Isolating Failed Parts - Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V440 Diagnostics And Troubleshooting Manual

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C H A P T E R

Isolating Failed Parts

The most important use of diagnostic tools is to isolate a failed hardware component
so that you can quickly remove and replace it. Because servers are complex
machines with many failure modes, there is no single diagnostic tool that can isolate
all hardware faults under all conditions. However, Sun provides a variety of tools
that can help you discern what component needs replacing.
This chapter guides you in choosing the best tools and describes how to use these
tools to reveal a failed part in your Sun Fire V440 server. It also explains how to use
the Locator LED to isolate a failed system in a large equipment room.
Tasks covered in this chapter include:
"How to View and Set OpenBoot Configuration Variables" on page 54
"How to Operate the Locator LED" on page 55
"How to Put the System in Diagnostics Mode" on page 57
"How to Bypass Firmware Diagnostics" on page 58
"How to Bypass Diagnostics Temporarily" on page 59
"How to Maximize Diagnostic Testing" on page 61
"How to Isolate Faults Using LEDs" on page 62
"How to Isolate Faults Using POST Diagnostics" on page 65
"How to Isolate Faults Using Interactive OpenBoot Diagnostics Tests" on page 67
"How to View Diagnostic Test Results After the Fact" on page 70
Other information in this chapter includes:
"Reference for Choosing a Fault Isolation Tool" on page 70
If you want background information about the tools, turn to the section:
"About Isolating Faults in the System" on page 32
Note - Many of the procedures in this chapter assume that you are familiar with the
OpenBoot firmware and that you know how to access the ok prompt. For
background information, see "About the ok Prompt" on page 171. For instructions,
see "How to Get to the ok Prompt" on page 176.
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