Standalone Diagnostic Operation - IBM pSeries 690 Service Manual

Standalone Diagnostic Operation

Use standalone diagnostics to test the system when the online diagnostics are not installed and as a
method of testing the disk drives that cannot be tested by the online diagnostics.
Note: No error log analysis is done by the standalone diagnostics. The CD-ROM drive and the SCSI
controller that controls it cannot be tested by the standalone diagnostics. Standalone diagnostics:
v Are resident on CD-ROM or a Network Installation Management (NIM) server
v Provide a method to test the system when the online diagnostics are not installed or cannot be
loaded from the disk drive
v Allow testing of the disk drives and other resources that cannot be tested by the online
diagnostics
v Do not have access to the AIX configuration data
v Do not have access to the AIX error log
v Do not allow for running of error log analysis
Considerations for Running Standalone Diagnostics on a Partitioned
System
To run standalone diagnostics on a full system partition, you must reboot the entire system. However, for a
partition in a partitioned system, you can boot standalone diagnostics either in a given partition or on the
entire system (which is the same procedure as a full system partition). For a partitioned system, before
running standalone diagnostics on a given partition, the user must move the device from the existing
location where standalone diagnostics is booted (the CD-ROM drive or the network adapter connected to
the NIM server, in the case of NIM boot of standalone diagnostics), to the partition that will run standalone
diagnostics. Devices on a partitioned system are moved on an I/O-slot basis.
If the CD-ROM drive is moved from one partition to another, all SCSI devices on the same SCSI adapter
card which the CD-ROM drive is attached must be moved to the same partition. It is recommended that
you attach few SCSI devices to the same SCSI controller card to prevent moving them, along with the
CD-ROM drive, between partitions. For partitions running AIX levels earlier than AIX 5.2, a reboot is
required on the partition containing this device and on the moved device, but the system itself is not
powered off in order to boot standalone diagnostics in a logical partitioned system partition.
Considerations for Running Standalone Diagnostics from CD-ROM
Consider the following when you run standalone diagnostics:
v The diagnostic CD must remain in the CD-ROM drive for the entire time that diagnostics are running.
v The diagnostic CD cannot be ejected from the CD-ROM drive after the diagnostics have loaded. The
CD can only be ejected after the system has been turned off and then turned on (standalone mode) or
after the diagnostics program has terminated (online concurrent mode).
v The CD-ROM drive from which diagnostics were loaded cannot be tested.
v The SCSI adapter (or circuitry) controlling the CD-ROM drive from which diagnostics were loaded
cannot be tested.
Loading the Standalone Diagnostics from CD-ROM Using an HMC
To run standalone diagnostics in service mode from CD-ROM, do the following:
1. Verify with the system administrator and users that all programs may be stopped, including the AIX
operating system (get help if needed). Stop all programs.
2. Remove all tapes, diskettes, and CD-ROMs.
3. From the following list, select the type of partitioned system you are running the standalone
diagnostics in, then follow the power or reboot instructions.
778 Eserver pSeries 690 Service Guide