During upgrading or re-booting of an Infiniband switch from version 2.1.x the switch will not boot, NO Link Lights, Fans spinning full speed

Asset ID:	1-72-2280595.1
Update Date:	2017-09-12
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 2280595.1 : During upgrading or re-booting of an Infiniband switch from version 2.1.x the switch will not boot, NO Link Lights, Fans spinning full speed

Applies to:

Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36 - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Sun Network QDR InfiniBand Gateway Switch - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Exadata X6-2 Hardware - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

The switch will not boot, NO Link Lights, Fans spinning full speed.
During upgrading a Sun Datacenter 36P switch firmware from 2.1.X to version 2.2.x
During upgrading a Sun Datacenter GW switch firmware from 2.1.X to version 2.1.7 or higher

Changes

Upgrading a Sun Datacenter 36P switch firmware from 2.1.X to version 2.2.x
Upgrading a Sun Datacenter GW switch firmware from 2.1.X to version 2.1.7 or higher

Cause

The root cause is corruption to the Real Time Clock which prevents the timer in GRUB from counting down and prevents the booting of the firmware.

Bug 26678971 : Real Time Clock gets corrupted when NTP is enabled.
Bug 25830039: Stays In Pre-boot Environment During 2.2.x Upgrade/Reboot

Solution

To recover a switch which is rendered un-bootable by this issue:

Please connect a USB keyboard to the IB switch, press Enter on the Keyboard once, wait 10 seconds, and then press Enter again. Then the switch will boot (or upgrade if the failure was during an upgrade), and in 5-7 minutes the switch will be back online again.

To prevent this from happening on any other switches in your environment, please see:
How to prevent an Infiniband Switch being rendered un-bootable when upgrading from firmware version 2.1.x (Doc ID 2301054.1)

For more details about this issue and prevent this from occurring on other switches please review the following bugs:

Review Bug 26678971 : Real Time Clock gets corrupted when NTP is enabled for the latest information on how to predict a switch will encounter this issue
Review Bug 26597265 : Switch becomes un-bootable during the upgrade and or re-boot process on latest updates & procedure to prevent the switch from booting

References

<BUG:26597265> - SWITCH BECOMES UN-BOOTABLE DURING THE UPGRADE AND OR RE-BOOT PROCESS
<NOTE:1467182.1> - Procedure to restore NM2-36p and NM2-GW switches to factory image
<BUG:26678971> - REAL TIME CLOCK GETS CORRUPTED WHEN NTP IS ENABLED.
<NOTE:2202721.1> - Infiniband Gateway Switch Stays In Pre-boot Environment During Upgrade/Reboot
<NOTE:2301054.1> - How to prevent an Infiniband Switch being rendered un-bootable when upgrading from firmware version 2.1.x

Attachments

This solution has no attachment