Probs with AIX installation on J40

[KOG]

Hi,

I am trying to do complete installation of AIX 4.3.3 on J40 (so can set it up as a backup server/standby db). When the box starts up I press both 5 and F5 at the initalisation stage (it takes up to 20 mins to boot up). But then it goes to maintenance Menu (Ref 7.00) and this is the menu options;

0) Display Configurations
1) Display dump error log
2) Enable service console
3) Disable service console
4) Reset
5) Power off
6) System boot
7) Off-line test
8) Set Parameters
9) Set National lanaguage


How do I get to Console and Installation Menu?

I had installed AIX on 43P and I do not recall having this kind of problems or difficulties.

Any reason? Hope someone of u can shed some light.

Thanking you all in advance

Cheers

KOG

 

[DSMARWAY]

hi,

what you need to do is put server in service mode , turn the key , hopefully you'll get a menu ( I think it may be different to the one you displayed , from that menu set your bootlist >

If you get the same menu as you listed , try set parameters
option to see if you can start a shell and set bootlist

The reason it takes 20 minutes to boot is that IPL is enabled , you can turn this off from set parameters menu
but note everytime you reboot , you have to disable IPL


HTH

 

[axelsche]

Hi KOG,
if you want to prevent your system to do the long boot in the future, enter the following line to /etc/inittab:

fastipl:2nce:/usr/sbin/mpcfg -cf 11 1 # suppress power on tests

regards
axel

 

[AIXSPadmin]

Pressing F5/5 (which is ASCII/GUI) will bring up the SMS menu as you discovered. The above answer is correct, turn the key to service mode and have the installation CD in the CD-ROM and it should begin the installation for you and bring up the installation menu.

 

[KOG]

Hi

I have turned the key in the right mode as instructed to the book and started the box .. pressed F5 and 5 both did not work and I also tried again watching fro the keyboard initialisation to begin and press F1 nothing happened.

This is really odd situation as I do not recall having this kind of probs when installing AIX on 43P and F50.

Cheers

Katherine

 

[aixqueen]

Forget the f5......You do not have the f5 sms option the same as you did with the 43P....the older SMP microchannel were different they had a bump console...
----------------------------------
Booting microchannel systems into Service mode

To boot microchannel systems into Service mode,
turn the key to the Maintenance position and press the yellow reset
button twice. You must boot from bootable media, such as an installation
CD-ROM, installation tape, or a bootable
backup tape made via the mksysb command or the Sysback
product of the correct level for this machine.


The preceding discussion assumes that the Service mode bootlist has not been
modified from the default bootlist. If the
bootlist has been modified, it must be reset such that one of the boot media types
from the preceding selections is before
the standard boot media, such asthe hard disk.

If the machine is an SMP model (7012-Gxx, 7013-Jxx, and 7015-Rxx) and the Autoservice IPL flag is disabled, then a
menu like the following will display when it is booting in Service mode:

MAINTENANCE MENU (Rev. 04.03)
0> DISPLAY CONFIGURATION
1> DISPLAY BUMP ERROR LOG
2> ENABLE SERVICE CONSOLE
3> DISABLE SERVICE CONSOLE
4> RESET
5> POWER OFF
6> SYSTEM BOOT
7> OFF-LINE TESTS
8> SET PARAMETERS
9> SET NATIONAL LANGUAGE
SELECT:

You can boot these machines into Service mode or even Normal mode with the
Fast IPL Flag set. If you do not, the machine can take anywhere from 30 to 60
minutes to boot up. There are a few ways to set the Fast IPL Flag for
these machines.

NOTE: The console must be an ASCII type and connected to the S1 port of the
system. Graphic monitors will not work.

Use the following instructions to boot SMP machines into service with Fast IPL set.

1.Insert the bootable media of the same OS Level. Use the mksysb/cd-rom
command.
2.Turn off the machine by pressing the white button on front.
3.Turn the key to the Wrench or Service position.
4.The LCD should read STAND-BY.
5.Press the Enter key on the console.
6.A greater-than prompt (>) should display on the monitor.
7.Type in sbb followed by the Enter key.
8.The menu Stand By Menu should now display.
9.Select 1 Set Flags. This will take you to another set of menus.
10.Select 6 Fast IPL. This should change to enable after it is selected.
11.Enter x to exit the second set of menus.
12.Enter x to exit the first menu.
13.At a blank screen, press the Enter key to obtain the greater-than prompt (>).
14.Type in the word power followed by the Enter key.
15.Turn the machine back on. It should start to boot up. A prompt may
display asking if you want to update the
firmware. Do not respond; let it continue.
16.Now you may be at the Maintenance Menu with 10 options displayed,
0 through 9. If that is the case, select
option 6, System Boot. This will take you to another menu. Select option 0,
Boot from the list.
17.The Standard Maintenance Menu should display. System recovery and
maintenance can be completed from here.
18.After system recovery and maintenance has been performed, the system
is ready to be rebooted into Normal mode. Enter the command
mpcfg -cf 11 1 at the command line prompt, then press Enter.
This will set the Fast IPL Flag. The system is ready to reboot.
19.Turn the key back to the OK/Normal position.
20.Enter shutdown -Fr, followed by the Enter key.

-----------------
Installing menus?
Start the system with key mode switch choose cd in above menus to boot from?

Turn the key mode switch on the system unit to the position labeled Service.
Make sure all external devices attached to the system unit, such as CD-ROM drives,
tape drives, and terminals, are turned on. Only the tape or CD-ROM drive from
which you will install AIX should contain a tape or CD-ROM.

Not sure this helps you

 

[KOG]

Hi aixqueen,

Basically the tape driver on J40 has decided to pack up and so I cannot use mksysb backup tape but I noticed there is a a bootable diskette and followed your instructions such as

1. At Maintenance Menu I selected option 6 System Boot, it took me to another menu which I selected option 0 and it booted up. All went fine and then I rebooted the box to normal mode.

Then I switched the service key on and inserted the AIX Vol 1 disk and turned the box on ... pressed F5 still no luck, it keeps taking me back to Maintenance Menu.

I thought if you had set the box to service mode and inserted the first Vol of AIX CDs, following the instructions given on booklet it still does not follow the tasks?

Now with tape driver probs it gives me limit choice of how to deal with this situation, any suggestions?

The ques here is why did it not go to console/installation menu?

Thanking you all in advance.

Regards

KOG

 

[KOG]

Hi

Is there anything I should do pls help as I need to get the server up and running by next week and I have tried everything?

Thanking you all in advance.

Katherine

 

[aixqueen]

When you followed the directions above, I believe you had
to set the boot not normal
but boot from cd?
Keeping the key in service.......not normal........
and let the machine boot off the Cd?
That should have given you the install menus?

Forget the f5 on this machine.

 

[KOG]

Hi

I am a bit confused how do I boot from CD? The Maintenance Menu option just said

6) System Boot

but it gives no indication of how it should be booted from?

And the key in service mode?

I have left the first Volume of AIX on CD.

Is it possible that the bootable file is corrupted?

Many thanks for answering my ques.

Regards

KOG

 

[KOG]

Hi aixqueen,

The only thing I can find is the bootable diskette which has been left in the server for many years and I have done a mksysb backup on tape but unfortunately the tape driver is not in working order now. As for booting from CD, do I need to find a CD with bootable file on it?

I am no AIX expert so all this is rather confusing to me as I do not recall having this kind of probs when I installed AIX 4.3.3 on F50.

Thanking you all in advance for answering my ques.

Regards

KOG

 

[Yegolev]

Your AIX 4.3.3 CDROM is bootable. The old microchannel machine is so different from the PCI machines that you should simply pretend it is not the same machine type at all, because really it is totally different.

Do not use any F keys, they will not work. You must turn the key in the keylock to do anything like that. Follow aixqueen's instructions to the letter, starting with the numbered part since that is the meat of the instructions, and forget everything that you learned about your other RS6000, the uchannel ones are completely different.

Brings back memories but I can't say I miss the microchannel boxen. IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[aixqueen]

Hi
this may help...here are the operator and service manuals for the J40

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/library/hardware_docs/sa23/232724.pdf

Around page 3-26
In simple terms we are
1) making sure the console is set to 9600 8 1 N
2) setting the bootlist for service to be CDrom first or at least in the bootlist
If the machine boots now from disk, set it with bootlist command
if not get the address of the device (cd rom) the scsi device and then boot from scsi device..... instead of boot normal... from the menu we discussed above
3) putting the key in service and booting up should default to what is set in bootlist
if the key is still in service. And if you have the cdrom in the bootlist, it should load
the OS.....or at least give you that menu

Hope It didn't confuse you..........sorry if I did

Maybe someone else can explain it better ......

 

[KOG]

Hi aixqueen

I have finally got the installation working and all is well.

Many thanks for all your help and info.

Much appreciated

K