The Altix and the rack mounted Prism hardware differ in that SGI retained the processors but replaced the PCI-X slots with AGP slots. Compare a the EEPROM section of an L1 "serial all" run
on an Altix
:
Code:
EEPROM Product Name Serial Part Number Rev T/W
---------- -------------- ------------- -------------------- --- ------
INTERFACE IPF_2UINT NGL5xx 030_1954_004 A 00
NODE IP57 NCT4xx 030_1951_005 A 00
RISER 2U_RISER NHT1xx 030_1808_006 B 00
IO9 IO9 NJJ744 030_1771_005 A 00
PS 1 no hardware detected
PS 2 DPS-500EBE XPD0351005656 060-0178-003 S4
with the same L1 serial all output from Prism XG2N brick:
Code:
001g16-L1>serial all
EEPROM Product Name Serial Part Number Rev T/W
---------- -------------- ------------- -------------------- --- ------
INTERFACE TIO_IPF_2UINT NGS8xx 030_1993_003 A 00
NODE IP57 NJY2xx 030_1951_005 A 00
RISER TIO_AGP_RISER NGB9xx 030_1992_002 B 00
PS 1 DPS-500EBE XPD0416002773 060-0178-003 S4
PS 2 DPS-500EBE XPD0416002763 060-0178-003 S4
The other difference might well be in how the PROM/firmware recognizes/initializes/communicates the graphics hardware in the Prism XG2N <a similar example for an Altix can be found
here
>:
Code:
001c16#0c: SGI SAL Version 4.43 rel051202 IP41 built 02:14:24 PM Dec 2, 2005
001c16#0a: SGI SAL Version 4.43 rel051202 IP41 built 02:14:24 PM Dec 2, 2005
Probing memory DIMMs ...................... DONE
Initializing memory controller ............ DONE
Initializing memory ..................... DONE
Switching to RAM .......................... DONE
Discovering NUMAlink connectivity ......... DONE
Found 3 objects (1 chipsets, 0 routers, 2 iochipsets) in 398709 usec
Waiting for peers to complete discovery.... DONE
Initializing headless node module/001b16/slab/1/xtalk
Initializing headless node module/001b16/slab/2/xtalk
\
Late initialization of headless node module/001b16/slab/1/xtalk
Late initialization of headless node module/001b16/slab/2/xtalk
Checking partitioning information ......... DONE
Erecting partition fences ................. DONE
2 CPUs on 3 nodes found.
\
Decompressing SAL runtime ................. DONE
Loading SAL runtime ....................... DONE
Decompressing EFI ......................... DONE
Loading EFI ............................... DONE
Altix IO Topology Information
*****************************
Serial Number:R200xxxx
PCI SEGMENT PCIBUS NUMBER BRICK RACK:SLOT BUS CONNECTION TOPOLOGY
----------- ------------- --------------------- -------------------
0x0000 0x07 GAbrick 001:16 03 001c16:slot0:slab1:corep
0x0000 0x0b GAbrick 001:16 03 001c16:slot0:slab2:corep
mm=0x27569f0
starting emulator
halt_sys: file ../../../../../../efi1_10/edk/Drivers/VgaClass/ops.c, line 9834
halted
done posting VBIOS
mm=0x27569f0
starting emulator
halt_sys: file ../../../../../../efi1_10/edk/Drivers/VgaClass/ops.c, line 9834
halted
done posting VBIOS
PcdpAddPciDevice Index 0 bus 0x7 device 0 function 0
PcdpElectPrimary
Picked segment 0 bus 7
PcdpAddPciDevice Index 1 bus 0xB device 0 function 0
PcdpElectPrimary
Picked segment 0 bus 7
EFI version 1.10 [14.62] Build flags: EFI64 Running on Intel(R) Itanium Process
EFI IA-64 SDV/FDK (No BIOS ) [Dec 2 2005 14:10:20] - INTEL
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Broadcom Corporation
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet EFI driver v8.1.1
EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.62]
Partition 0: Enabled Disabled
CBricks 1 Nodes 3 0
RBricks 0 CPUs 2 0
IOBricks 1 Mem(GB) 4 0
Loading device drivers
EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.62]
Partition 0: Enabled Disabled
CBricks 1 Nodes 3 0
RBricks 0 CPUs 2 0
IOBricks 1 Mem(GB) 4 0
Please select a boot option
SUSE SLES 9
SGI ProPack(TM)
test2
Pci(1|1)/Scsi(Pun0,Lun1)/HD(Part1,SigFD920400)
Pci(4|0)/Mac(08006913EB83)/NicName(tg0)
VenMsg(E443E6B6-8AE5-11D7-84A4-003000000090C00000000000002798800
EFI Shell [Built-in]
Boot option maintenance menu
Use ^ and v to change option(s). Use Enter to select an option
It looks like SGI included an emulator in the XG2N firmware to load the BIOS on the graphics boards and initialize them. If that code is missing in the Altix you'll probably have to find a firmware or operating system work-around.
