RTC and boot settings lost during power off state

[Jozef_Novak]

Hello Guys,

I have an rx2660 with HPUX 11.23.Since some time, I have been observing issues during mainteinance that requires physically disconnecting the server from power (e.g. memory upgrade). Real Time Clock gets reset and bootpath data gets lost from NVRAM, being replaced by what I assume to be the default values (DVDROM, USB, LAN, in that order)

Of course I have been thinking about a battery failure, but there is no indication of it in any kind of logs. All I was able to find out is a system event PDH_INVALID_RTC_CLEARED logged by the MP. There is also a corresponding EMS event saying:

"
The RTC was invalid

No action is required. The problem has been corrected by SFW.
"

Any suggestion of some more checks before I log a call with HP ?

Thanks much,
Jozef

[Torsten.]

Hi Jozef,

this is so close to hardware - I would check the firmware first.

What do you have?

MP:CM> sysrev

[Jozef_Novak]

Hi Torsten,

the FW revisions are as follows:

SYSREV

Current firmware revisions

MP FW : F.01.58
BMC FW : 05.06
EFI FW : ROM A 05.65, ROM B 05.65
System FW : ROM A 01.05, ROM B 01.05, Boot ROM A
PDH FW : 50.04
UCIO FW : 03.0a
PRS FW : 00.08 UpSeqRev: 01, DownSeqRev: 01


Thanks,
Jozef

[Torsten.]

the newest is

VERSION:
System FW : 04.04
BMC FW : 05.23
iLO-2 MP FW : F.02.17
PDH FW : 50.07
UCIO FW : 03.0b

Your FW looks quite old - it is the initial release.

Consider to upgrade!

Simple get the firmware (EFI or ISO) from the website and run it.

If you need help, come back.

[Torsten.]

Better format, easier to compare:

MP FW : F.02.17
BMC FW : 05.23
EFI FW : ROM A 07.12, ROM B 06.20
System FW : ROM A 04.04, ROM B 03.01, Boot ROM A
PDH FW : 50.07
UCIO FW : 03.0b
PRS FW : 00.08 UpSeqRev: 02, DownSeqRev: 01
HFC FW : 00.05 SetRev: 00

[Jozef_Novak]

Hello Torsten,

thanks for the evaluation, the current revisions look pretty old, indeed. I will search for the FW images and update procedure. I assume the action will require downtime, wont' it ?

Thanks,
Jozef

[Torsten.]

Yes, you need a downtime.

I prefer the EFI version:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3346452&prodNameId=3346453&swEnvOID=54&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ux-65296-1

Just copy the file to an usb stick, boot to EFI shell, delete the MP logs and run the file.

Have a look at the instructions.

[rick jones]

If it weren't for the boot settings being lost (those are NVRAM IIRC) I too might have guessed a bad button battery on the motherboard. If getting your firmware up-to-date (BTW, there are IIRC HP-UX patches to do that if you don't want to go the EFI route) does not resolve the RTC issue you might look into replacing the motherboard button battery/ies.

I'm not sure if there is any error logged when that battery runs-down. It isn't a rechargable, so I suspect there isn't any circuitry checking its voltage/whatnot.

[Jozef_Novak]

Hello Guys,

firmware update didn't help the matter. In addition, I have discovered a new system event that is logged each time the system is rebooted:

67 BMC *3 0x2049C1790A020560 FFFF0106D5020300 VOLTAGE_FAULT
18 Mar 2009 22:43:22

Looks like I'll have to open a call with HP to investigate the battery.

Jozef

[Torsten. · Accepted solution]

This message means the battery on the I/O board is bad, this is also the reason why your values are getting lost.