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Parity errors on the PCI bus itself will result in bus retry, and if uncorrected, the bus and any
I/O adapters or devices on that bus will be deconfigured.
The p5-550 supports PCI Extended Error Handling (EEH) if it is supported by the PCI-X
adapter. In the past, PCI bus parity errors caused a global machine check interrupt, which
eventually required a system reboot in order to continue. In the p5-550 system, hardware,
system firmware, and AIX interaction have been designed to allow transparent recovery of
intermittent PCI bus parity errors and graceful transition to the I/O device available state in the
case of a permanent parity error in the PCI bus.
EEH-enabled adapters respond to a special data packet generated from the affected PCI slot
hardware by calling system firmware, which will examine the affected bus, allow the device
driver to reset it, and continue without a system reboot.
Persistent deallocation functions include:
Processor
Memory
Deconfigure or bypass failing I/O adapters
Following a hardware error that has been flagged by the service processor, the subsequent
reboot of the system will invoke extended diagnostics. If a processor or L3 cache has been
marked for deconfiguration by persistent processor deallocation, the boot process will attempt
to proceed to completion with the faulty device automatically deconfigured. Failing I/O
adapters will be deconfigured or bypassed during the boot process.
Note: The auto-restart (reboot) option, when enabled, can reboot the system automatically
following an unrecoverable software error, software hang, hardware failure, or
environmentally induced failure (such as loss of power supply)
3.2.8 Serviceability
Increasing service productivity means the system is up and running for a longer time. p5-550
improves service productivity by providing the functions described in the following
subsections:
Error indication and LED indicators
The p5-550 is designed for customer setup of the machine and for the subsequent addition of
most hardware features. The p5-550 also allows customers to replace service parts
(Customer Replaceable Unit). To accomplish this, the p5-550 provides internal LED
diagnostics that will identify parts that require service. Attenuation of the error is provided
through a series of light attention signals, starting on the exterior of the system (System
Attention LED) located on the front of the system, and ending with an LED near the failing
Field Replaceable Unit.
For more information about Customer Replaceable Units, including videos, see:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/eserver
System Attention LED
The attention indicator is represented externally by an amber LED on the operator panel and
the back of the system unit. It is used to indicate that the system is in one of the following
states:
Normal state, LED is off.
Fault state, LED is on solid.
54
p5-550 Technical Overview and Introduction
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