SGI: Hardware

Hi !.

In our lab we have octane 2 with IRIX 6.5. We are unable to boot into the system. We are getting following error after "Power-on Diagnostics".



After pressing 'enter', I get the menu(Start System, Install System Software, ...), when I Chose "Start System",

I get "Unrecovered Data block Error"(s) on following paths : /hw/node/xtalk/pci/0/scsi_ctrl/...

And then I get following Error



And no further response from the machine. I have following doubts.


wishing your earnest reply,
kabees

Try checking your SCSI back pane .. seems pretty obvious where the issue lies.
Either that or your onboard controller gave up the ghost.

Given the first error messages from your post I would guess it is an issue with the scsi backplane or controller or maybe a bad external scsi cable and not a disk failure. If you have a second system you can check the drives by plugging them in as option drives and do an fdisk for instance.

If you don"t have a second system you could remove all drives, insert one of the option drives in the lowest slot and see where that gets you. It is unlikely all disks fail at once. You will obviously not be able to boot from the option drive but if the SCSI device / cable error messages remain it is very likely not a disk issue. If they go away you could do an fx and look at the partition table without making any changes, thus not destroying your data. If that looks good do the same with the root drive.

Can you hear if your hard drive is actually spinning up? Oddly enough, just had a very similar error message like this on the week-end.

In my case the hard drive was not spinning up (i.e. were stuck) and an error message was given similar to yours. If you have a spare drive, perhaps changing over a hard drive to rule that out might help...

The fact that there are errors on both SCSI HBAs (internal and external) does point to something else besides a single disk failure. What is your setup? Are you using both SCSI channels?

Both SCSI HBAs on Octane are fed from the same BRIDGE chip and XIO connector, so you might want to try removing the IP30 board and gently blowing the compression connector (from the side and using dry air) then reseating to see if it's an odd intermittent connection thing. SCSI 0 goes via an internal connector to the drive backplane, and reseating the board will also reseat that. Bus 1 is soldered through to the external port - not sure what could be causing your error there. Is it in use?

Yipe! try to avoid getting gob on the compression connector.Blowing not recommended
If all else fails, get a can of compressed air, and
some contact cleaner. Or just remove the compression connector from the board and soak in pure alcohol.
Did that on some dysfunctional node boards, worked like a charm. lol

Hence the admonition to use dry air (forgot to note that it shouldn't be high-pressure, so don't grab your tank compressor).

SGI has a manual on how to clean CPAPs on TechPubs - http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/dynaweb ... l/apb.html .

Try reseating your RAM as well, as not-too-good-but-good-enough-to-pass-the-RAM-diags connections in RAM can show up as many different errors.

It is all very nice that we present options and discuss pros and cons of "blowjobs" and alcohol. I wonder if the original poster will show up again and give us some feedback on his findings, though.

AHEM! cleanup on isle 3...

Hi Mates, excuse me, I just abandoned the machine for some time. I took the machine today. And eventually i checked the thread. Wow !. I wondered at the response. Thanks for the contributors.

I will try all possible options, and keep the thread updated.

thanking u,
kabees.