About The Information To Gather During Troubleshooting - Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V440 Diagnostics And Troubleshooting Manual

About the Information to Gather During
Troubleshooting
Familiarity with a wide variety of equipment, and experience with a particular
machine's common failure modes can be invaluable when troubleshooting system
problems. Establishing a systematic approach to investigating and solving a
particular system's problems can help ensure that you can quickly identify and
remedy most issues as they arise.
The Sun Fire V440 server indicates and logs events and errors in a variety of ways.
Depending on the system's configuration and software, certain types of errors are
captured only temporarily. Therefore, you must observe and record all available
information immediately before you attempt any corrective action. POST, for
instance, accumulates a list of failed components across resets. However, failed
component information is cleared after a system reset. Similarly, the state of LEDs in
a hung system is lost when the system reboots or resets.
If you encounter any system problems that are not familiar to you, gather as much
information as you can before you attempt any remedial actions. The following task
listing outlines a basic approach to information gathering.
Gather as much error information (error indications and messages) as you can
from the system. See "Error Information From the ALOM System Controller" on
page 121, "Error Information From Sun Management Center" on page 121, and
"Error Information From the System" on page 121 for more information about
sources of error indications and messages.
Gather as much information as you can about the system by reviewing and
verifying the system's operating environment, firmware, and hardware
configuration. To accurately analyze error indications and messages, you or a Sun
support services engineer must know the system's operating environment and
patch revision levels as well as the specific hardware configuration. See
"Recording Information About the System" on page 122.
Compare the specifics of your situation to the latest published information about
your system. Often, unfamiliar problems you encounter have been seen,
diagnosed, and fixed by others. This information might help you avoid the
unnecessary expense of replacing parts that are not actually failing. See "About
Updated Troubleshooting Information" on page 105 for information sources.
120 Sun Fire V440 Server Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide • July 2003