N4000 CPU upgrade to 550 Mhz

[Richard Koenders]

Hi,

I have a HP9000 N4000 (A3639B) server with 1 processor PA-RISC 8500 360 Mhz.

I wanted to upgrade the processor to a 550Mhz one.

After swapping out the CPU and changing the dipswitches, the system won't enter the selftest anymore.

Did a PDC firmware upgrade to 43.43, but this did not work. HP 11i is installed as well.

Any suggestions?

[Bernhard Mueller]

Richard,

if you do not get any selftest msgs I would suspect the CPU is bad and maybe the power monitor switches off to prevent major damages.

you would need another (550MHz) CPU to verify...

Bernhard

[Richard Koenders]

Bernhard,

thanks for your quick response.

I have tried it with another CPU as well,
same result.

[Stf]

Did your 550MHz is a A5866A?

Stf ;-)

[Richard Koenders]

yes, its is.

[Stf]

Did you have the correct Processor Support Module?

Stf ;-)

[Jesse Dougherty]

Hi Richard, since you originally had 360MHz CPU's PA-RISC 8500 CPU's in the N4000 you might want to recheck and see if you have the upgraded N4000 system board that will take the 550Mhz PA-RISC 8600 CPU's. Its the board that mounts horizontally in the center of the chassis. I have seen N4000 box part number that are mislabeled.

The PA-RISC system board that takes the PA-RISC 8500 (440MHz and 360MHz CPU's) are:
A3639-60006 and or A3639-69706

The PA-RISC system board that takes the PA-RISC 8600 (550MHz, 440MHz, & 360MHz CPU's) are:
A3639-69420 and or A3639-60020

Jesse
Cypress Technology Inc

[timmy b.]

Richard,
Two questions:

First, what switch settings are you using? Should be 1,4,5,7,8 set on ON for Switch 1.

Second, what Processor Support Module are you using? It should be A5168A.

Oh and check the "fuzzy button" connection points on the system board. It's possible that one of them came off of the 360mhz cpu that your removed. That could prevent the 550mhz cpu from being seen.


Be aware that you will not be able to set the Model String, that has to be set by an HP Engineer.

I hope this helps, let us know what fixes your problem.

Good Luck - Tim

[Richard Koenders]

Thanks for all your input.

I got the server up and running, but it has left me slightly confused.

I took a 550Mhz CPU out of an A3639C from CPU slot 3 and put it in the A3639B (in slot 1).
The system wouldn't go into selftest.

I took out the cpu again, and this time I removed the CPU from the A3639C that was in slot 5.
I put it in the A3639B (slot 1), again nothing.


Now I took out the cpu again, and this time I removed the CPU from the A3639C that was in slot 1.
I put it in the A3639B (slot 1), and the system booted.

So my guess was that maybe I had 2 faulty CPU's, however when I put one of the the 'faulty' CPU's in slot 3 to run next to the other CPU, the system showed 2 working CPU's!

Anyone have an explanation for this?

[timmy b.]

Richard,
The bottom side of the CPU module has a connection device called "fuzzy buttons". These fuzzy buttons are essentially a one-time use item, per HP. You MAY get away with moving a cpu from one system board to another, but there is no guarantee that it is going to work. You see, over time the material gets compressed and may not make a good connection to the system board. Other times you will find that the fuzzy buttons fall off the cpu, now you have NO connection between that particular trace on the cpu and system board which usually means no boot. So, check the bottoms of your cpus.

Good Luck - Tim