Power7 Entry Systems Firmware

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER:  IBM testing has uncovered a potential undetected data corruption issue.  The problem can occur in rare instances due to an issue in the firmware and is most likely to impact hypervisor data.  This issue was discovered during internal IBM testing, and has not been reported on any customer system.  However, IBM recommends that  customers running on POWER7 systems with Ax720_090 and earlier firmware move to Ax720_101.  POWER7 systems running with Ax710 firmware do not have an exposure to this issue, so no action is recommended.
  
• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to delay dispatching a partition even though it was ready to run, which added latency (delays) that adversely affected performance.  This problem can affect POWER7 systems running any level of Ax720 firmware prior to Ax720_101.
• A problem was fixed that caused certain service processor error log entries with a severity of "predictive", and a failing subsystem of "service processor firmware", to be erroneously converted to "informational".
• A problem was fixed that caused three B181951C SRCs to be erroneously logged, and the system IPL time to increase by as much as an hour.  This problem is more likely to occur on systems with firmware level AL720_082 or AL720_090, AM720_084 or AM720_090, or AH720_082 or AH720_090 installed.
• A problem was fixed that caused the EnergyScale firmware to erroneously go into safe mode when processor 0 was guarded out.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1812A61 to be erroneously logged.
• A problem was fixed that prevented the setting of the boot diagnostic level in the power on/off menu (in the Advanced System Management
  Interface (ASMI)) from being shown correctly after it was changed.
  
• A problem was fixed that prevented a system dump from being off-loaded from the service processor.  When this occurred, additional dumps were not allowed.
  
• The firmware was enhanced so that a message is displayed if setting the brand keyword in the ASMI menu (System Configuration -> Program Vital Product Data -> System brand) fails because the service processor is not in the correct state.
• The firmware was enhanced such that a call home is not made when an error logged by the system controller, node controller, or service processor is informational, or recovered, and the reset/reload bit is set.
• A problem was fixed that caused multiple DR_DMA_MIGRATE_FAIL entries in the AIX error log.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B7000803 to be erroneously logged multiple times.
• A problem was fixed that prevented processor resources from being moved to another partition by a DLPAR (dynamic LPAR) operation.
• A problem was fixed that prevented partitions from booting.
• A problem was fixed that caused the field replaceable unit (FRU) callouts to be incorrect if a memory DIMM was missing from a memory card.
• A problem was fixed that caused VIOS partitions to fail to boot.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition suspend operation to hang.  When this problem occurred, all subsequent suspend operations were locked out as well.
• A problem was fixed that could cause the target partition to crash after a successful P6 to P7 partition migration.  Possible AIX error log entries include:  label: DSI_PROC, resource:  SYSVMM, with description: "DATA STORAGE INTERRUPT, PROCESSOR".  Other partition-related crash descriptors may also be logged.
• A problem was fixed that could cause AIX error log entries following a successful partition migration.  Possible AIX error log entries include: label: RTAS_ERROR, resource: sysplanar0, with description: "INTERNAL ERROR CODE".  Other errors may also be logged.
• A problem was fixed that caused the installation of some versions of Linux to fail.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• On systems with two HMCs attached, a problem was fixed that caused one of the HMCs to frequently go to an incomplete state.
• On systems running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that caused a RAID array of SCSI disks to be exposed if an MES upgrade was done, or a system plan was created.
• On systems running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that caused SRC BA040030 to be erroneously logged, and a call home to be made, even though the partition booted successfully.
• On systems using the host Ethernet adapter (HEA) function, a problem was fixed that caused the HMC to erroneously report that deleting a logical port had failed.
• On partitions running Advanced Memory Sharing (AMS), a problem was fixed that prevented shutdown of a partition when all paging VIOS's servicing the partition were hung and unable to complete outstanding I/O operations.
• On systems running Advanced Memory Sharing (AMS), a problem was fixed that caused an AMS partition to crash with SRC B700F103.  This problem may occur when reducing the size of the AMS pool (or doing a hot node repair on a model MMB or MHB) at the same time as dynamically creating an AMS partition, or changing an AMS partition's maximum memory.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused AIX licensing issues when migrating a partition from a POWER6 to a POWER7 system.
• On systems with a F/C 5802 or 5877 I/O expansion drawer, a problem was fixed that caused SRC 10003144 or 10003154 to be erroneously logged when a repair was done on the I/O drawer.
• On systems with a F/C 5802 or 5877 I/O expansion drawer, a problem was fixed that caused the lamp test on the HMC to turn off all of the LEDs when the test was complete instead of returning them to their original states.
  
• On systems that are not managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused the service processor to hang intermittently, with progress code C1122000 displayed, if the service processor was reset, then the system was powered on using the TTY (serial port) version of the ASMI menus.
• On systems managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused attention indicator on the HMC to stay on when the managed system was booted, even though the enclosure indicators had been turned off.
• On stand-alone systems running AIX or Linux, and on systems managed by IVM (Integrated Virtualization Manager), a problem was fixed that prevented platform dumps from being off-loaded, or resulted in corrupted or incomplete platform dumps.
  
• On systems managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused the HMC component interval activity report to always show 100% uncapped CPU available.
• On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems with F/C 5685 (PCIe expansion bridge) installed, a problem was fixed that erroneously caused an adapter plugged in to the expansion bridge to fail when certain types of recoverable errors were seen by the I/O bridge chip that controlled the I/O slot.
• On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems with F/C 5685 (PCIe expansion bridge) installed, and running performance monitoring tools in IBM i, a problem was fixed that caused the bandwidth to be incorrect in the P7IOC Performance Counter data.
  
• On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems with F/C 5685 (PCIe expansion bridge) installed, a problem was fixed that caused an I/O adapter plugged into the expansion bridge to erroneously enter a freeze state when an informational error was logged.
• On systems that are not managed by an HMC, and on which a service authority partition has been designated, a problem was fixed that prevented a service processor- or hypervisor-initiated dump (service processor dump, system dump, platform resources dump, etc.) from being off-loaded to the service partition.  The problem was triggered when multiple large error, or informational, logs (greater than 2KB in size) were queued on the service processor at the time a dump was generated.
• On systems on which a NIM installation is being set up using the system management services (SMS) menus, the firmware was changed to limit the packet size options to 512 and 1024 bytes.
• On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems with F/C 5631 (the split DASD enablement card) installed, a problem was fixed that caused the location code of the card to be incorrect.
  

• HIPER: IBM testing has uncovered a potential undetected data corruption issue when a mobility operation is performed on an AMS (Active Memory Sharing) partition.  The data corruption can occur in rare instances due to a problem in IBM firmware.  This issue was discovered during internal IBM testing, and has not been reported on any customer system.
  
• On 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems, the firmware was enhanced to increase the lowest fan speed at which the system fans run.  This reduces the number of 1007620 SRCs that are erroneously logged.
• On systems with a F/C 5802 or 5877 I/O drawer attached, a problem was fixed that caused a partition to crash during a page migration operation.
  

New Features and Functions

• Support for partition suspend/resume.  AIX 61 TL6 SP3 or later, or AIX 71 TL0 SP2 or later, is required for partition suspend/resume.
  
• Support for 2 GB DIMMs (F/C 4525) on 8231-E2B systems.
• Support for the PCIe G2 expansion feature (F/C 5685) on 8202-E4B and 8205-E6B systems.
• Support for a new "field core override" option on the ASMI (advanced system management interface).  This option provides the capability to increase or decrease the number of active processor cores in the system.
  
• Support for a new "acoustic mode" option on the ASMI (advanced system management interface).  The default is enabled; it must be disabled if solid state disk (SSD) drive F/C 1890 or 1909  is installed in the system.  Disabling this option increases the fan speeds to provide additional cooling to the SSD drives.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER:  A problem was fixed that caused repeated reset/reloads of the service processor to occur after a hypervisor-initiated reset/reload of the service processor was completed.  That led to loss of communication between the service processor and the hypervisor (indicated by SRC B182951C).
• The firmware was enhanced to allow the concurrent replacement of the control (operator) panel using the ASMI (advanced system management interface).
• A problem was fixed that caused disks that were not bootable to be displayed in the system management services boot menus.  This problem also prevented the operating system level from being displayed for bootable hard disks in the system management services boot menus.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused an error log indicating a dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) error when no DLPAR operations were done, and unrecoverable SRCs BA180010 and BA250010 to be erroneously logged, when a recoverable enhanced error handling (EEH) error was logged on an I/O adapter.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1561111 to be erroneously logged, and the control (operator) panel to erroneously deactivated, if there is no activity on the control panel for several weeks.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to hang at C700406E during boot.
• A problem was fixed that caused the platform to become unresponsive; this was indicated by an "incomplete" state on the HMC.  When this problem occurred, the partitions on the managed system became unresponsive.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• 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.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system ID to change, which caused software licensing problems, when a live partition mobility operation was done where the target system was an 8203-E4A or an 8204-E8A.
  
• PARTITION-DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed that caused SRC BA210000 to be erroneously logged on the target system when a partition was moved (using Live Partition Mobility) from a Power7 system to a Power6 system.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC BA280000 to be erroneously logged on the target system when a partition was moved (using Live Partition Mobility) from a Power7 system to a Power6 system.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition to hang following a partition migration operation (using Live Partition Mobility) from a system running Ax720 system firmware to a system running Ex340, or older, system firmware.
• A problem was fixed that caused a system or partition running Linux to crash when the "serv_config -l" command was run.
• On systems managed by an HMC, a problem was fixed that caused the managed system to go to the incomplete state on the HMC.
• On systems using the HEA broadcast/multicast application to send and receive millions of packets, such as video streaming, the packet storm mitigation algorithm was enhanced so that a packet will only be dropped when a packet storm is detected.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition to fail to reboot 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.
  
• On systems with a F/C 5802 or 5877 I/O drawer attached, and a PCI-E adapter in the CEC, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash during a page migration operation with SRC B700F103.
• On systems managed by the IVM (integrated virtualization manager), a problem was fixed that caused the minimum memory for the IVM partition to drop below 512 MB.  This caused the IVM to erroneously indicate that the partition memory was not synchronized, even after the partition was rebooted.  This problem might also cause the minimum memory for other partitions to be lowered unexpectedly.