Shell not accessible from efi (rx2800)

[Rudy_De_Keyser]

Hello,

One of my customers has an rx2800.

Last week i went onsite to upgrade the system firmware as well as the disk controller firmware. The system firmware upgrade went all wel, however the controller upgrade didn't work. I used the pcsi kit from OpenVMS, reboot, wanted to go to the shell but no success, it just hangs with press f1 to continue. And yes i did press f1

Next week one of our hardware guys will go onsite and try it after doing a reset of the MP.

This server has 2 disk controllers a 410i with the disks attached and a 411i with a tape attached.

From memory here is what is get on the screen.

Pressed S to get the shell prompt

Search devices

The 410i controller is found

Press f1 to continue

The 411i controller is found

Press f1 to continue

Only way to continue is RS

Any ideas,

Thanks and regards,

Rudy

[Torsten.]

This isn't a real problem.

As long the smartarray controller wants something to tell, it asks for the "F1" key.

This will time out

or

you press

ESC followed by 1.

instead of F1.

Then you can update the 411 to version 5.16 ... ;-)

[edit]

if on VGA console, press F1

if on serial console, press ESC 1

(same for F8 to start ORCA on other platforms)

....

Searching for devices.
HP Smart Array P410i Controller     (version 5.06)  3 Logical Drives
Currently the controller is in RAID mode
HP Smart Array P411 Controller     (version 5.16)  0 Logical Drives
     Tape Drive(s) Detected:
     Port: 2E, box:0, bay:  5 (SAS)
1785-Drive Array Not Configured
     No Drives Detected

Press "F1" to continue...

>>>> press ESC 1 now or just wait for timeout

[Rudy_De_Keyser]

Hello Torsten,

As i said in my base note, i did press f1 and waited for the second timeout (of the 2nd controller) for more than 15 minutes but no shell prompt to appear :-(

Might be that the firmware is happening in the background, i just don't know and +15 minutes is to me a long time for a firmware upgrade (if this is happening - i have no feedback at all on what it is doing)

Regards,

Rudy

[Torsten.]

I don't know, but maybe you confused the console by pressing F1 ...

[fhsjvl]

Rudy,

Did you have the problem once or multiple times?

Normally the "Press F1 to continue" must expire automatically.

Do the controllers tell you whether they are in HBA or RAID mode? They should, otherwise there is something really wrong. Maybe you can run SAUPDATE to check for this.

How are you accessing your console? VGA? Serial? IP? How is your "Primary console output device" defined?

It is very weird that this happens. I have installed 20 new servers and this problem never showed up. Unless the system suddenly performed a power off (by a completely other reason). You can check that with the command PS in the CM section.

[Rudy_De_Keyser]

Yes, the cotrollers do thell me if they are in hba or in raid mode.

I did login to the console via the ilo and i tried also via a telnet to the mp.

Haven't t checked the primary output console. We will check this.

I've installed plenty of integrity servers and never seen it before. I'll let you know what we found.

Rudy

[Rudy_De_Keyser · Accepted solution]

All is ok for now.

We had to pullout the cable from the tape drive (only device on the second controller). From then on we could have access to the shell.

Firmware upgraded from 3.66 to 5.06.

Since the upgrade we have access to the shell without the need from pulling out the cable.

Thanks and regards,

Rudy

[Torsten.]

There is already a version 5,16 for the P411:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=4079262&prodNameId=4079263&swEnvOID=4001&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ux-102090-1

Make sure to connect the tape to the 2E Port!