Keyboard not Responding

[iecff]

I am the network administrator for an insurance company. We use NT/2000 almost exclusively. We have one RS/6000 Powerserver 370 running AIX 4.3. This server has legacy data on it which I needed to access last week. The server had been turned off for about six months.
I know very little about UNIX; when administrating this server I have relied upon step by step written instructions.
As stated in the subject line, my problem is that when I powered up the server last week the keyboard would not show on screen responses. That is, nothing I typed appeared on screen.
The LED displays 223; the key is in Normal (other choices are Secure and Service); the network cabling are know good; the link lights are illuminated; the Caps key does respond on screen. The screen displays a flashing cursor at the top and at the bottom Echo Comm Not Ready 2 and Caps when I depress the Caps key.
What I expected was that after booting the screen would display Login at which time I would enter the user login name and password. My application would start.
Have I explained the situation sufficiently for anyone to venture an opinion of what I am doing incorrectly or what may be wrong with the system?

 

[Chapter11]

223 isn't in my copy of DIMBS, but judging from the surrounding entries, you've probably got either a damaged system board or damaged ioplanar. IBM could tell you exact which. That series of error codes is well-documented.

 

[iecff]

Thank you for the response. May I ask a follow up question? From your answer I conclude that the LED value is an operational code on the status of the RS/6000. Is this a correct conclusion? Also, what is a DIMBS?

 

[Chapter11]

The LED code on the front of an RS/6000 is used to indicate the boot progress of the machine. Particular values indicate particular steps. Normally the value should be more or less constantly changing, if it freezes and stays at a given value, that generally means that that step has failed. The LED will cease displaying a number once the OS has started and opened the console for displaying information there.

DIMBS = Diagnostic Information for Multiple Bus Systems. My copy is 2 or 3 years old, but a 370 was old enough to have been removed from it at that time. IBM will definately maintain it in their own internal systems though.

 

[Jkloek]

From my old historical notes, here's what 223 is:
223 Attempting a Normal mode IPL from SCSI-attached devices specified in NVRAM IPL Devices List.
Do you hear the hard drives spin up inside the box when you power it up?

 

[iecff]

I do here the hard drive spinning upon power up. On a SCSI I have an 8mm tape drive, a CD drive, and a hard drive.

 

[Jkloek]

Then it sounds like either your bootlist doesn't contain hdisk0 in it, or that your internal drive has some physical problems in the boot area. Do you have boot CD media for it? You can set the key to service, and boot from the CDROM to get to a maintenance mode boot session. From there, you can access a root volume (select the option that includes mouting the logical volumes) and then run bootlist -m normal -o. This will show you your bootlist. If it does not include hdisk0, then execute bootlist -m normal cd0 hdisk0. Verify by doing bootlist -m normal -o again to see the change. Then just exit to cause a reboot and set the key back to normal. If, in the process of doing all this, you cannot mount the root volume, then there are physical problems with your internal disk. Keep me posted. Thanks.

 

[sectorseveng]

Could be an invalid bootlist, see the document at the IBM techtips site:

https://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.techTips

Document reference number: 0215

 

[iecff]

I have a three CD set of AIX V4.3.2 and one CD AIX Version 4 Update as well as AIX V4.3.2 Bonus Pack (a two CD set) and a AIX V4.3.2 Extended Documentation CD. These last two items should be okay, they are still in the shrink wrap!
My CD is external. Which CD would I use and how what steps do I take?

 

[Jkloek]

Put the 432 cd # 1 in the cd drive, turn the key to service and power up the system. Look at my previous post and try to follow it as best you can. If you have problems and want some help, let me know.