ES40 CPU compatibility

[Graham Allan]

Thanks for all the information - and thanks cnb for confirming that this configuration really SHOULD work together.

I did try the manual firmware updates, with no improvement. I have since tried the lone B01 CPU in the main server, replacing the C01 cpus, and it works fine there by itself. Also tried yet another complete manual firmware update while in this mode, but adding the C01 cpus back in gives the same immediate fault. This was using the most recent (7.3) firmware CD.

It's interesting that the system halts right away - in fact it even cuts power immediately on displaying the error - so there is no chance of a Tru64 incompatibility at this point - the system doesn't even get as far as loading SRM.

Another hint I tried was the "clear_error all" command which clears entries from EEROM - didn't sound very likely to help though, and didn't!

Rob, that engineering advisory does sound really interesting if you can find any more details! I do have access to a really ancient PROSIC CD which came my way sometime, but it has nothing (it dates from 2001, before the 833MHz CPUs were released, I think).

Graham

[Rob Leadbeater · Accepted solution]

Hi Graham,

I found details of the advisory...

Some KN610-C CPUs had their EPROM setup incorrectly which causes the error you're seeing when mixed with CPUs which are correct.

You should be able to fix it with this:

P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 6 2
P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 8 62
P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 9 79

As that referemces CPU0, run this on your spare parts ES40, with just the spare CPU.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Rob

[Graham Allan]

> You should be able to fix it with this:
>
> P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 6 2
> P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 8 62
> P00>>> buildfru -s SMB0.CPU0 9 79
>
> As that references CPU0, run this on your
> spare parts ES40, with just the spare CPU.

THANK YOU!

I tried this at first on the spare CPU; it made no difference, and my heart sank.

But of course that just meant it was the three "C01" CPUs which had the incorrect values. After updating each of them with the above commands, all four CPUs are now coexisting:

P00>>>show conf
hp AlphaServer ES40

Firmware
SRM Console: V7.3-1
ARC Console: v5.71
PALcode: OpenVMS PALcode V1.98-104, Tru64 UNIX PALcode V1.92-105
Serial ROM: V2.22-G
RMC ROM: V1.0
RMC Flash ROM: V2.8

Processors
CPU 0 Alpha EV68A pass 2.2 833 MHz 8MB Bcache
CPU 1 Alpha EV68A pass 2.2 833 MHz 8MB Bcache
CPU 2 Alpha EV68A pass 2.1 or 2.1A or 3.0 833 MHz 8MB Bcache
CPU 3 Alpha EV68A pass 2.2 833 MHz 8MB Bcache



Graham

[Graham Allan]

I thought I should mention that Tru64 also booted up again just fine with the four processors installed, after the above fix.

Thanks again for all the help.