Sun Fire X4150 Boot hang / Solaris slow boot / Blue Screen of Death occurrs with mixed stepping cpus and the latest system BIOS (1ADQW068)

Asset ID:	1-72-1417198.1
Update Date:	2018-03-18
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1417198.1 : Sun Fire X4150 Boot hang / Solaris slow boot / Blue Screen of Death occurrs with mixed stepping cpus and the latest system BIOS (1ADQW068)

Applies to:

Sun Fire X4150 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

If a CPU with B2 stepping is CPU#0 and a CPU with G0 stepping is CPU#1, the system can not booted up. No BIOS message and no video output are seen. Also, there is no error event on ILOM event log.

If a CPU with G0 stepping is CPU#0 and a CPU with B2 stepping is CPU#1, Oracle Solaris boot takes 20 minutes or more with the latest BIOS 1ADQW068.
In case of Microsoft Windows, a Blue Screen of Death occurs.

Changes

This problem only happens on X4150 with Intel Xeon 5160 and BIOS 1ADQW068.

Cause

Intel has confirmed that this is a bug in their new microcode, however, they don't have any plan to change their microcode.

Solution

A cpu stepping can be identified from a system BIOS menu. Please enter a system BIOS menu and see CPU ID. This is an example screen shot.

Also, a cpu stepping can be determined with a visual checking of S-spec which is printed on a cpu package markings. This is an example picture.

ID	S-SPEC	Stepping
6F6	SL9RT	B2
6F6	SLABS	B2
6FB	SLAG9	G0

Please apply either the following action for a workaround:

Downgrade the BIOS version from 1ADQW068 to BIOS 1ADQW067
Replace one of CPUs and use same stepping CPUs

Both Engineering and Intel have indicated that they will not provide a permanent fix for this issue. The above two workaround options are the only options.

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