Power6 High-End System Firmware

07/25/13

• A problem was fixed that caused the wrong MCM (processor module) to be called out for certain types of failures.
• A problem was fixed that caused the managed system to go to the incomplete state on the management console after a partition was deleted.
• A problem was fixed that caused an error log generated by the partition firmware to show conflicting firmware levels.  This problem occurs after a firmware update or a logical partition migration (LPM) operation on the system.
• The firmware was enhanced to display on the management console the correct number of concurrent live partition mobility (LPM) operations that is supported.
• A problem was fixed that caused the state of the Host Ethernet Adapter (HEA) port of be reported as down when the physical port is actually up.
• A problem was fixed that caused the partition target of a logical partition migration (LPM) to have its UTC time shifted forward from the actual time on the source partition.
• A problem was fixed that that caused a HMC code update failure for the FSP on the accept operation with SRC B1811402 or FSP is unable to boot on the updated side.
  

• On systems with I/O towers attached, a problem was fixed that caused multiple service processor reset/reloads if the tower was continuously sending invalid System Power Control Network (SPCN) status data.
  
• On a partition with a large number of potentially bootable devices, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to fail to boot with a default catch, and SRC BA210000 may also be logged.
• On systems running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that caused the operating system to halt when an InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter (HCA) adapter fails or malfunctions.
• On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) partitions, a timing problem was fixed that may occur if the system is undergoing AMS pool size changes.
• A problem was fixed that caused a migrated partition to reboot during transfer to a VIOS 2.2.2.0, and later, target system. A manual reboot would be required if transferred to a target system running an earlier VIOS release. Migration recovery may also be necessary.
  

• A problem was fixed that caused a concurrent hot add/repair maintenance operation to fail with SRC B181C350.
• On systems running multiple IBM i partitions that are configured to communicate with each other via virtual Opticonnect, concurrent hot add/repair maintenance operations may time-out.  When this problem occurs, a platform reboot may be required to recover.

01/09/13

• A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to be left in an inconsistent state after a partition create operation failed.
• A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to become unresponsive and the managed system to go the incomplete state on the management console.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor to fail to boot after a concurrent firmware update; this causes a system crash.
  

• A problem was fixed that prevented the HMC command "lshwres" from showing any I/O adapters if any adapter name contained the ampersand character in the VPD.
• The Power Hypervisor was enhanced to insure better synchronization of vSCSI and NPIV I/O interrupts to partitions.
• On systems running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that caused a partition to fail to boot with SRC CA260203.  This problem also can cause concurrent firmware updates to fail.
  

• A problem was fixed that caused the Hypervisor to become unresponsive during a concurrent maintenance operation.
  

07/27/12

• Support for live partition mobility between systems running Ex350 system firmware, and 8246-L2S systems.
  

• On systems booting from an NPIV (N-port ID virtualization) device, a problem was fixed that caused the boot to intermittently terminate with the message "PReP-BOOT: unable to load full PReP image.".  This problem occurs more frequently on the IBM V7000 Storage System running the SAN Volume Controller (SVC), but not on every boot.
• A problem was fixed that caused the system to checkstop (SRC B114E550) after logging an  unrecoverable error (SRC B70069F4) on an I/O hub.
• On systems on which Internet Explorer (IE) is used to access the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) on the Hardware Management Console (HMC), a problem was fixed that caused IE to hang for about 10 minutes after saving changes to network parameters on the ASMI.
• On systems running the AIX operating system, a problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to crash with SRC B7000103, after an HEA (Host Ethernet Adapter) error was logged, when there is a lot of AIX activity on the HEAs.
  

05/02/12

• The firmware was enhanced to log SRCs BA180030 and BA180031 as informational instead of predictive.
• A problem was fixed that caused uncorrectable SRC B1818A10 to be erroneously logged after a successful concurrent firmware installation.
• The firmware was enhanced to increase the threshold of soft NVRAM errors on the service processor to 32 before SRC B15xF109 is logged.  (Replacement of the service processor is recommended if more than one B15xF109 is logged per week.)
  

• HIPER/Pervasive:  On systems with PCI adapters in a feature code (F/C) F/C 5803 or 5873 I/O drawer assigned to a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), and on systems with the I/O adapters in a CEC drawer assigned to a VIOS, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B700F103.
• A problem was fixed that caused the hypervisor to hang during a concurrent operation on a F/C 5802, 5803, 5873 or 5877 I/O drawer.  Recovering from the hypervisor hang required a platform reboot.
  
• On system performing Live Partition Mobility (LPM), a problem was fixed that caused a partition to crash if the following sequence of operations is performed:
  
  1.  The partition is configured with, and is using, more than 1 dedicated processor.
  2.  The partition is migrated using LPM from a POWER6 to a POWER7 platform.
  3.  At any time following the migration from POWER6 to POWER7, one or more of the dedicated processors is removed from the partition using a Dynamic Logical Partitioning (DLPAR) operation.
  
   Once these 3 steps operations have been done, a partition crash is likely if either:
    - The partition is subsequently migrated to any other platform (POWER6 or POWER7) using LPM,  or
    - The partition is resumed from hibernation.
  
  
• A problem was fixed that caused the output of the AIX command "uname -m" to be incorrect on the POWER7 system after a successful Live Partition Migration (LPM) operation from a POWER6 to a POWER7 system.
• A problem was fixed that caused booting from a virtual fibre channel tape device to fail with SRC B2008105.
  

• A problem was fixed that caused unrecoverable SRCs B1813918 and B182953C during a CHARM operation.
  

11/09/11

• A problem was fixed that caused the system to terminate when rebooting after the power was removed, then reapplied.
• A problem was fixed that caused the message "IPL: 500 - Internal Server Error" to be displayed when the Hardware Management Console option was selected (which is under the System Information option) on the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI).
• On systems running more than 100 logical partitions, a problem was fixed that caused a concurrent firmware installation to fail.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused a system's partition dates to revert back to 1969 after the service processor or its battery was replaced.  This occurred regardless of whether or not the service processor's time-of-day (TOD) clock was correctly set during the service action. 
  
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition migration operation to abort when the partition has more than 4096 virtual slots.
• A problem was fixed that caused the message "500 - Internal Server Error." to be displayed when a setting was changed on the Advanced System Management Interface's (ASMI's) power on/off menu, when the change was attempted when the system was powering down.
• A problem was fixed that caused booting or installing a partition or system from a USB device to fail with error code BA210012.  This usually occurs when an operating system (OS) other than the OS that is already on the partition or system is being booted or installed.
• On the System Management Services (SMS) remote IPL (RIPL) menus, a problem was fixed that caused the SMS menu to continue to show that an Ethernet device is configured for iSCSI, even though the user has changed it to BOOTP.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused a firmware installation from the HMC with the "do not auto accept" option selected to fail.
• The field replaceable unit (FRU) call-out list for clock card failures was enhanced to reduce the number of parts replaced.
• A problem was fixed that caused the bulk power controller (BPC) to erroneously log SRCs B181843C and B181EF88, and a PWR dump to be generated.
  

• HIPER/Non-Pervasive:  On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) with a F/C 5803 or 5873 I/O drawer attached, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B170E540 after a warm boot or platform dump IPL.
• On systems running a virtual I/O (VIO) partition, or using a Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA), a problem was fixed that caused a severe performance degradation.
• On systems running IBM i partitions, a problem was fixed that caused changing the processor weight on an IBM i partition to 255 to have no effect.
• On system using the utility capacity on demand (COD) feature, a problem was fixed that prevented the hypervisor from correctly crediting the time used when the sequence number of the activation code reached certain values.
  
• On systems with an iSCSI network, a problem was fixed that caused the system to hang when booting from an iSCSI device in the system management services (SMS) menus.
• On systems with an iSCSI network, when booting a logical partition using that iSCSI network, a problem was fixed that caused the iSCSI gateway parameter displayed on the screen to be incorrect.  It did not impact iSCSI boot functionality.
• On systems using fibre channel adapters, the firmware was enhanced by the addition of a new option in the system management services (SMS) Mutliboot menu that facilitates zoning of physical and virtual fibre channel adapters.
• On systems with external I/O drawers, the firmware was enhanced such that SRCs 10001B02 and 1000911C place a call home.
• On systems with external InfiniBand or PCI-E drawers or towers, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B7000103 if the I/O hub adapter crashed at the same time an external drawer or tower was being initialized.
  

• On partitions running Red Hat Linux 6.1, a problem was fixed that caused a node evacuation operation to fail.
• HIPER/Non-Pervasive: On systems with a F/C 5803 or 5873 I/O drawer attached, a problem was fixed that caused the system to crash with SRC B170E540 after a warm boot or platform dump IPL.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused the host Ethernet adapters (HEA) to be in a non-functional state after a hot node add.