Before You Apply Power For The First Time After Shipping; Verify That The Components Are Securely Installed; Clear Cmos Memory - IBM System x3850 X5 Implementation Manual

6.1 Before you apply power for the first time after shipping

Before you begin populating your server with all of its processors, memory, and PCI adapters
and before you install an operating system, perform the recommendations described in the
following sections.

6.1.1 Verify that the components are securely installed

Perform the following tasks to ensure that all of the electrical components of your server have
proper connectivity:
Inspect heat sinks to ensure that they are secure.
Verify that dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) are mounted in the correct locations and
are fully plugged in with their retain clips in the closed position and the memory cards are
in the correct location.
Inspect PCIe adapters to ensure that they are securely plugged into their slots. The blue
retaining clips for the PCIe adapter can come loose during shipping.
Check all of the cable connections on the hard drive backplane and all internal disk
controllers to ensure that they are properly snapped into place. If a cable can be
unplugged from its connector easily by tugging on the cable, plug it back in until it clicks or
clips into place.

6.1.2 Clear CMOS memory

When a server is shipped from one location to another location, you have no idea what the
server has been exposed to. For all you know, it might have been parked next to a large
magnet or electric motor and everything in the server that stores information magnetically,
including CMOS memory, has been altered. IBM does not indicate on the shipping carton that
magnetic material is enclosed because the information is readily recoverable.
Booting the server to the F1 system configuration panel and selecting Load Default Settings
restore the default values for the items that you can change in configuration. These steps do
not change the settings of the registers that are used by the Integrated Management Module
(IMM) and the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). These registers define the
system state of the server, and if they become corrupt, they can affect the server in the
following ways:
Fail to power on
Fail to complete the power-on self test (POST)
Turn on amber light path diagnostics lights that describe conditions that do not exist
Reboot unexpectedly
Fail to detect all of the installed CPU, memory, PCIe adapters, or physical disks
These internal registers cannot be modified or restored to the defaults by the F1 system
configuration panel; however, they can be restored to the defaults by clearing the CMOS
memory.
With ac power removed from the server, you can clear CMOS memory by following these
steps:
1. Remove the top cover of the server.
2. Locate the CMOS battery on the right side of the server, behind the disk fans, to the right
of processor 4. See Figure 6-1 on page 221.
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IBM eX5 Implementation Guide