Avaya Media Processing Server 1000 Hardware Installation And Maintenance page 185

General Troubleshooting guidelines for the NIC
Verify that the NIC image is available on a server, that the bootptab entry is correct, and that there
are no MAC or IP address conflicts. When a booting problem occurs, always fall back to a single
NIC by removing one of the two cards. This removal eliminates possible arbitration problems.
Because the NIC in slot 7 is biased to be the controlling or master NIC for a chassis, always start
troubleshooting with the NIC in slot 7.
Connect a console to the serial port for the NIC in slot 7, then verify the operation of the NIC in slot 7
by removing the NIC in slot 8. If a problem remains, then remove NIC Slot 7 and insert NIC slot 8.
Use the following logic to diagnose the problem:
If slot 7 is OK, then insert NIC in slot 8 If NIC in slot 8 fails then check backplane Else reboot both
cards If problem occurs then repeat reboot a number of times if problem is intermittent if problem
reoccurs check backplane Else resolve card-seating problem by reinserting cards
Test the backplane (if possible) by placing the NICs in question in another chassis that is a known
good chassis. If the problem persists, then the NICs are defective. To further verify a chassis
problem, replace the defective NIC hardware with a known good pair. If the problem exists on the
new hardware, then the backplane has a short or is open.
NIC Hardware Initialization Errors
A NIC hardware initialization error indicates that one or more hardware component on the NIC is
generating an error after the NIC is reset. Hardware initialization errors include a number of
components on the base NIC card as one of the daughter cards attached to the base NIC card.
Hardware control logic is involved in the master/slave arbitration on the NICs. A hardware fault in
this module can prevent the NIC from booting.
Depending upon its severity or type, a NIC hardware fault can affect a single NIC or all cards in the
chassis. If a fault occurs on either the Ethernet card or in the arbitration logic, the Ethernet
connectivity to each card can be corrupted and therefore preventing each from booting.
The following modules can be affected:
• FPGA
• Memory
• Card Initialization
- Ethernet
- ATM
• The NIC Hardware generates alarms due to the following conditions:
• fault in arbitration logic
• cards are not seated correctly
• incompatible hardware or software versions
• faulty hardware
Troubleshooting
1. Use the serial console output to isolate a configuration error from defective hardware. See
section on Diagnosing serial console.
2. Verify bootptab entries are correct for the NICs
October 2014 Avaya Media Processing Server 1000 Hardware Installation and Maintenance
Comments? infodev@avaya.com
NIC Diagnostics
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