boot-device setting (OBP) is not persistent across reboot

Asset ID:	1-72-1927226.1
Update Date:	2017-12-15
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1927226.1 : boot-device setting (OBP) is not persistent across reboot

Applies to:

Sun Fire T2000 Server - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

eeprom command can be used to modify OBP parameters

SYNOPSIS
     /usr/sbin/eeprom [-] [-f device] [parameter[=value]]
   boot-device

         Device from which to boot. boot-device may contain 0 or more device specifiers separated by spaces.
         Each device specifier may be either a prom device alias or a devicepath.
         The boot prom will attempt to open each successive device specifier in the list beginning with
         the first device specifier. The first device specifier that opens successfully will be used as the device to boot from. Defaults to disk net.

When using eeprom to modify boot-device (under Solaris) it works but the value is not persistent across reboot (see example below)

xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device=disk2
**** root sur xxxxx ****
xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device
boot-device=disk2

Aug 4 23:30:01 xxxxx su: 'su root' succeeded for root on /dev/???
svc.startd: The system is coming down. Please wait.
svc.startd: 75 system services are now being stopped.
Aug 4 23:35:07 xxxxxxx syslogd: going down on signal 15
svc.startd: The system is down.
syncing file systems... done
rebooting...
|

Sun Fire T200, No Keyboard
Copyright (c) 1998, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 4.30.4.b, 16256 MB memory available, Serial #74140058.
Ethernet address 0:14:4f:6b:49:9a, Host ID: 846b499a.

Boot device: disk File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_147440-19 64-bit
Copyright (c) 1983, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Hostname: xxxxxx

xxxxxx:root# uptime
9:58am up 10:21, 2 users, load average: 0.24, 0.36, 0.36
**** root sur xxxxx ****
xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device
boot-device=disk net

disk2 is a valid path

1b} ok printenv boot-device
boot-device = disk2
{1b} ok devalias
ttya /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/isa@2/serial@0,3f8
nvram /virtual-devices/nvram@3
net3 /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0,1
net2 /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0
net1 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
net0 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
net /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
ide /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@8
cdrom /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@8/cdrom@0,0:f
disk3 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@3
disk2 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@2
disk1 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@1
disk0 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0
disk /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0
scsi /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0
virtual-console /virtual-devices/console@1
name aliases

Changes

No changes made

Cause

boot-device is not the only parameters affected .

auto-boot? use-nvramrc values are not persistent accross reboot

:root# eeprom "use-nvramrc?=true"
xxxxxx:root# eeprom "nvramrc=devalias disk2 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@2 devalias disk0 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0"

xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device="disk2"
**** root sur xxxxxx ****
xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device
boot-device=disk2

xxxxxx:root# init 0

{1b} ok printenv boot-device
boot-device = disk2
{1b} ok devalias
ttya /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/isa@2/serial@0,3f8
nvram /virtual-devices/nvram@3
net3 /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0,1
net2 /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@2/network@0
net1 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
net0 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
net /pci@780/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
ide /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@8
cdrom /pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@8/cdrom@0,0:f
disk3 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@3
disk2 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@2
disk1 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@1
disk0 /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0
disk /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0
scsi /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0
virtual-console /virtual-devices/console@1
name aliases

1b} ok boot disk2

SC Alert: Host System has Reset

Sun Fire T200, No Keyboard
Copyright (c) 1998, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 4.30.4.e, 16256 MB memory available, Serial #74140058.
Ethernet address 0:14:4f:6b:49:9a, Host ID: 846b499a.

Boot device: disk File and args:

xxxxxx:root# eeprom boot-device
boot-device=disk net

xxxxxx:root# eeprom | grep nvr
use-nvramrc?=false

devalias is not affected

This is caused by a faulty service processor.

MPC885 PowerPC is embedded in the SP and manage NVRAM through I2C/MPC bus . So, even if the chip is not seen as faulty by POSTs it's may cause this issue.

Solution

Replacing NVRAM only doesn't fix the issue, replace the service processor.

Attachments

This solution has no attachment