AIX hangs on boot


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Operating Systems AIX AIX hangs on boot
# 1  
Old 01-09-2008
AIX hangs on boot

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
# 2  
Old 01-09-2008
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.
# 3  
Old 01-09-2008
Thank you gus2000. That is exactly what I was after. I will give it a go and see what happens.

Thanks again
Chris
# 4  
Old 01-09-2008
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.
# 5  
Old 01-09-2008
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/ibmd.../70286C4F.html

Firmware for the p630:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp...1&mtm=7028-6C4
# 6  
Old 01-09-2008
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.
# 7  
Old 01-11-2008
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 Smilie

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
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Solaris

Solaris 10 - hangs during boot

Power server up runs through diagnostics. Goes to the boot section and then the bit where the cursor is spinning and thats it. Hangs completely. Any ideas? (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: psychocandy
10 Replies

2. Solaris

Server Hangs at boot

Hi Guys, I have a SunBlade 1500 which I use to practice at home. Suddenly when I power on the server it just displays the solaris banner and Boot device: disk File and args: Then it stops and says " rebooting with command: boot" It doesn't boot to the kernel. Is there anyway I can possibly... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: cjashu
5 Replies

3. AIX

Can't boot AIX

Good afternoon there, One of my friend gave me an old IBM 44P Model 170 (I've planned to use it to learn AIX that I don't know at all) (I know a bit GNU/Linux (Debian, Archlinux, Red Hat, Slackware)). But, unfortunately, the computer doesn't start properly and I don't have any idea why ;(. ... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: firstpost
6 Replies

4. AIX

AIX 5.3 Boot Hangs On Power4 Hardware

Hi all, We have a old Power4 server with AIX version 5.3 installed. Upon boot up, it hangs right after the AIX welcome screen. On the diagnostic load progress LED indicator, I saw that it stopped at '0c32' then after awhile the LED would be blank. The screen on the monitor will hang at the black... (15 Replies)
Discussion started by: a_sim
15 Replies

5. Ubuntu

Boot hangs while adding swap

Boot process hangs after reaching the following line: Adding 5853176k swap on /dev/mapper/mch-swap_1. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:5853176kUsing knoppix 6.2 as LiveCD, and mounting the partitions, I got the following: # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use 'blkid -o value -s... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: fzaker
0 Replies

6. AIX

AIX Boot Scripts

Hi, can someone point me to the bootup file where I can add a samba start up script so I dont have to manually start samba everytime we reboot the server? Thanks. (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: NycUnxer
8 Replies

7. AIX

AIX hangs through the boot process

To All: I have this AIX machine (see boot process below). The problem was it hangs at: The ctrmc Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 11906.. I checked with other forums but their advise were just "strong punches in the air" with no specific explanation. I really appreciate if... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: aix_xia
6 Replies

8. Solaris

Boot hangs up on solaris

Hi all, I have a SUN server Sun-Fire-V890 running solaris 9, with a remote system console . Both the IP adresses of the server and the console are in a private network (address 10.67.xxx). For some reasons I need to give the access to the server from outside address 194.xxx, but I prefer that... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: aribault
2 Replies

9. AIX

RS6K B50 Hangs at E140 on Boot

I've got an RS6K B50, and i've installed AIX 5.3, TL5. It installs fine, the only customisations i make to the BOS are to change the locale / keyboard layout to UK, and to choose not to install graphical software. I have no video card in this box, and i connect via a serial console (null modem... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: craigp84
4 Replies

10. AIX

AIX Hangs

Hai I am new to AIX, currently in our shop we use AIX 4.3.3 , where we have hosted the websphere 3.5 applicaiton on it. The AIX server is getting hanged very frequently, when analyse we found the swap memory is increasing once it reaches the memory 100 the system is totaly in hung state, so... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: vipin77
5 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question