Fabric Replacement May Need A Firmware Upgrade - Nortel Passport 15000 Hardware Description

106 Chapter 3 Shelf assembly
Fabric replacement may need a firmware upgrade
241-1501-200 5.2S2
Before removing a fabric, ensure that the cooling unit of the switch is
operating with all three fans at normal speeds. If at least one fan is not
operating at normal speed, see 241-1501-240 Passport 15000, 20000
Hardware Installation, Maintenance and Upgrade.
A fabric card stores fixed firmware from the factory, and can be loaded with
additional firmware after being seated into an operating Passport 15000 or
20000. Once the writable memory bank is loaded, for example, with version
9.3, it automatically becomes active and controls the operation of the fabric
card. For information on installing new firmware on the fabric card, see
241-5701-272 Passport 7400, 15000, 20000 Software Upgrade.
An upgrade to fabric card firmware occurs independently of software
upgrades to the function processors (FPs) and control processors (CPs). All
Passport software is compatible with all fabric card firmware. Some versions
of fabric firmware can include enhanced or new functionality to increase
efficiency. For example, the software package called fabric_CB02A is used
by PCR 2.2 GA software and contains the fabric firmware. The B refers to the
2 in PCR 2.x, the 02 refers to the .2 in PCR 2.2, and the A refers to GA.
CB02S1A would refer to the first software supplement for PCR 2.2 GA
software. Both fabric_CB02A and fabric_CB02S1A use the same firmware.
When inserting a version of a fabric with a product engineering code (PEC)
that is different than the fabric being replaced, the replacement may require a
different firmware load to be downloaded from the software distribution site
(SDS). When a new fabric is installed, the system software prompts the
operator to upgrade the firmware to a specific version if that version is not
already running. Information about fabric firmware is described in
241-5701-600 Passport 7400, 15000, 20000 Configuration Guide. The work
flow for installing new fabric card firmware is identified in 241-5701-272
Passport 7400, 15000, 20000 Software Upgrade.