System halts at A1FD0001 and 8092

[aixquest]

Hi,

I have a system pSeries 615 (7029-6c3)that is halted at A1FD0001 and 8092 after I upgraded to the latest system microcode. My 615 doesn't have SCSI disk device where I can use the floppy to update the system microcode as requests it. According to service guide, A1FD0001 (Insert update diskette 1) and 8092 (Diskette initialization during recovery mode system firmware update), but previously I updated the microcode when the system was operating at. I downloaded the *img from IBM and updated the microcode using update_flash utility. Now, after rebooting the system several times, it still halts at these two LCD display statuses to ask for floppy and diskettte initization. I had tried to unplug the power cord and the battery for 10 minutes before booting up again, it didn't help. It stuck at the same status. Also, had tried to go into the Service Processor Menu with a serial cable connecting to serial port #1, but I didn't get the menu. Does anyone know other methods to reflash system microcode? btw, for some unknown reasons, the system crashed after updated to ML4 for this type of server. The system is running with 5.3 and trying to update to the latest ML level.

Thanks.....

 

[DukeSSD]

The firmware is corrupt.
I think the only 2 ways out of this are:
1) fit a floppy drive and feed it the firmware diskettes.
2) replace the system board.

 

[aixquest]

Do you know what floppy drive is fitted for pseries 615 (7029-6c3) server?

 

[Breslau]

did you check to see if it had one already?

lsdev -C |grep fd

some platforms hide the floppy drive behind the front panel with the intent that the CE be the only user. of course i could be totally off base here, since i'm not familiar with the 615

 

[aixquest]

No, it doesn't have one.

 

[DukeSSD]

Breslau:
How do you run an AIX command like lsdev when the system won't boot?

The p615 Service Guide:

http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/infocenter/base/hardware_docs/pdf/380630.pdf

Page 3:
Bay #2, the bottom slimline bay in a rack configuration, will accept a second optical device or the single supported floppy drive.
It is a slim line drive, like a laptop one.

Page 367:
27L4378 Slimline Diskette Device

Doesn't seem to have a USB port so that is not an option.

Google / Ebay for 27L4378 and it seems the Thinkpad T2x use them... or you can buy one for about 20 bucks.