The IPL (Initial Program Loader) is a piece of code that is ON the disk,
so probably it either got corrupted, or the disk itself failed (hardware),
so that it cannot read that code anymore.
Which means that the system is NOT bootable anymore, as the IPL is the code
that searches for and then loads the HP-UX code (often referred to as the
"secondary loader").
The boot is a three step process: the "prom" loader searches for media (disks,
tapes, CDrom's) with bootable media (that is, with some form of IPL ON them),
and then tries to load and start THAT code. The IPL on disk is a socalled
LIF file (Logical Interchange Format), that is, the code is INdependant of
the exact operating system that installed it (mkboot command).
The IPL then has an "autoboot string" with the name of the file IT has
to find and load (which in HP-UX will normally be the kernel:
/stand/vmunix). But to do so the IPL has to be loaded FROM the disk, and
the primary loader is informing you that it canNOT find a valid secondary
loader on any of the disks it was searching for it.
If the disk is still OK, reinstalling the IPL (from another medium, so you
either have to boot from (recovery) tape or CDrom, or move the disk TO
another system (that does boot) and use IT to reinstall the IPL) will work,
but the most likely cause is that the disk is just plain bad and will have
to be replaced (and your data restored ON the new disk from the backups).
