Asset ID:	1-77-1020203.1
Update Date:	2013-12-31
Keywords:

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Solution Type  Sun Alert Sure

Solution  1020203.1 :   Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220 with XAUI Card and Certain FCAL HBA Cards in Same Riser May Cause XAUI Card to Fail POST or XAUI Card Port To Go Offline Frequently  


PreviouslyPublishedAs
254148

Bug Id
<BUG:15464395>, <BUG:15497943>

Product
Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220 Server

Date of Resolved Release
04-Mar-2009

***Checked for relevance 31-Dec-2013***

1. Impact

For the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220 Server, the HBA PCI-E cards listed in the "Contributing Factors" section (below) produce an unacceptable level of noise on the 12V plane in the XAUI/PCI-E riser board, causing XAUI card functions to be partially or totally unavailable. If the HBA card is the 375-3355 (contains the QLE2460 ASIC), it may cause the XAUI card in the same XAUI/PCI-E riser board to fail POST.

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur on the following platforms:

The following PCI-E HBA cards for the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220:

• Single 10-Gigabit Ethernet XAUI Adapter (XAUI Single Port 10GBE Card 501-7489)
  
• 4Gigabit/Sec PCI-E Single FC Host Adapter (Single Port FC HBA PCI-E Card 375-3355)
• 4Gigabit/Sec PCI-E Dual FC Host Adapter (Dual Port FC HBA PCI-E Card 375-3356)
• 2-Slot x8 PCI Express/XAUI Riser (XAUI/PCI-E 2U Riser Board Assembly 541-2109-05 or earlier)

Note: No other Enterprise system, PCI-E card or riser board assembly is affected by this issue.

The HBA card at issue is the 375-3356 HBA PCI-E card (contains the QLE2462 ASIC), which produces noise in a different spectrum than the 375-3355. Although the XAUI card will pass POST, there is potential for the XAUI card's ethernet port to frequently go offline/online (also known as "Ethernet Port Flop").

3. Symptoms

If the 375-3355 HBA card and an XAUI card are in the same 541-2109-05 (or earlier) XAUI/PCI-E riser board assembly, the XAUI card may fail POST. The error returned to the console and in the Service Processor's (SP) console log will be similar to the following:

0:0:0>ERROR: TEST = BCM8704 Reg. Test XAUI Card 1
0:0:0>H/W under test = MB/RISER1/XAUI1,MB/RISER1,MB
0:0:0>Repair Instructions: Replace items in order listed by 'H/W under 
test' above.
0:0:0>MSG = BCM8704 - PHY Error - 64bit       Cntl Reg Register,
         address  00000000.0000c807
         expected 00000000.00008704
         observed 00000000.00000e09
         wrote    00000000.00000000
0:0:0>END_ERROR

Also: if the 375-3356 HBA card and an XAUI card are in the same XAUI/PCIE riser board assembly 541-2109-05 or earlier, (and although the XAUI Card will pass POST), the XAUI card's ethernet port may frequently go offline/online. That offline/online can be detected as follows:

# dladm show-dev
nxge0           link: up           speed: 10000   Mbps          duplex: half

then...

# dladm show-dev
nxge0           link: down           speed: 0     Mbps          duplex: umknown

then...

# dladm show-dev
nxge0           link: up           speed: 10000   Mbps          duplex: half

then ..

# dladm show-dev
nxge0           link: down           speed: 0     Mbps          duplex: umknown

4. Workaround

To work around this issue, arrange the PCI-E cards in the T5220 so that the above listed HBA PCI-E cards are not in the same XAUI/PCI-E 2U riser board assemblies (541-2109-05 or earlier) as an XAUI Card.

5. Resolution

Please see the Workaround section above for the Resolution to this issue.


Modification History
13-Mar-2009: Minor modifications in Contributing Factors and Workaround sections
31-Dec-2013: Checked for currency/relevance/formatting; no change in content

Internal Comments
Questions regarding this document should be
addressed to sunalertpublication_us_grp@oracle.com

Depending on the customer's configuration needs,
replacement of the XAUI/PCI-E 2U Riser Board Assy 541-2109-05
or earlier CRU with 541-2109-06 or later may
be required. Each case should be considered on an individual basis.

The XAUI riser(s) should only be replaced in
advance of symptoms described if the
customer has no other option but to create one of the PCIE
configurations listed. Customer should be
advised that these cards may be problematic in those configurations.
Internal Contributor/submitter
Donald.Palko@sun.com, Howard.Mcgee@sun.com

Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
Quentin.Lewis@sun.com, Mike.Coulter@sun.com
Internal Services Knowledge Engineer
david.mariotto@oracle.com

References

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