Diagnosing Problems; Servicing Obvious Problems; Troubleshooting Less Obvious Problems; Diagnosing Ac/Dc Power Problems - Sun Microsystems Enterprise 3500 System Reference Manual

9.5

Diagnosing Problems

9.5.1

Servicing Obvious Problems

If the Service LED on the system front panel (or the clock+ board) indicates a
hardware failure, find the failing module by looking for a lit service LED on the
individual module.
The system contains a number of hot-pluggable modules. Under limited conditions,
these modules can be removed and replaced while the system continues running.
(For a general description of the hot-plug feature, see Section 3.3 "Hot-Plug
Feature.")
The hot-pluggable modules include these types: CPU/Memory+ board, SBus+ I/O
board, Graphics+ I/O board, PCI+ I/O board, and PCM.
Caution – The hot-plug feature requires a functional peripheral power supply/AC.
If the peripheral power supply cannot provide current, the hot-pluggable module
will be damaged if you attempt to remove or replace it.
If a module fails and there are redundant resources in the system, it may be safe to
leave the module in a running system until a replacement part is delivered. For
example, if a CPU fails (as indicated perhaps by system messages), but other CPUs
continue to function in the system, you can leave the CPU/Memory+ board in place
until a replacement CPU is available. Note that it is particularly helpful to leave a
module in place if you do not have a filler panel to replace it.
If you choose to remove a faulty board or PCM, remember that you must fill the
vacated slot with a replacement or a filler panel to prevent the system from
overheating.
9.5.2

Troubleshooting Less Obvious Problems

When board LED codes do not specify the failing hardware, several types of
software programs are available to supply information about the problem. This
software includes the SunVTS™ program, the prtdiag command, the prtenv
command, POST and OpenBoot PROM commands, and the Sun Management Center
program.
9-8 Sun Enterprise 3500 System Reference Manual • August 2001