AIX 5L Problem Determination - IBM Redbooks

Once the keyboard input has been processed, the machine will display a
Software Starting screen. This is followed by more information that indicates that
the SCSI ID of the boot device is being used. Once diagnostics have been
loaded, you will have the Diagnostic Entry screen displayed.
4.2.3 Stand-alone diagnostics from CD-ROM
Stand-alone diagnostics run from CD-ROM or diskettes is a good way of proving
if the problem is a hardware or an AIX problem. The CD-ROM or diskettes load a
totally independent version of AIX onto the machine as a RAM image. If you get
a No Trouble Found result using advanced diagnostics using all of the test
equipment asked for during the diagnostic, the probability of there being a
hardware problem is extremely small. In such cases, the underlying cause of the
problem is most often software related.
MCA machines
This section describes how to boot from CD-ROM on MCA machines and from
diskette for the early level of MCA machines.
Boot from CD-ROM
To boot from CD-ROM, complete the following steps:
1. Power off the machine.
2. Turn the key mode switch to the Service position.
3. Power on the machine and place the Diagnostic CD-ROM in the drive.
For the machine to boot from the Diagnostic CD-ROM, there must be an entry
in the bootlist that includes the CD-ROM. Using the code on the CD-ROM, the
machine will boot, eventually pausing when displaying c31 in the LED panel.
The code c31 is an indication that you need to select a system console. After
selecting a console at the prompt, the Diagnostic Entry screen is displayed,
followed by subsequent screens. One of these subsequent screens will
prompt you to enter the terminal type. Make sure you know the type before
you proceed, since a wrong entry could result in you having to restart the
process from the beginning.
PCI bus machines
This section applies to machines of model type 7017, 7024, 7025, 7026, 7043,
7046, and newer. It does not apply to PCI machine types 7020 or 7248.
To start a CD-ROM boot, use the following procedures:
1. Power off the machine.
2. Turn on machine power.
Chapter 4. Hardware problem determination 51