Hi guys,
Got a tiny bit of a problem on one of our servers here at work. I installed AIX 5.3 on the server and that went fine. Then I upgraded to ML 5300-05-01, but now the system just hangs on boot.
The system starts up and the monitor comes on in few minutes, but a few seconds later when the system information is displayed on the screen, it just hangs unexpectedly. The LCD display shows 'AIX is starting' message.
It doesnt go as far as beeping so I cant force it to boot to CD.
Would anyone have any ideas on how to proceed?
System is an IBM P630
Thank you
DrChris
If there's no LCD error code, then the system didn't get very far. You'll need to boot from external media.
IBM - Booting in Service Mode
It's possible that the system is downlevel on firmware, and is not compatible with that AIX release/level. You may need to update the FW to proceed (although that usually involves having a bootable disk: catch-22!)
The message "AIX is starting" is issued if a hd5 with a AIX boot image is found on the bootable media. This message should get replaced with "Starting Kernel" once the kernel code has been read into memory. Sometimes this can be corrected with:
# bosboot -ad /dev/hdiskx
once the system is booted from external media and the rootvg imported and mounted.
Thank you gus2000. That is exactly what I was after. I will give it a go and see what happens.
Thanks again
Chris
gus2000,
just had a look through the booting in service mode doc and on reading how to boot into service mode:
--
For most of the newer PCI-based models, selecting the default bootlist, with a bootable tape or CD loaded in the machine, causes the system to automatically boot from that device. Generally, the next menu on the screen asks the administrator to define the system console.
For all machines discussed here, if you are using a graphical terminal, you will use a function key such as F5.
--
now neither pressing F5 works, nor having the AIX 5.3 CD1 in the cd drive.
any ideas on how to do so? i do agree with you tho that its most probably the FW.
When the splash screen appears and the icons / words appear on the bottom of the screen you need to press 5 on the qwerty sde of the keyboard between the keyboard icon / word and the speaker icon / word, before the system beeps.
The F5 key was phased out a while ago now.
Boot the system and watch the screen, just in case kep tapping F5 and 5 alternalely to fill the keyboard buffer, then the system should recognise one or the other and boot the default service mode boot list which should have the CD before any hard disks.
If you have a serial console you can hit any key whilst the system is at standby and you should see the servie processor menu.
From here / the boot sub-menu you can select the cd as the boot device or if not, boot to sms and then select the cd as the boot device.
Also from the service processor menu you should see the firmware level in the second line of the title.
For the p630 AIX 5.3 support was added at firmware level 3R040323
The last part of the level - 040323 - is a date code, 23rd March 2004, if your firmware is earlier that is probably your problem.
If you have a floppy drive you can update the firmware from the service processor menus.
Firmware update readme:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/server/firmware/70286C4F.html
Firmware for the p630:
If you have a serial console, then there will be standby menus that are accessable by hitting the spacebar (while the system is plugged-in, but off). From there, you can go to the Boot Menu and specify "Boot to SMS". That setting is good for one IPL only, but it saves you from having to hit just the right key at just the right moment.
It was always a joy trying to get SMS out of an S70. It takes 20 minutes to boot, but there's a 5-second window for me to hit "5". I missed it 90% of the time! The Boot Menu is a welcome relief.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I reinstalled everything and updated my firmware thanks to you! Hitting 5 on boot worked like a breeze! So relieved that I didnt break a �10k machine 
Amazing on how nice ppl like yourselves helped me out so fast. I've yet to get a response from IBM on this! (And I doupt I would have solved it any time soon) Thanks for the help again.
C