

Fixes that were deferred in earlier levels but are concurrent in this level: 

In firmware levels SF235_180  and SF235_185, there were two fixes that were deferred:

1.  A fix that affected all p5, i5, and OpenPower systems:

HIPER:  An incorrect initialization setting in the shared memory interface  (SMI) may cause a system checkstop, which could result in a system or partition crash. This is also known as the "SMI parity error" issue. 

In SF235_206 and later service packs, this fix is CONCURRENT.

2.  A fix that affected all p5, i5, and OpenPower systems:

HIPER:  The initialization settings of the memory buffers were changed to fix an incorrect timeout setting in the non-cacheable unit (NCU).  The current settings may cause a system checkstop, which could result in a system and partition crash.  This is known as the "EMQ hang" problem.

In SF235_206 and later service packs, this fix is CONCURRENT.  Also in this release of the fix, the recovery time for the EMQ hang was improved to benefit HACMP configurations.

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to interpret a machine condition as requiring special attention handling, where no such special attention existed.  This could result in a system checkstop.  This problem is also know as the "Master Attention Alone" condition.
• HIPER:   A problem was fixed that might prevent the system from completing memory bit steering on DDR1 DIMMs during runtime.  In this scenario, the system posts an SRC of B120E500, which informs the user to IPL the system to complete the memory bit steering operation.  This fix allows the system to complete the memory bit steering during runtime (with no SRC being posted), and no reboot is required.  (If memory runs out of spare bits to use for steering, the system will post SRC B123E500 as a predictive error, with word 8=xxxxxx8A.)
• DEFERRED and HIPER:  Additional hardware initialization settings were changed to prevent system hangs with B7xx406E reference code. 
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed that caused a dump to stop before completion after a hardware failure with error code B1xxF22A.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate with an error code of B182901D.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to perform a reset/reload too frequently, which caused too many dump files to be generated.
• A problem was fixed that was causing SRC B1xxE500 (with SRC word 8 equal to DD02) when processor runtime diagnostics were called during a dump.
• A problem was fixed that caused a BA180010 error to be logged when a PCI-X DDR slot was empty.
• A problem was fixed that caused error codes 11001D60 and 11001D63 to be erroneously generated when powering down the system.
• A problem was fixed that kept an already-connected uninterruptible power supply (UPS) from being detected correctly after the service processor performed a reset/reload operation. 
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot if the white power button was pressed within 10 seconds after reaching standby, but before C1802000 was posted on the control (operator) panel.
• A problem was fixed that caused error code B157F22A to be posted after a main store dump.
• A problem was fixed that prevented informational errors in the advanced system management (ASM) error logs from being seen by the admin user.
• The firmware was changed to insure that error log entries related to ambient temperature problems (error codes such as 11007201, 11007203, and 11007205, for example) are sent up to the operating system. 
• A problem was fixed that was preventing systems and partitions with multiple fiber channel adapters from booting.
• A problem was fixed that caused a reset/reload to fail with error code B181D13C  when a certain type of hardware attention was being handled.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A potential server checkstop issue exists in clusters using p5 models p575, p590, and p595, when these models are used to execute compute-intensive applications tuned with the November Power5 Fortran compiler.  Clusters executing applications that are compiled for optimal performance by utilizing the software pre-fetch function are exposed to a server checkstop (B1xxE500). Hardware initialization settings were changed to fix this problem and  the performance tools modified to take these new settings into account. 
• DEFERRED and HIPER:  An initialization problem was fixed that was causing the high-performance switch (HPS) network adapter to hit the adapter error threshold during run-time.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused model 575 nodes to fail to boot with SRC B1817201.
• HIPER:  On systems with a high performance switch (HPS) network adapter installed, a problem was fixed that caused a checkstop when memory was moved from a partition that did not own an HPS network adapter.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that was causing the power control code to time out when querying the vital product data (VPD) on large system configurations.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused erroneous registry errors with error code B1818A09 to be generated intermittently.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused runtime fail-over to the secondary service processor to fail.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused 11001Dxx error codes to be erroneously logged after a failover to the secondary service processor.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the system to fail to boot, and one of the service processors to become deconfigured.
• HIPER:  In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused the corruption of registry values on the primary service processor.  This registry corruption was evidenced by the fact that the hypervisor reported the amount of configurable memory incorrectly.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a firmware installation to fail with multiple occurrences of error code B1818A0E.
• The firmware was enhanced so that control (operator) panel function 30 displays the secondary service processor's IP address as well as the primary service processor's IP address.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing error code B17CE433 to be erroneously generated after an administrative fail-over.
• A problem was fixed that caused error code HSCL1400 to be generated when a redundant service processor was installed with firmware release SF230 or earlier.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing the secondary service processor to fail after too many write operations into the flash memory.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing the system to reboot continuously while the secondary service processor was attempting to mount a file system.
• On a system in which a redundant service processor is installed, a problem was fixed that was preventing the system from booting (with error code B155B06F) when one service processor encountered a problem collecting vital product data (VPD).
• A problem was fixed that caused a system with only a primary service processor installed to report the state of the secondary as "broken" instead of "not installed"; this prevented a firmware installation on the primary service processor.
• A problem was fixed that caused the error logs to be cleared on the secondary service processor when it was rebooted.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that prevented a service processor fail-over from completing if a hardware error occurred before the fail-over.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing a 11005000 or 11005001 error code to be logged during an administrative failover.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing a partition's time-of-day (TOD) clock to jump forward a large amount of time after a failover to the secondary service processor.  If this problem is encountered after this level of firmware is installed, the partition will have to be rebooted to correct the TOD clock.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was causing an invalid error code (B181E436) to be generated during a concurrent firmware update.
• In a system with a redundant service processor, a problem was fixed that was preventing the system from being powered on or powered off after a surveillance failover during a power transition (with error code B181E664).
• A problem was fixed that was preventing a PCI adapter from configuring in a tower after concurrent maintenance on the slot.  If this problem is encountered, the system must be rebooted for the adapter to be correctly configured after the repair.  After this fix is concurrently activated, it will prevent the problem from reoccurring.
• A problem was fixed that caused some error log entries not to be seen on the HMC.
• A problem was fixed that caused multiple B176871C error codes to be generated.
• A problem was fixed that caused an error log entry with error code B1xxE661 to be erroneously generated after an HMC-initiated system firmware installation.
• A problem was fixed that caused some error codes not to be sent to the control (operator) panel when i5/OS failed; instead, D200C2FF is left in the control panel display.  The terminating SRC can be found in the ASMI error logs.  This problem is only seen on i5 systems in default mode without an HMC attached.
• A problem was fixed that may be encountered during a reset/reload of the service processor; the symptom is a system failure with a B7000103 error code.  If this problem is encountered, the system must be rebooted to recover.  When this fix is concurrently activated, it will prevent the problem from reoccurring.
• A problem was fixed that was seen on an HSL Opticonnect cluster when there were more than 10 partitions on either system in the Opticonnect cluster; the failure occurred during a partition boot. 
•  If you are currently affected by this problem, a server IPL must be performed  to   reactivate the low-level HSL Opticonnect connection between the  servers. 
• This problem can be avoided by manually starting the partitions individually instead of using "autostart" to start the partitions. 
• Concurrently activating this fix will prevent the problem from occurring again.
• A problem was fixed that occurred during server boot on a server with a redundant service processor installed; the server hangs at progress code C700406E. 
•  If the server is currently hung at C700406E, this level of firmware can be installed disruptively from the HMC, and the problem will be resolved when the system is automatically rebooted after the installation. 
• If the server is not hung, this level of firmware can be applied concurrently.

• On model 570 systems with more than one processor drawer, a problem was fixed that was preventing enclosure VPD keywords from being changed in the second, third, and fourth processor drawers using the ASMI menus.
• The firmware was enhanced so that the progress codes that indicate discovery of the secondary service processor are displayed on the control (operator) panel.

• On a system that is not managed by an HMC, progress codes were being displayed on the potential firmware consoles; this caused the console selection message to scroll off the screen.
• A problem was fixed that caused error code 11002600 SRC to be generated during the power-down sequence, and a failure of the subsequent power-on with error code B150F22A.

01/13/06
 

System firmware changes that affect models 590 and 595, other HMC-controlled servers, and clustered systems:

• Fixed a problem that was causing error code B1xx100A to be logged when an HMC was disconnected from a managed system.  This problem is much more likely to occur on managed systems that have two or more HMCs attached, but it can also be seen on systems with only one HMC attached.
• Fixed a problem that caused commands involving LEDs to time out on large, heavily configured systems. 
• A new function was added to system firmware to allow power code downloads to towers to be enabled and disabled.  On eServer systems with a large number of towers, this allows customers to shorten the downtime after a system firmware installation by disabling the power code download to the towers, then enabling it at a convenient time. 

• Supports Double Data Rate (DDR) PCI adapters in DDR PCI slots in the following systems:  9111-520, 9131-52A, 9113-550,  9133-55A, 9111-285, 9405-520, and 9406-520.  Running a DDR PCI adapter in a DDR PCI slot in one of these models with a firmware level prior to this one may result in a potential data error.  IBM recommends that you install this level immediately if using a DDR PCI adapter.

12/06/05

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:

• DEFERRED   The hardware initialization settings were changed to prevent system crashes at runtime under some circumstances. 
• DEFERRED   The initialization settings of the memory buffers were changed to eliminate spurious checkstops that were causing system and partition crashes.
• Fixed a problem that causes the system attention LED to be in the incorrect state. 
•  Fixed a problem that was causing the system attention light to come on even though no serviceable events had been logged. 
• Fixed a problem that was causing the SMS menus to hang when the boot list was viewed or changed when two AIX images are on one hard file. 
• Fixed a problem that caused a 11003114 error code to be generated during power on. 
• Fixed a problem that caused a null pointer in the virtual I/O (VIO) firmware. 
• i5/OS only:  Fixed a problem that was preventing an i5/OS partition from booting from an IOA in a DDR slot. 
• i5/OS only:  Fixed a problem that was causing some adapters to fail to become operational in i5/OS in a DDR (double data rate) slot. 
• i5/OS only:  Fixed a problem that was causing incorrect error reporting for adapters that do not support extended error handling (EEH) when installed in a DDR slot. 

•  DEFERRED   Fixed a problem that prevented a VTERM session from being opened on the HMC in certain network configurations. 
• Fixed a problem that caused bulk power controller (BPC) connection errors in clustered systems by increasing the NETC SSL time-out value. 
• Fixed a problem that caused HMC-directed concurrent maintenance actions to fail with the message "CIM client detected:  hard stop or user intervention.  Try again or delay the repair.". 
• Fixed a problem that was causing platform dumps on large, richly-configured systems to result in an out-of-bounds memory access failure. 
• A change was made to shorten the time to execute DLPAR memory removal operations.

• A timing issue in the firmware was fixed that was causing firmware installations from the operating system to fail. 

• On a model 570 systems with 12 or 16 processors, the maximum number of partitions had been erroneously set to 80 in SF235_160; this firmware level sets the maximum back to 120 partitions for 12 processors and 160 for 16 processors. 
• On the model 570 with three or four processor drawers, fixed a problem that was causing the system to stop with error code A7004713 when installing SF235_160 or higher system firmware. 

10/14/05

New function:

• On i5 systems, added support for booting from a boot device attached to an IOP-less adapter.
• Added support for the installation of two copies of the AIX operating system on one hard file.  This includes support in the SMS menus for booting from either one.
• Added support for feature code 1812, the GX Dual-port 4x InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter, on model 52A systems.
• Added support for feature code 1811, the GX Dual-port 4x InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter, on model 575 systems. 
• Added support for moving the CUoD resources from one system to another system.
• Added support for the capability to set up a backup shared ethernet so that the shared ethernet function can fail-over to a standby shared ethernet if the primary fails. This function is part of the virtual IO server.
• Added support for redundant service processors with dynamic failover in models 570, 590, and 595.
• Added support for modifying the number of On/Off CoD activations during the active period.
• Added support for unattended HMC installation over a network, and to back up full HMC disk images onto a network server.
• Added support for new models:  9131-52A, 9111-285, 9133-55A, 9115-505.
• Various enhancements to the ASCII version of the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) menus were made.

• Fixed a problem that was causing the user data in a service processor error log entry generated by the bulk power controller to be truncated to 2048 bytes.
• Fixed a problem that caused unnecessary Service Agent calls because SRC B1816009 was being generated when the white power button was pressed before the power-on sequence was complete.
• On model 590 and 595 systems, fixed a problem that was causing DDR II memory cards in slots C10 and C12 to fail the memory test during a slow-mode boot.
• Fixed a problem  that prevents power on and posts a 11002613 error code when AC is lost to one power supply.  This problem exists only in SF230 levels of firmware.
• Fixed a problem that was causing a platform dump to be incomplete under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a problem that was causing a hypervisor dump to be corrupted.
• Fixed a problem that caused the location codes to be incorrect after the planar is replaced in a pSeries 7311-D20 drawer.
• The timestamp from the bulk power controller was added into the serviceable event log entry.
• Fixed a problem that prevented the "nvunalias" open firmware command from working.
• Fixed a problem that kept the physical I/O description field on the HMC GUI from being updated after a "remove FRU and add FRU" operation. 
• Fixed a problem that caused a service processor dump or a platform dump and SRC B1817201 or B7004400. 
• Changed the firmware so that a modem attached to a system port will reconfigure to enable call-in following a power failure.
• Fixed VPD-related command hangs (such as lsmcode, lsvpd, snap)
• Fixed several problems associated with firmware installations:
•  SRC B1814008 or B181F131 was generated on reboot
• A service processor dump occurred during a firmware installation
• "lsmcode -c" command displayed all zeros for the firmware level on the T side after an installation 

09/25/06

System firmware changes that affect systems using HSL Opticonnect

• A problem was fixed that caused a system in an Opticonnect cluster to crash with SRC B182E500 when partitions were activated.

• HIPER:  On model 575, 590, and 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused a memory failure with SRC B123E500 after the concurrent repair of a CEC DCA. 
• On model 590 and 595 systems, the FRU callouts were enhanced to improve system reliability after an uncorrectable memory error was repaired.
• A problem was fixed that was causing enhanced error handling (EEH) error codes to be erroneously generated on 7040-61D I/O drawers when certain adapter card configurations were heavily stressed by the application code.

• HIPER:  On model 561, 570, 590 and model 595 systems, a problem was fixed that caused memory to be deconfigured due to an erroneous memory controller failure, with SRC B121E500 and word 8 = 00EA0035.
• On model 561 and 570 systems with more than one processor drawer, a problem was fixed that was preventing enclosure VPD keywords from being changed in the second, third, and fourth processor drawers using the ASMI menus.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to run out of memory with SRC B110F139.

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused prevented correctable L3 errors from being recovered, with the result that an error threshold was reached, and an erroneous FRU callout was made.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the system or partition to crash when corruption was detected in low memory.
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that was preventing AIX system dumps with SRC D200A200 after a partition hang.
• A problem was fixed that caused dynamic logical partitioning (DLPAR) operations to intermittently hang partitions running Linux.
• A problem was fixed that caused AIX to incorrectly report errors that occurred during booting, and were then passed to the AIX error log.
• A problem was fixed that caused the "ping" command in the system management services (SMS) to fail during a NIM installation.
• A problem was fixed that caused multiple B7005190 SRCs to be generated when virtual Ethernet adapters were configured.
• A problem was fixed that kept an already-connected uninterruptible power supply (UPS) from being detected correctly after the service processor performed a reset/reload operation. 

04/03/06

Two fixes that were deferred in earlier levels are concurrent in this level:

1.  In firmware level SF230_150, there was a deferred fix that affects all p5 and i5 systems: 

HIPER:  The initialization settings of the memory buffers were changed to eliminate spurious checkstops that were causing system and partition crashes.

In SF230_156, this fix is CONCURRENT. 

2.  In firmware level SF230_153 (which is also part of ECA 823), there was a deferred fix that affects model 59x systems: 

HIPER:  The hardware initialization settings were changed to fix an incorrect timeout setting in the non-cacheable unit (NCU). The current settings may cause a system checkstop, which could result in a system or partition crash.  This is also known as the  "EMQ hang" problem. 

In SF230_156, this fix is CONCURRENT.  Also, the recovery time for the EMQ hang was improved to benefit HACMP configurations. 
 

System firmware changes that affect all p5 and i5 systems:

• HIPER: An incorrect initialization setting in the shared memory interface  (SMI) may cause a system checkstop, which could result in a system or partition crash. This is also known as the "SMI parity error" issue. 
• HIPER:  Fixed a firmware problem that caused the system to interpret a machine condition as requiring special attention handling, where no special attention existed. This could result in a system checkstop (with error codes B181F647 and B110F139).  This problem is also known as the "master attention alone" issue.

• DEFERRED and HIPER:  A potential server checkstop issue exists in clusters using p5 models p575, p590, and p595, when these models are used to execute compute-intensive applications tuned with the November Power5 Fortran compiler.  Clusters executing applications that are compiled for optimal performance by utilizing the software pre-fetch function are exposed to a server checkstop (B1xxE500). Hardware initialization settings were changed to fix this problem and  the performance tools modified to take these new settings into account.
• HIPER  On systems with a high performance switch (HPS) network adapter installed, fixed a problem that caused a checkstop when memory was moved from a partition that did not own an HPS network adapter. problem was fixed that prevented I/O towers from being concurrently added to i5 systems.
• A problem was fixed that was preventing partitions with large amounts of memory from booting successfully.
• The firmware was changed so that the time it takes to remove a large amount of memory from a partition using a DLPAR (dynamic LPAR) operation is reduced.
• A problem was fixed that was causing enhanced error handling (EEH) error codes to be erroneously generated on 7040-61D I/O drawers when certain adapter card configurations were heavily stressed by the application code.

• On p5 systems that are not managed by an HMC, the timeout for firmware installations performed by the operating system ("in-band" installations) was increased.

11/02/05

Attention: An IPL is required to activate a deferred fix, the system must be powered off via the HMC, (i.e. HMC state=Power OFF) and then powered back on. 

• DEFERRED Changed the initialization settings of the memory buffers to eliminate spurious checkstops that were causing system and partition crashes.
• DEFERRED  On model 590 and 595 systems, fixed a problem that was causing DDR II memory cards in slots C10 and C12 to fail the memory test during a slow-mode boot. 
• DEFERRED  Fixed a problem that was not allowing the system enclosure serial number to be rewritten using the ASMI menus.
• DEFERRED  Fixed a problem that causes the default boot list and the stored boot list to be swapped in the system management services (SMS) firmware when booting an AIX or Linux partition. 
• Several problems were fixed that caused a failure to boot with SRCs B1817201, C1001014 and/or C1001020.
• On an HMC, fixed a problem that caused a blank screen when reopening a VTERM after closing it.
• Fixed a problem that was causing a platform dump to be incomplete under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a problem that caused a "no connection" state between the HMC and the service processor after the service processor attempted a dump operation.
• Added support for ARP (address request protocol) to the System Management Services (SMS) firmware for AIX and Linux partitions.
• Fixed a problem in the server firmware that was allowing the HMC to allocate more memory to a partition than was available.

10/27/05
 

• Fixed a problem that caused system processors to get into a locked state.
• Changed the initialization settings of the memory buffers to eliminate spurious checkstops that were causing system and partition crashes.

08/24/05

• Fixed a problem on i5 systems with 5074 I/O towers that causes a partition to hang with SRC B6000255 when an I/O adapter in the 5074 is moved using dynamic LPAR.
• Fixed a problem on i5 and p5 systems that causes a continuous stream of phantom interrupts on partitions with shared processors.

08/09/05

Attention: An IPL is required to activate a deferred fix, the system must be powered off via the HMC, (i.e. HMC state=Power OFF) and then powered back on. 

• DEFERRED  On model 575 and 59x systems in which an IBM High Performance Switch (HPS) is installed, fixed a problem that was causing an invalid high performance switch adapter failure to be reported after a switch failure. 
• DEFERRED  On model SR110000 systems only, fixed a problem that was causing the I/O in the CEC not to show up after an IPL. 
• DEFERRED  On systems that are managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that was causing concurrent firmware update to fail with error code ACT01724 on the HMC. 
• DEFERRED  Fixed a problem involving correctable and uncorrectable memory errors that may have resulted in memory being deconfigured during a slow mode IPL on 9119-59x systems with F/C 7814 (4 GB memory cards) installed. 
• Support for 16-way model 575 systems was added to the SF230 release. 
• Fixed a problem that was causing the firmware to erroneously report a failure of the High Performance Switch (HPS) adapter card (with error code B181F62A) in a 16-way model 575 system. 
• On model 59x systems, a memory leak was fixed that could cause the system to reset during boot.
• Fixed false error code B1812033 introduced in code level SF230_120 on all p5 and i5 systems model 570 and lower. The B1812033 error code may still be valid on 575 and 59x systems. 
• Fixed intermittent boot problem introduced in code level SF230_120 on all p5 and i5 systems model 550 and lower. Error codes related to this boot problem include B1701004, B181F12E or B150F22A. 
• On model 575 and 59x systems in which an IBM High Performance Switch (HPS) is installed, a problem in the system firmware was fixed that was causing duplicate errors for the same problem to be reported in the service processor error log and the HPS Network Manager error log. 
• On model 575 and 59x systems in which an IBM High Performance Switch (HPS) is installed, a problem in the system firmware was fixed that was causing some switch network interface (SNI) adapters to fail a wrap test. 
• On systems that are managed by an HMC, fixed a problem that was preventing some types of errors that were logged in the service processor's error log from being sent to the HMC. 
• Fixed a problem that caused a very early reset/reload of the service processor with error codes of B1817201, B1817209 or similar after a firmware update. 
• On systems that shipped with a firmware level that begins with SF210, a problem was fixed that was causing the firmware installation to the T side to fail with error code B1817201. 
• Fixed a problem that was causing platform system dumps to be corrupted. 
• Fixed a problem that was causing concurrent firmware maintenance to fail.

06/16/05

• Fixed a problem that causes the media bay to lose power, which makes the DVD drives in the bay inoperable on 9117-570 and 9406-570 systems.
• Fixed most problems introduced in SF230_120 that causes the white power on/off button to intermittently fail to boot the system, terminating with error codes B181F12E, B1701004 or B150F22A, on 9111-520, 9113-550, 9405-520, 9406-520 and 9406-550 systems.
• Fixed a problem that causes various types of planar and RIO cable failures in the 7040-61D I/O subsystem to be reported on 9118-575, 9119-590, 9119-595 and 9406-595.

06/03/05

New function: 

• Adds code to notify the user when the VPD card is not in its original system, and to prevent that system from booting. 
• Adds support for i5/OS hosting virtual Linux and AIX partitions on i5 systems that are not managed by an HMC. 
• Adds support for F/C 7910 on model 9118-575 systems the switch network interface  adapter, which provides the interface to the pSeries high performance switch (HPS). 
• Adds support for F/C 7817 on 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595 systems, the switch network interface (SNI) adapter, which provides the interface to the pSeries high performance switch (HPS). 
• Adds support for concurrent firmware maintenance on systems managed by an HMC. 
• Adds support for 32GB memory cards on 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595 systems. 
• Adds support for F/C 7894, 8GB (4x2GB) feature (2GB DDR2 DIMMs, CCIN 30F3) on machine type 9117-570.

• LEDs on GX bus adapter cards remain on after the node is powered off for 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595 systems. 
• The service processor is not able to place a "call home" through a modem. 
• On systems 9118-575, 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595: a firmware upgrade from SF222_075 to SF225_096 fails with error code ACT01724 on the HMC. 
• Fixed a problem that causes the default boot list and the stored boot list to be swapped in the system management services (SMS) code when booting an AIX or Linux partition. 
• Fixed a highly intermittent problem that causes the service processor to perform a dump when an SRC is displayed on the control panel. 
• On  9118-575, 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595 systems, updates the firmware so that the system will continue to boot when certain types of failures occur on bus adapter cards. 
• Fixed a problem on  9118-575, 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595 systems which caused a reboot to fail with error code B7006900 under certain conditions. 
• Fixed a problem with moving a CD-ROM device between two logical partitions using DLPAR commands on the HMC. 
• On 9117-570 and 9406-570 systems:  fixed a problem a that causes a DMA_ERR with error code 1000 0003 on the integrated Ethernet port. 
• DS8000 storage subsystem:  multiple firmware fixes. 
• Fixed a problem that causes the system clock to revert to December 31, 1969 and the system to crash with error code B7000103. 
• On 9119-590 systems, fixed a problem that keeps large configurations (12 or more I/O drawers with both planars installed) from booting. 
• Fixed a problem that prevents the 'lscfg -vp' command from reporting platform-specific data on all p5 systems.
• Fixed a problem that intermittently causes a partition or the system to hang when the lsvpd or lscfg command is run on all p5 systems.  Also, 'the lsmcode' command may return "NOT DETERMINABLE".
• If two power supplies are installed, the system may fail to power on if one power supply fails in the 9110-510, 9111-520, 9113-550, 9117-570, 9123-xxx, 9124-xxx, 9405-520, 9406-520, 9406-550, 9406-570 systems.
• Fixed a problem that prevents a virtual SCSI client from connecting to a virtual SCSI server adapter on 9118-575, 9119-590, and 9119-595 systems.

 

03/12/05

• Fixed a problem in the service processor firmware that made it look like the T-side image was being lost after a "reset to factory configuration" was done using the ASMI menus. 

02/18/05

• Added support for 9118-575, 9110-510, and 9123-710.

02/07/05

• Fixed a problem that caused FSCSI errors to show up erroneously in the AIX error log when an I/O adapter failed.
• Fixed a problem that caused the processor runtime diagnostics to call out the wrong DIMM (or other memory component) when a memory failure occurred.
• Fixed a problem that caused a platform dump to run out of storage space.
• Fixed a problem that prevented the LEDs on I/O drawers from identifying or "rolling up" to the frame enclosure LED.
• Fixed a problem that caused the service processor to generate error log entries every few seconds when attempting to service a recoverable CEC hardware error on systems that have processors with no memory associated with them.

12/17/04

• Fixed a problem with the AMSI menu option that allows system VPD keywords to be set.
• Fixed a problem that kept the system from continuing to boot when an 8GB memory DIMM is deallocated because an uncorrectable error was generated by the DIMM during boot.
• Fixed a problem that caused a partition's time to appear to drift (approximately 15 seconds/month) following a system IPL.
• Support for partitions running i5/OS on p5 systems was added.
• Fixed a problem that caused the default boot list and the stored boot list in the SMS menus to be swapped.

11/24/04

• Added support for systems 9119-590, 9119-595, and 9406-595.

11/01/04

• Fixed a problem that kept feature code 1827, a UPS sense cable, from being detected. 

09/28/04

• Fixed a problem that kept the serial ports on the processor drawer from functioning in 9117-570 and 9406-570 systems with multiple processor drawers.
• Fixed a problem that kept the user from accessing the advanced system management interface (ASMI) via the web interface.

09/13/04

• Fixed a problem that caused the kept the service processor from getting to standby when an Ethernet cable was not plugged into it.

08/03/04

• Various corrections and updates.

08/31/04

• Added support for new models:  9111-520, 9113-550, 9406-550, 9124-720, and 9117-570.