Installing AIX on a 43p-140 (7043-140)

[AbsintheDonkey]

I bought a 43p-140 233MHz on ebay. It came without a hard drive. I'm using a 6.5GB Quantum SCSI2 50pin drive which was previously on a Mac and I have 384MB ram in the system.

I cannot install or get past pressing F5 or F6. I used F1 to change the boot order and I have cleared BIOS info by removing the battery and power cord. If I go into the firmware via F8 and then type "boot cdrom:" nothing happens except a carriage return. This is the same result after pressing F5 or F6 after the keyboard icon appears at boot. It hangs at 4b5 on the LED above the power button.

I have the original install media for AIX 4.3.2 and 4.3.3. I have a burned copy of AIX 5.1. The results are the same in any case.

Any clues as to how to get the OS installed?

Thanks

 

[plamb]

check your scsi ID for duplicates

 

[AbsintheDonkey]

The CD is ID3 and the HDD is ID6. They are both recognized in SMS.

Thanks

 

[jamesps]

Were you able to install it? I am having the same problem with the same workstation model. Cannot get it to boot from the cd-rom at all.

 

[DukeSSD]

AbsintheDonkey and jamesps,
Check out the following URL, click the download tab and cut a CD51025.ISO CD. This is a bootable diagnostics CD that will allow you to checkout and test your hardware.
Run advanced diags and certify the disk you are trying to install to, this will tell you if the disk is OK / supported by AIX ( and if the system can even boot ).

F05 - means transferring control to the operating system....wait for ages to see if it is doing anything.

4b5 - can't find any reference to this LED code - sorry.

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/mdownload/diags

Make sure the firmware is up to date:

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/mdownload//download.html

The install / service / user guides are available here: ( 7043 43P Series )

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.pseries.doc/hardware.htm

The other "must have" book for these systems is under the diagnostic link at the bottom of the above link:

Diagnostic Information for Multiple Bus Systems
SA38-0509 PDF

Good luck, they are a bit "unique" but worth learning about.

 

[KenCunningham]

Am I correct in thinking that I've read somewhere that the 43p can't run 5.1?

 

[alexhu]

I think its 5.1 for the 43p, but not 5.2

Alex

 

[KenCunningham]

Thanks, Alex, that's probably what I was getting confused with.

 

[jamesps]

I tried booting off of this standalone diagnostic cd from IBM, the thing just won't boot.
I have tried upgrading the microcode firmware, replacing the cd-rom, the SCSI cable, using different bootable cds. No success. Do you have any suggestion on what I can try?
So far the only thing I can do with this box (7043-140) is to enter the SMS.

 

[jamesps]

Got mine working. Memory was at fault. Took out 2 DIMMs and that was it. I have installed 4.3.2 in no time.
Thanks for help!