OpenVMS 8.2-1 on HP Itanium RX2620 keep asking to enter date & time

[Chan Chee Hang]

We have 7 Itanium RX2620 server with OpenVMS 8.2-1 encounter the same problem on 1st Jan 2010.
Everytime the system shutdown or reboot, it will ask to enter the date & time. But the time for system & management processor is correct. We did change the system board & management processor card battery & it doesn't solve the problem. So, how to solve it. Thank you.

[Hein van den Heuvel · Accepted solution]

What asks for the time? OpenVMS I assume?

I believe the system asks when the difference for the last saved time with the current time is 'suspect'

Try a $SET TIME command to save a new time value?

Why keep running on 8.2-1?
That's like a beta release almost.
Please consider 8.3-1h1.
So much nicer and transparent to all applications.

hth,
Hein.

[Volker Halle]

Hi,

this could be a problem in OpenVMS I64 or the RX2620 hardware/firmware. OpenVMS will read the time from some Itanium register during boot. If that value is 'suspect', SYSINIT will ask for the correct time to be entered manually. This question will also always be asked during boot, if the system parameter SETTIME is set to 1 - please check this first.

Note that OpenVMS does NOT ask for the time during SHUTDOWN, only during boot, so make sure, it's really OpenVMS asking for the time.

Volker.

[MichelleP_1]

I have the same symptom on my system from the porting workshop, also 8.2-1 - otherwise known as XAV1-D2Y on SHOW SYS. :-) I will be installing a newer version of VMS soon and I'm the only user so it's just a (temporary) nuisance for me.

It is OpenVMS that's prompting for the time during boot (just before waiting to form or join a cluster).

SYSGEN SETTIME is 0

I have done a $ SET TIME at least once, but the next boot still prompted for the time.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Chan Chee Hang]

OpenVMS version upgrade is not possible at the moment. The server has been running few years without any problem until 31 Dec 2009.

[Somkiat_1]

You can Fix Problem Date & Time by update 2 patch as follows

VMS821I_PCSI-V0300
VMS821I_UPDATE-V1500

Cheers
Mong

[Volker Halle]

Mong,

is your advice based on actual experience observing the problem and solving it by installing those 2 patches ? Or is it just the 'install recent patches' kind of advice ?

Does any of the patches included in the VMS82I_UPDATE-V1500 patch list this problem as solved ?

Volker.

[Chris Warnes]

The problem is fixed after installing
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V8.0 or higher

This has been tested on a system as follows:

$ prod show hist *vms821*
----------------------------------- ----------- ----------- --------------------
PRODUCT KIT TYPE OPERATION DATE AND TIME
----------------------------------- ----------- ----------- --------------------
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V8.0 Patch Install 07-JAN-2010 19:06:56
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V7.0 Patch Install 07-JAN-2010 17:46:19
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V6.0 Patch Install 07-JAN-2010 17:22:39
HP I64VMS VMS821I_LMF V3.0 Patch Install 25-JAN-2007 00:28:08
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V5.0 Patch Install 25-JAN-2007 00:19:36
HP I64VMS VMS821I_UPDATE V3.0 Patch Install 19-JUN-2006 13:03:02
HP I64VMS VMS821I_PCSI V1.0 Patch Install 19-JUN-2006 13:01:06
HP I64VMS VMS821I_ACRTL V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_DDTM V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_FIBRE_SCSI V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_IMATHRTL V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_IPC V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_IPMI V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
HP I64VMS VMS821I_KITTING V1.0 Patch Install 11-JAN-2006 17:02:42
----------------------------------- ----------- ----------- --------------------

Before upadte 8 was installed the boot was

HP OpenVMS Industry Standard 64 Operating System, Version V8.2-1
© Copyright 1976-2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

%DECnet-I-LOADED, network base image loaded, version = 05.14.00

%PKB0, Copyright (c) 2001 LSI Logic, PKM V1.1.01
%PKB0, SCSI Chip is LSI53C1030, Operating mode is LVD Ultra320 SCSI
%PKB0, LSI53C1030 firmware version is 1.3.35.0
Please enter date and time (DD-MMM-YYYY HH:MM) 7-JAN-2010 18:57:26
%STDRV-I-STARTUP, OpenVMS startup begun at 7-JAN-2010 18:57:29.41

After installing update 8

HP OpenVMS Industry Standard 64 Operating System, Version V8.2-1
© Copyright 1976-2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

%DECnet-I-LOADED, network base image loaded, version = 05.14.00

%PKB0, Copyright (c) 2001 LSI Logic, PKM V1.1.01
%PKB0, SCSI Chip is LSI53C1030, Operating mode is LVD Ultra320 SCSI
%PKB0, LSI53C1030 firmware version is 1.3.35.0
%STDRV-I-STARTUP, OpenVMS startup begun at 7-JAN-2010 19:11:25.42
%RUN-S-PROC_ID, identification of created process is 00000404
%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 7-JAN-2010 19:11:31.37 %%%%%%%%%%%
Operator _I64UTR$OPA0: has been enabled, username SYSTEM

No longer any enter date and time prompt

HP always recommends to install the latest patches and as already mentioned for 8.2-1 this general update kit is at version 15.

[Volker Halle]

Chris,

thanks for the confirmation.

The 'solution' seems to be hidden in VMS82I_MOUNT96-V0100, which brings a new SYSINIT.EXE, which contains the code to set the system time.

This problem and solution is NOT DOCUMENTED, which is a bit disappointing !

Volker.

[Peter Capriccio]

Is anyone else seeing this problem on OpenVMS IA64 V8.2 (in my case, on rx2600 hardware) since the clock has rolled to 2010? I had the same problem back in July of 2009 when a power outage made me aware of some patches that repaired the same scenario for 2009 (see http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.vms/browse_thread/thread/992e48ecac9330ca ). The patches mentioned in that thread fixed the problem for me, but after a power outage today, the problem is "back". The MP battery is good, the date/time is okay from the MP and the EFI shell, the "SETTIME" and "TIMEPROMPTWAIT" SYSGEN parameters have not changed, but every boot I get prompted to "Please enter date and time". The latest "VMS82I_UPDATE" available from the ITRC is V6.0, which I already installed back in July (which contains "VMS82I_TZ V2.0" and "VMS82I_TDF V3.0") along with "VMS82I_PCSI V1.0" (a prerequisite for "VMS82I_UPDATE").

[Richard Whalen]

Yes, we are seeing this problem on an 8.2 system too. We have decided that we will be updating it to 8.2-1 to resolve the problem.

[Volker Halle]

Please note the following correction:


The 'solution' seems to be hidden in VMS82I_MOUNT96-V0100, which brings a new SYSINIT.EXE, which contains the code to set the system time.


There is a typo ! I should have correctly referenced this patch kit as:

VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0100 (for V8.2-1H1).

There seems to be NO patch available for OpenVMS I64 V8.2, which provides a new SYSINIT.EXE to fix this problem.

Sorry 'bout that,

Volker.

[Hoff]

Pedantic Alert... There isn't an V8.2-1H1. The progression on OpenVMS I64 is V8.2, V8.2-1, V8.3, and V8.3-1H1 is (at least for now) current.

[Volker Halle]

Hoff,

thanks ;-(

But I at least got the patch name right this time: VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0100 (for V8.2-1)

Volker.

[Marco Riccardo Napoleon]

Hi, I have the same problem on two Rx2620 servers, but I can't find the mentioned patch. Where can I find that one?

[Richard Whalen]

We recently had a disk drive error on the system running VMS V8.2. After I restored the backup I decided to apply the most recent patches. After I installed VMS82I_SYS-0500 I was not prompted for the time on reboot. We haven't had a reboot since then, so I don't know how permanent it is, but it is hopeful.

[Peter Capriccio]

@Marco Riccardo Napoleone:

Are you referring to the VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0100 for V8.2-1? I can't find that particular version, but the one that supersedes it (VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0200) is available from the ITRC or at:

ftp://g1u1297.austin.hp.com/openvms_patches/i64/V8.2-1/VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0200.ZIPEXE

ftp://g1u1297.austin.hp.com/openvms_patches/i64/V8.2-1/VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0200.txt

@Richard Whalen:

That is good news -- I'll have to try VMS82I_SYS-0500 -- when you installed it, did you also install VMS82I_DCL-V0100? The latter is marked as "should also be installed" but not as "must be installed" under the dependencies section in the cover letter...

[Richard Whalen]

I installed VMS82I_PCSI-V0100, VMS82I_UPDATE-V0600, VMS82I_LAN-V0100, VMS82I_RMS-V0200 and VMS82I_SYS-V0500. Since the patch database lists the patches in reverse chronological order this is what appeared to be the set that would get the system "fully patched".

[Peter Capriccio]

Thanks for the info, but curse you just the same for posting it -- because of the reboot required, this is going to ruin my uptime score :) :) :)

[Marco Riccardo Napoleon]

Thanks to all. Tomorrow I will try to install the above patches, but I am disoriented because my servers run OpenVMS 8.3 instead of 8.2.1, but I have the same problem. I didn't find any 8.3 patches!

[Volker Halle]

Hi everybody,

VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0200 itself can not be the 'solution' for this problem, as it only contains VMOUNT.EXE and MOUNTSHR.EXE and none of these images is involved in getting the time from the HW clock during boot. From previous analysis, it can be concluded, that the 'solution' was included in VMS821I_UPDATE-V0800 (or alter) and this leads to the SYSINIT.EXE image (link date 23-MAY-2007 14:33) present in VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0100. VMS821I_MOUNT96-V0200 requires VMS821I_UPDATE-V0800 to be installed first, so this would indirectly supply the 'solution'.

If the 'solution' is really in SYSINIT.EXE itself, I can't see any patch containing this image for OpenVMS I64 V8.2, so it's not clear, how installing patches for V8.2 could have solved this problem.

Volker.

[Marco Riccardo Napoleon]

Hi all! Good news

I have installed the following patches (containing SYSINIT.EXE)

VMS83I_LIBRAR-V0200.ZIPEXE
VMS83I_UPDATE-V0400.ZIPEXE

Everything works fine!

[Volker Halle]

Marco,

thanks for your confirmation for OpenVMS I64 V8.3.

SYSINIT (linked 21-MAR-2007) comes from VMS83I_MOUNT96-V0100, which is included in VMS83I_UPDATE-V0400 (or higher).

Volker.

[Peter Capriccio]

FWIW, after installing VMS82I_SYS-V0500, I too am no longer prompted for the date/time as Richard Whalen previously indicated was his experience.

As stated in my Feb 10, 2010 post above, I had already installed VMS82I_UPDATE-V0600 to fix the date/time prompt problem in 2009, but the roll to 2010 seemed to break this. Prior to installing VMS82I_SYS-V0500, I rebooted just to make sure the "fix" wasn't related to the roll to 2011, and I was prompted to enter the date/time. After installing VMS82I_SYS-V0500, I tried a reboot and a shutdown/power-cycle and neither instance prompted me for the date/time during boot.

I don't see SYSINIT mentioned in the release notes or listed in either kit. Whatever it is that is causing the issue, I'm just glad there is an apparent "fix".