Hi All -

I looked through this forum and a couple of other places without success. Maybe someone here can help. I very recently came into possession of a p520, a 9131-52A. It arrived without documentation, mouse, keyboard, or graphics card.

I managed to get ASMI to work on both DB-9 ports and both HMC ports well and reliably. Per IBM tech support, I reset the entire system back to factory default settings. There is no display of HMC=0 in the LED screen.

My goal at this time is to get to a command line prompt and start working with SMIT and command lines. HMC is not a priority at this time unless I need to to reach a command line.

Tech support reps say an IBM-proprietary keyboard and mouse are needed for use with the on-board USB ports. That's fine. Here is where I need help: I have a list of eight keyboards by part number that are supposedly RS6000 and p-series compatible. I spent most the day yesterday looking for an internet supplier of keyboards without success.

I want to avoid the expense of a fancy KVM if possible (inexpensive might be an option). I prefer direct connections to the server. Where can I find a USB keyboard that will work? Multiple internet dealers have all come up empty. Does anyone have a known working keyboard that they are willing to sell? If you have a IBM-compatible USB mouse and graphics card, I would be interested in those as well. (The sales rep I went through has not a clue where to find them, either.) The USB ports provide power to a Microsoft keyboard and mouse, but evidently, the signals are all wrong.

Any assistance (and maybe a deal) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
MikeJ
Colorado Springs, CO

Alternatively you could get it working with an X terminal.

The problem is rather simple: PC keyboards are just the devices with the keys. Unix keyboards are part of a "terminal", which includes (for instance) an beeper for emitting signals. This is why PC keyboards do not work.

What should do the trick, though, is putting a serial terminal to work. That could be a IBM 3153 or a similar device. Plug it into the serial and use 19200 baud, 8 Data bits, no parity and 1 Stop bit. (19200, 8N1) Alternatively a DEC VT220 or even a terminal emulation program (kermit, ...) will work too.

A word about the commandline: IBMs termcap entries are traditionally crap. What works best is: Wyse60, VT100, VT220 and the native IBM3153 (sometimes called IBM3153-III). Most others will do for basic work, but fail in one or the other respect when it comes to the fancy things (reverse video, etc.), so there is a chance SMIT (which is in its ASCII mode based on the curses library) will not be displayed properly.

bakunin

Thanks for the reply. Getting closer, not there yet. I just found out that the serial ports I use routinely for ASMI will NOT work for getting command line displays. I just found this:

About Virtualization from unix.ittoolbox.com/ (Dated Nov 25, 2005):

"You cannot use the internal serial ports of any p5 server (as this one is, with AIX 5.3 already loaded) because they are already configured as Virtual Serial Devices shared between any partition you create in the p5 server. IBM confirmed to me the same thing: the serial cards are there but are not available since you don't install VIO. I know it is frustrating to buy a (multiple) serial ports adapter just to use one, but this is IBM."

I will be talking more to IBM Tech Support first thing tomorrow morning (5 Nov 2007). X-windows will not work at all because I have no access to the command line interface, so I cannot prep the server to use X-windows.

To All Readers: I am open to any and all recommended combinations of adapters, interfaces, etc., that will get me to the command line and are proven to work. Recommendations as to what KVM, graphics card, keyboard, mouse, serial cards, USB cards, etc., are welcomed and may help someone else in the future. Specific item make and model, or part numbers will be most appreciated. I am logging progress steps for future reference. (None of the above items arrived with the server, nor did any documentation of any kind.)

Thanks,
MikeJ

I thought that P5s would defer the VIO serial to an actual serial. That is, if a terminal is attached to S1 at boot, then the serial I/O goes to the physical port instead of to VIO. I'd be curious what would display at boot with a TTY attached.

No HMC = No VIO.
You could have IVM though.
If you have a p5 with just one install of AIX (no vio and no ivm) then the serial ports (which are owned by the service processor) are passed on to the AIX OS, it knows to do this if the display shows HMC=0, I think as vty rather than tty as on power4, ports.
You cannot use smitty tty to configure them because they are not tty ports, but you can configure them (speed, parity, etc.) from ASMI and they can be used for a console in AIX.
If you get no console output during or after boot, boot to SMS and select the console, then do a service/maintenance mode boot, and again, configure the console to any available vty type device, then do a normal boot and you should be OK.
If you have not installed AIX yet then boot to SMS, select the console and then install AIX and you should be ok.
As said before the default console settings are 19200,8,n,1 but you can set this from ASMI for both the ASMI and the AIX connection.