Power6 Mid-Range Firmware

12/01/10

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER:  On systems using the HEA (host Ethernet adapter) function, and on which a CEC concurrent maintenance operation that requires a node evacuation is being done, this fix corrects an issue that has the potential to corrupt information stored in the system memory, which may cause undetected data errors.  This issue was discovered during internal IBM testing, and while it has not been reported on any customer systems, IBM strongly recommends that this fix be applied to all model MMA systems that are running AIX partitions.
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC to show a status of "Incomplete" for the managed system, and numerous service processor dumps to be generated.
• A problem was fixed that caused the hardware called out for SRC B1xxF201 to be incorrect.
• The firmware was enhanced to log SRC B181D30B as informational instead of predictive.
• The firmware was enhanced to list the attached devices when viewing the adapter information for a partition profile on the HMC GUI.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused the HMC2 port on the advanced system management interface (ASMI) to erroneously default to static IP addressing instead of dynamic.
  

• HIPER for 8234-EMA and 9117-MMA systems:  On 8234-EMA (Power 560 Express) and 9117-MMA (Power 570) systems,  the firmware has been enhanced to improve reporting of power supply fan problems, which reduces the potential of a unplanned system outage.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the timed-power-on function from turning the system back on if the service processor's clock was adjusted to an earlier time.  This problem could occur during the fall when clocks are set back when daylight savings time ends, for example.
• On 9117-MMA (Power 570) systems with 3 or 4 processor drawers, this service pack also fixes a problem that prevented the power supply fan speed in these drawers from adjusting to changes in the ambient temperature.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition to fail to reboot, or fail to boot if it had been shut down once since the platform was booted, with SRC B2001230 and word 3 = 000000BF.  This failure can be seen on a partition that owns a PCI, PCI-E, or PCI-X slot.
  

05/19/10

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• DEFERRED, HIPER: A problem was fixed that caused SRC B113E504 with word 8 of the SRC = 074B001F or, 0197001F on 8234-EMA systems with processor F/C 7537, and 9406-MMA and 9117-MMA systems with processor F/Cs 7387, 7388 and 7540.
• DEFERRED:   This fix corrects the handling of a specific processor instruction sequence that has the potential to result in undetected data errors.  This specific instruction sequence has only been observed in a small number of highly tuned floating point-intensive applications.  However, it is strongly recommended that this fix be applied to all POWER6 systems.  This fix has the potential to decrease system performance on applications that make extensive use of floating point divide, square root, or estimate instructions.
• A problem was fixed that prevented an SRC from being recorded in the service processor dump produced by a host-initiated reset.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to become unresponsive and appear to hang  when page migration occurred on a PCIe slot.
• The firmware was enhanced to dynamically update the IPL speed on the control (operator) panel when the IPL speed is changed by another method.

• A problem was fixed that caused a virtual SCSI or virtual fibre channel adapter to be seen by the operating system as not bootable when it was added to a partition using a dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operation.
• In partitions running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that caused the addition of an I/O slot to a partition using a dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) add operation to fail.
• On systems running redundant VIOS partitions, a problem was fixed that prevented Ethernet traffic from being properly bridged between the two partitions.  This problem also prevented shared Ethernet adapter failover from working correctly.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B7000103 when a concurrent maintenance operation was performed on an I/O slot directly from a partition (using AIX SMIT or IBM i HST).
• A problem was fixed that caused a system or partition running Linux to crash when the "serv_config -l" command was run.
• On systems running active memory sharing (AMS), the firmware was enhanced so that error messages indicating "out of compliance" issues with the memory (HMC SRC HSCL031F) will not be generated if the user allocates more memory than is installed in the system.  (Allocating more memory than is installed in the system is supported in active memory sharing.)
• A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to loop unnecessarily and consume too many processor cycles.  This impacted the performance of the system.
  

• A problem was fixed that caused the concurrent addition of a node to fail with SRC B181A422.
• A problem was fixed that caused unpredictable system behavior if a capacity on demand (CoD) or a virtualization engine technology (VET) activation code was entered and accepted after a node 0 evacuation was done.  The unpredictable machine behavior might also have occurred, if a node 0 evacuation failed, a system dump was taken, and a memory-preserving IPL was then initiated.
• A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent maintenance operation after a node evacuation to fail.  When this problem occurred, the system erroneously states that a platform memory dump is pending.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a concurrent maintenance operation from completing successfully.
• On systems with F/C 5802 or F/C 5877 I/O drawers attached and a boot device in the drawer, a problem was fixed that prevented a partition from booting after the concurrent repair of the GX adapter that connects the 5802 or 5877 drawer to the system, or to the node that contains the GX adapter.
  

02/02/10

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• A problem was fixed that prevented an automatic reboot after some types of memory-related crashes.
• A problem was fixed that prevented function 30 on the physical control (operator) panel from the displaying all of the IP address information for the sibling service processor.
• The firmware was enhanced such that SRCs B181F126, B181F127, and B181F129 are correctly handled, and no longer cause unnecessary calls home to be made.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang with SRCs B182953C, B182954C, and B17BE434 being logged.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC 10009135, followed by 10009139, to be erroneously logged.  These SRCs indicate a system power control network (SPCN) loop is being broken, then re-established.

• On systems with four drawers, a problem was fixed that caused the service processor to perform a reset/reload, which caused a concurrent maintenance operation to fail, on the fourth drawer.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a newly-installed service processor from becoming the primary service processor after a concurrent maintenance repair operation on the first or second drawer.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7005603 to be erroneously logged during any type of concurrent maintenance operation on an enclosure.

09/23/09

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• DEFERRED:  The firmware was enhanced to eliminate correctable errors (CEs) being erroneously logged against the memory bus with SRC B124E504.  This change affects only 9117-MMA systems equipped with 4.2GHz quad core processor cards (FC 7540) and all 8234-EMA systems.  This change is not critical.
• The firmware was enhanced such that SRC B181F126 is correctly managed, and no longer calls home  unnecessarily for this problem.

08/20/09

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• DEFERRED:  This fix corrects the handling of a specific processor instruction sequence that was generated on a particular heavily-tuned High Performance Computing (HPC) application. This specific instruction sequence has the potential to produce an incorrect result. This instruction sequence has only been observed in a single HPC application.  However, it is strongly recommended that you apply this fix. 

• HIPER:  for systems with F/C 5802 or 5877 drawers attached:  A problem was fixed that prevented node concurrent maintenance operations on systems with F/C 5802 or 5877 drawers attached to them.
• On systems with F/C 5802 or 5877 drawers attached, a problem was fixed that prevented an I/O slot's power LED from accurately reflecting the state of the I/O slot in a 5802 or 5877 drawer, under certain circumstances.
• On systems running system firmware EM340_075 and Active Memory Sharing, a problem was fixed that might have caused a partition to fail to boot with SRC B700F103 if the partition had more than 24 virtual processors assigned to it.
• On systems running system firmware EM340_075 and Active Memory Sharing, a problem was fixed that might have caused a partition to lose I/O entitlement after the partition was moved from one system to another using PowerVM Mobility.
• On systems running system firmware release EM340, a problem was fixed that might have caused the I/O performance to be degraded if a node evacuation operation was performed (as part of a concurrent maintenance operation to fix a failing I/O adapter or drawer) after the repair was complete.
• On systems with external I/O towers attached, the firmware was enhanced so that the system will not crash when SRC B7006981 is logged for certain types of I/O hardware failures. 

• On model MMA systems, the firmware was enhanced such that an invalid enclosure serial number will not cause the node evacuation phase of a concurrent maintenance operation to fail.  A small number of model MMA enclosures may have an invalid serial number (such as "DQ1234 " or "DQ1234#) due to the I/O backplane having been replaced in a previous maintenance operation.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused the performance of an I/O loop (attached to a 12X I/O adapter) to be degraded if a B7006982, B7006984, B7006985, B70069F2, B70069F3, or B70069F4 SRC is logged after a concurrent maintenance operation on that loop.
• A problem was fixed that caused concurrent maintenance operations on memory DIMMs to fail if the replacement DIMMs were functionally equivalent to the original DIMMs, but did not have the same CCIN (customer card identification number).
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1xxB889 SRCs to be erroneously logged during a node evacuation operation.  (Node evacuation is one step in a concurrent maintenance operation on a node.)
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash during a hot node or GX adapter repair with certain hardware configurations.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash during a hot node repair or upgrade.

05/26/09

New features and functions:

- DEFERRED: Support for F/C 5802 (19" I/O drawer) and 5803 (24" I/O drawer).

Attention: After this level of firmware is installed, the platform must be powered off, then powered on, before the 5802 or 5803 I/O drawer is added to the system.

- DEFERRED: Support for POWER VM Active Memory Sharing.

Attention: After this level of firmware is installed, the platform must be powered off, then powered on to activate the POWER VM Active Memory Sharing function

Attention: If EM340_075 has been installed, and the new POWER VM Active Memory Sharing function has been activated, and you want to back-level the system firmware, the active memory sharing pool must be deactivated and deleted prior to back-leveling the system firmware. IBM does not recommend back-leveling the system firmware.

System firmware changes that affect all systems:

• A problem was fixed that caused the detailed data at the end of an "early power off warning type 5" AIX error log entry to be filled with invalid data instead of zeros.
• A problem was fixed that prevented all of the necessary files from being synchronized between the primary and the secondary service processors. One possible symptom of this problem was the time-of-day clocks being out of synch after a service processor failover.
• The firmware was enhanced to include processor card #1 in the list of field replaceable units (FRUs) that are called out if an I2C bus error occurs when accessing the processor backplane's vital product data (VPD).
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1818601 to be logged, and a service processor dump to be generated, at runtime.
• A problem was fixed that caused the number of empty GX adapter slots displayed by the advanced system management interface (ASMI) to be incorrect.
• A problem was fixed that caused the amber identify LED, instead of the green power-on LED, to be lit on the first drawer of a model MMA (Power 570) system.
• The firmware was enhanced so that if the secondary service processor remains hung after the primary service processor successfully boots, a predictive error will be logged, and a call home will be made.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor diagnostics to report a "TOD (time-of-day) overflow" error, instead of an uncorrectable memory error, when failures occurred on memory DIMMs.
• The firmware was enhanced such that if an attempt is made to enable redundancy when the system is booting, the error log entry that is made will be informational instead of predictive.
• The firmware was enhanced so that a call home will be made if the hypervisor issues a "terminate immediate" interrupt.
• The firmware was enhanced so that the service processor only logs SRC B1A38B24 when a valid network setup error is found. The callouts for this SRC were also improved.
• The firmware was enhanced so that SRCs B181720D, B1818A13, and B1818A0F, and occasionally a service processor dump, will not be generated when the service processor's two Ethernet interfaces are on the same subnet. (This is an invalid configuration.)
• A problem was fixed that caused a system with I/O drawers attached to crash, and a SYSDUMP to be taken, with SRCs B7000103 and SRC B181D138 being logged.  Another symptom of this failure is informational SRC B7006970 entries constantly posting in the iqyylog.log.

• In systems using InfiniBand switches for processor clustering, a problem was fixed that caused packets to be dropped under certain circumstances.
• A problem was fixed that caused the migration of a partition with more than 900 virtual slots defined, from a system running firmware EM320 to a system running firmware EM340, to fail.
• On systems running firmware release EM340, a problem was fixed that caused data in the platform dump to be invalid.
• On systems with external drawers or towers, a problem was fixed that caused SRC xxxx6981, xxxx6982, or xxxx6985 to be logged. When this problem occurred, some I/O slots might also be missing from the resource lists. 
• On systems using on/off (temporary) memory capacity on demand (COD), the firmware was enhanced to improve memory COD's interaction with other tools (such as Inventory Scout in AIX), and to make the billing process easier.
• On systems with two hardware management consoles (HMCs), the firmware was enhanced so that the system will not restart and generate a service processor dump when the two HMCs are in the same subnet. (This is an invalid configuration.)

• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused SRC B150A422 to be erroneously logged, and the advanced system management interface (ASMI) to erroneously show deconfigured processor cores, if system firmware was installed while a node was deactivated due a concurrent maintenance operation.
• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused SRC B181B171 to be logged, and the system to crash, during a concurrent node repair or concurrent GX adapter repair.
• A problem was fixed that might cause a concurrent node repair, a concurrent I/O expansion unit repair, a concurrent PCI slot repair, or a DLPAR removal or moving of I/O slots to fail if the I/O hardware involved is in a failed state. 
• A problem was fixed that caused a hot node repair operation to fail if 16GB huge pages were configured on the system.
• A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent node add or repair operation to fail if the operation immediately followed an upgrade of system firmware from EM330_xxx to EM340_039, then a concurrent installation of EM340_061.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition reboot to hang at AIX progress code 0581, after the concurrent replacement of the I/O backplane in a model MMA drawer, when the partition owned resources in the drawer that was repaired.

04/20/09

System firmware changes that affect all systems:

• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed that caused the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus to become unresponsive, and the system to appear to hang, when a GX adapter slot reservation was attempted when the system was at service processor standby.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor diagnostics to report a "TOD (time-of-day) overflow" error, instead of an uncorrectable memory error, when failures occurred on memory DIMMs.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the service processor from automatically booting from the permanent (or P) side if the temporary (or T) side of the firmware flash was corrupted. When the problem occurred, the service processor stopped instead of booting from the P side.
• A problem was fixed that might have caused the system to crash when a processor was dynamically removed when the system was running. If the system is running the EM340 release of system firmware, this problem can also occur during a concurrent maintenance operation.
• The firmware was enhanced such that data corruption in the Anchor (VPD) will be corrected by the firmware, rather than having to have the Anchor card replaced.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the system from powering on after the "reset to factory settings" option was selected in the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus.
• The firmware was enhanced to improve the service processor's capability to recover from bad bits in the flash memory. A predictive error, or an unrecoverable error, will be logged against the card that contains the system firmware if the number of correctable or uncorrectable errors exceeds the threshold.
• A problem was fixed that caused non-terminating SRCs (such as B1818A1E) that indicate registry read errors to be logged during a disruptive installation of system firmware.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to crash on the target system.
• On systems running the EM340 release of system firmware, a problem was fixed that caused an abort code to be logged in the virtual input/output system (VIOS) error log on the source system after a successful partition migration.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition being migrated to become unresponsive on the target system when firmware-assisted dump was enabled.
• The firmware was enhanced so that SRC BA210012 will not generate a call home when logged.
• The callouts for SRC B181E6ED, which is logged when a system is booted with service processor redundancy disabled, were improved to indicate that redundancy was disabled rather than calling out a firmware failure.
• A problem was fixed that caused hardware to be deconfigured when the system encountered network errors, even though the SRCs were being logged as informational.
• A problem was fixed that prevented all of the necessary files from being synchronized between the primary and secondary service processors. One possible symptom of this problem was the time-of-day clocks being out of synch after a service processor failover.

• On systems with external I/O drawers, a problem was fixed that could cause the system to hang on checkpoint C700406E during a "warm" reboot (a reboot in which the processor drawer is power-cycled but the I/O drawers are not).
• On systems running system firmware release EM340 and IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that caused message CPF9E7F, CPF9E2D or CPF9E5E (which indicates a licensing key problem) to be received by the IBM i partitions when the number of physical processors was greater than the number of IBM i licenses.
• On systems with virtual fiber channel disks, a problem was fixed that prevented the system management services (SMS) from displaying the virtual fiber channel disks if the virtual fiber channel server reported that any of them were reserved. 

• DEFERRED: On systems running system firmware release EM340, a problem was fixed that caused the system to checkstop during the "hot add" of a GX I/O adapter card.
• A problem was fixed that caused the fans in a drawer that was added in a "hot drawer add" operation to run at high speed.
• A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent maintenance operation to be halted with SRC B181A433 being logged.
• A problem was fixed that caused concurrent maintenance operations, if attempted immediately after a disruptive firmware installation, to be disabled.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B150D15E to be erroneously logged during a concurrent drawer addition or concurrent memory upgrade.
• A problem was fixed that caused concurrent maintenance operations, if attempted immediately after a concurrent firmware installation, to be disabled.
• A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent node add to fail after a disruptive firmware installation with SRC B181A422 being logged.
• A problem was fixed that prevented a concurrent add or repair of a GX adapter from being re-attempted if a reset/reload of the primary service processor occurred during the GX add part of the initial procedure.

12/09/08

System firmware changes that affect certain systems:

• On model 9117-MMA systems with F/C 7540 (POWER6, 64-bit, 4.2 GHz, four core processor) installed, and all model 8234-EMA systems, a problem was fixed that caused a processor to checkstop after a reset/reload of the service processor. SRC B181D15F, B181E911 and/or B150B145 may be logged, and service processor dumps may be present, when this problem occurs.

11/21/08

New Features and Functions:

• Support for the model 8234-EMA.
• Support for the 8GB fiber channel adapter, F/C 5735.
• Support for a virtual tape device.
• Support for USB flash memory storage devices.
• Support in the service processor firmware for IPv6.
• Support in the hypervisor for three types of hardware performance monitors.
• Support for installing AIX and Linux using the integrated virtualization manager (IVM).
• On systems running AIX, support was added for an enhanced power and thermal management capability. When static power save mode is selected, AIX will "fold" processors to free processors which can then be put in the "nap" state.
• Support for CIM (common information model) power instrumentation in the service processor firmware.
• Support for enhanced power management, including dynamic voltage and frequency slewing.
• Support for processor cards with two dual-core module (DCM) processors; the maximum configuration of the model MMA with these processor cards is 32 processors.
• On systems that have temperature and power management device (TPMD) hardware, support was added for a "soft" power cap.
• Support for concurrent processor node addition, as well as hot and cold node repair. 

• A problem was fixed that prevented the default partition environment in the advanced system management interface (ASMI) power on/off menu from being set to "i5/OS" when it was blank.
• The firmware was enhanced so that SRC B1xx3409, which indicates an invalid state change (such as pushing the power on button twice quickly) will be logged as informational instead of predictive, and will not call home.
• A problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump to be taken and SRC B181EF88 to be logged, even though the operation of the system was not affected.
• A problem was fixed that, under certain rare circumstances, caused SRC B181E411 to be logged, a call home to be made, and a service processor dump to be taken.
• The firmware was enhanced so that SRC B1812224, which indicates that the user attempted to enable redundancy when the managed system was booting, will be logged as informational instead of predictive.
• A problem was fixed that prevented error log entries on the secondary service processor from generating a serviceable event on the hardware management console (HMC).
• A problem was fixed that prevented some of the service processor error log entries from being see when the advanced system management interface (ASMI) menus were accessed on a TTY terminal.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to crash and a SYSDUMP to be taken, with SRCs B170E540, B181D138, or B700F105, with a bad PCI-E adapter installed and in use, or while running a heavy network load.

• On systems with the integrated x-series adapter (IXA), a problem was fixed that prevented the creation of a system plan on the HMC.
• On model MMA systems shipped before mid-May 2008, a problem was fixed the prevented RB keyword0 from being set in the advanced system management interface (ASMI) system keywords menu.
• On systems with multiple host channel adapter (HCA) cards, a problem was fixed that logical ports on the HCA cards to be intermittently inactive.
• In networks using a time server, a problem was fixed that caused the date on a client system to be reset to 1969 if the client system lost power.