U-Boot Diagnostics on Oracle X86-based Systems

Asset ID:	1-71-1433903.1
Update Date:	2018-04-17
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1433903.1 : U-Boot Diagnostics on Oracle X86-based Systems

Applies to:

Sun Netra X4270 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Netra Server X3-2 - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Netra X6270 M2 Server Module - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Blade X6270 Server Module - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire X4800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

This document explains how to access SP Preboot menu and manually run U-Boot diagnostics. The preboot menu described in this document and the examples are related to X86 platforms shipped with the AST2100 (or later) Service Processor chipset.

Solution

1. Oracle x86 diagnostics utilities

Oracle provides several diagnostic tools to identify possible hardware issues on X86 platforms and isolate hardware failure.

Uboot: SP Firmware diagnostics validates Service Processor hardware (CPU, Memory, Network, I/O, I2C)
POST: Bios firmware diagnostics test X86 platform core components during startup (CPUs, Memory, Motherboard I/O bridge integrated circuits)
Standalone diagnostics extended to all motherboard components: CPU, Memory, I/O, ports, and slots (PC-Check)
OS-Based diagnostics for full system stress tests: CPU, Memory, I/O, ports, slots, PCI cards (Oracle VTS)

2. Uboot Overview

Uboot is integrated in the Service Processor firmware and only available through local or remote serial connection.

During Oracle X86 platform startup or upon Service Processor reboot, Uboot diagnostics are designed to initialize and test SP hardware prior to ILOM SP operating system boot.

Some of the hardware components tested include:

SP CPU
SP memory
Network devices
I/O devices
I2C devices

Uboot can work on standby power and when operating system is not running. There are three options to execute Uboot upon Service Processor power up:

Normal mode (default)
Quick
Extended

3. Preboot menu Overview

Preboot menu can be accessed booting the SP and interrupting the boot process.

Preboot menu allows the following tasks to be performed:

Restore ILOM defaults when ILOM is not accessible
Clear CMOS and BIOS passwords
Recover from a corrupt ILOM firmware
Run Uboot diagnostic tests in manual mode

Preboot can be accessed localy or remotely from a console running terminal emulation software.

Note: The Preboot menu may vary depending on the SP chipset used (MPC8248/AST2000/AST2100/AST2300)

4. Initial set up (bootdelay/check_physical_presence)

To access the preboot menu, you must boot the SP and interrupt the boot process. There are two ways to interrupt the ILOM boot process:
- Manually using the Locate button when available
- By typing xyzzy during a pause in the bootstrap process

Before accessing the ILOM pre-boot menu remotely it must be enabled physically following these steps:

- Connect a terminal or console capable of running terminal emulation software to the serial port of the server. For more information about how to attach a terminal device refer to the Server Service Manual.

- Reboot the ILOM from the GUI or from the CLI executing the command:

-> reset /SP

- Interrupt the boot process using either of the following methods
- Press and hold the Locate button on the server front panel, until the preboot menu appears.
- Type in xyzzy when you see the message:

Booting linux in 3 seconds...

- Set the bootdelay and check_physical_presence settings in the Preboot Menu to enable remote serial access.

At the preboot menu type 'edit':

Preboot> edit

Press Enter by itself to reach the next question.
Press control-C to discard changes and quit.

Values for baudrate are {[ 9600 ]| 19200 | 38400 | 57600 | 115200 }.
Set baudrate?                [9600]
Values for serial_is_host are {[ 0 ]| 1 }.
Set serial_is_host?          [0]
Values for bootdelay are { -1 | 3 | 10 | 30 }.
Set bootdelay?               [3] 30
Set bootdelay?               [30]
Values for bootretry are { -1 | 30 | 300 | 3000 }.
Set bootretry?               [-1]
Values for diags_mode are {[ Normal ]| Quick | Extended | Skip }.
Set diags_mode?              [Normal]
Values for preferred are {[ 0 ]| 1 }.
Set preferred?               [<not set>]
Values for preserve_conf are {[ yes ]| no }.
Set preserve_conf?           [yes]
Values for check_physical_presence are {[ yes ]| no }.
Set check_physical_presence? [yes] no
Set check_physical_presence? [no]
Enter 'y[es]' to commit changes: [no] y
Summary: Changed 2 settings.
Preboot>

- The bootdelay setting defines the amount of time in seconds that the system waits for your input.

- Alternatively you can set the bootdelay and check_physical_presence settings using the fw_setenv command in Escalation Mode:

# fw_setenv bootdelay 10
# fw_setenv check_physical_presence no

At this point the Preboot Menu can now be accessed remotely using a remote serial terminal or console running terminal emulation software.

5. How to manually execute Uboot and Preboot diagnostics

SP diagnostics are executed on any SP reset condition. The 3 available Diagnostics Modes are:

Normal (default)

Run Data Bus, Address Bus on entire memory space, and Data Integrity test on at least half the memory space. (includes location of Uboot)

Quick

Run Data Bus, Address Bus Test and Data Integrity Test on a small portion of memory, tests memory where Uboot image is to be loaded

Extended

Test entire memory space

Normal mode is the default but diagnostic mode can be set to Quick or Extended during SP startup when you see the message:

Enter Diagnostics Mode ['q'uick/'n'ormal(default)/e'x'tended(manufacturing mode)] ..... 3
Diagnostics Mode - NORMAL
<DIAGS> Memory Data Bus Test ... PASSED
<DIAGS> Memory Address Bus Test ... PASSED
<DIAGS> Flash ID Test - Flash Bank 1 ... PASSED
<DIAGS> PHY #0 R/W Test ... PASSED
<DIAGS> PHY #0 Link Status ... PASSED
<DIAGS> ETHERNET PHY #0, Internal Loopback Test ... PASSED
Host in ON, Skipping HOST-based tests

Diagnostics can also be executed manually using the preboot prompt.

Enter the command 'help' to display all Preboot commands.

Preboot> help
Commands and keywords are case-sensitive and do not abbreviate.
Type "help cmd" [Enter] for summary of 'cmd' command.

boot     Boot ILOM (bootcmd="bootpkg").
vers {[ brief ]| all }
       Show versions.
show {[ brief ]| all | date | env }
       Show settings.
edit     Change settings, other than SP network.
diag { quick | normal | extended | help | test_* ... | util_* ... }
       Run pre-boot diagnostics or any "test_*" or "util_*" command.
host { console | clearcmos | show | enable-on | hard-off }
       Connect to host console, clear CMOS settings, enable/kill power.
net { config | dhcp | ping | flash }
       Type "help net FUNC" for help on that function.
net config   Change SP network settings (static? <Missing> on SP/NET0).
net dhcp   Request or renew a DHCP lease for "net" commands.
net ping <192.168.33.44>
       Ping the IPv4 host (numeric).
net flash <11.22.33.44> <tftpFile.flash>
       Download an ILOM flash image via TFTP and update ILOM in flash.
reset {[ warm ]| cold }
   reset [warm]   Warm-reset the SP.
unconfig { ilom_conf | most | all }
   unconfig ilom_conf
       Set 'preserve_conf' to 'no' for next ILOM boot, but keep SP
       network and baudrate, preferred, check_physical_presence.
help [cmd]
   h[elp]   Print list of commands.
Preboot>

Type help <command> to display a command help:

Preboot> help diag
diag { quick | normal | extended | help | test_* ... | util_* ... }
Run pre-boot diagnostics or any "test_*" or "util_*" command.

Type <command> help to display the command options:

Preboot> diag help
test_all - Run all Tests
test_bootflash - Boot Flash Test Commands
test_ethernet - Ethernet PHY Test Commands
test_fb_leds - Tests fan board leds
test_fbf_leds - Tests fan board fail leds only
test_hostmem - Test SPD content of RISER DIMM's
test_i2c_busses - Test I2C Busses
test_i2cprobe - Test I2C Probe
test_mb_leds - Tests main board leds
test_memory - Memory Test Commands
test_pb - Tests various push buttons
test_riser_leds - Tests riser board leds
test_rtc - Diagnostics Tests for RTC DS1338
test_ssd_leds - Tests ssd leds
test_usb11 - USB 1.1 Test Commands
test_usb20 - USB 2.0 Test Commands
test_watchdog - Probe WATCHDOG Addresses
util_bootflash - Boot Flash Utility Commands
util_ethernet - Ethernt PHY Utility Commands
util_hostmem - Test VPD content of DIMM's
util_memory - Memory Utility Commands
util_pwrcpld - PowerCPLD Utility Commands
Preboot>

The syntax of the Uboot diagnostics CLI is:

Utilities:

diag util_<device/subsytem> ....
Utilities return information requested by the user

Tests:

diag test_<device/subsytem> ...
Tests return PASS/FAIL status.

6. Examples

Output from below examples and more can be found here: UBOOT_EXAMPLES

Run diagnostics:

Preboot> diag test_all run
Preboot> diag extended
Preboot> diag test_i2c_busses

Display information:

Preboot> diag util_memory meminfo
Preboot> diag util_pwrcpld version

Recover ilom firmware:

Preboot> net dhcp
Preboot> net flash 10.8.173.25 images/system-rom.flash

Display SP settings:

Preboot> show all

Clear CMOS:

Preboot> host clearcmos

Restore ILOM defaults:

Preboot> unconfig all

7. Restore ILOM firmware image using the preboot menu

Note that the "net flash" option has been removed from ILOM preboot environment to prevent flashing unsigned packages, this will apply to both x5 and x6.

Bug 17382740 : PREBOOT "NET FLASH" COMMAND OPTION NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM HELP

- Manually assign an IP to the ILOM using:

Preboot> net dhcp

Preboot> net config

- At the Preboot> prompt, confirm the TFTP server is reachable:

Preboot> net ping IPaddress

- Then to flash the firmware type:

Preboot> net flash IPaddress path/name.flash

where:
IPaddress is the IP address of a TFTP server
path is the path to the file relative to /tftpboot
name is the first part of the .flash file filename

For example:

Preboot> net flash 10.8.173.25 images/system-rom.flash

After a series of messages, the Preboot Menu prompt appears.

Preboot>

- At the Preboot> prompt, type the reset command to restart the SP:

Preboot> reset

At this point the Preboot Menu exits and ILOM restarts with the new firmware.

8. References

Oracle recommends to keep X86 platforms up to date. Refer to the Firmware Downloads and Release History for Sun Systems:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html

Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) 3.0 Documentation
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19860-01/index.html

Oracle x86 Servers Diagnostics Documentation
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23161_01/index.html

Internal documents to assist Oracle engineers in diagnosis:

How to perform onsite diagnosis for a down x86 AMD system <Document: 1383349.1>

How to perform onsite diagnosis for a down x86 Intel system <Document: 1418253.1>

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