IBM System X - Teh Forum

From:	koswix	2 Feb 2020 23:35
To:	ALL	1 of 22

42546.1
Seeing as there's suddenly people here for some reason... Anyone have experience with IBM System X servers? I've got a x3100 that's poorly. Was working fine running Ubuntu until it had a weird crash the other week (disappeared off the network, unresponsive to ping or SSH, but samba shares still working fine). When I shut it down it refused to restart. I can get as far as the BIOS every 3 boots (think that's a failsafe mechanism), but looks like the IMM has died. Lots of 'can't communicate' errors in the log, and the wee LED that flashes to say the IMM is loading never stops flashing. I've tried the backup BIOS and backup IMM jumpers but with no joy. Anyway to flash a new IMM firmware without being able to boot the machine? Any other ideas worth trying? I've done the usual remove everything, reseat everything etc. Kinda disappointed if it's totally dead, this thing cost me the best part of £31 on ebay, I really expect more than 18 months service from my obsolete servers. ▪ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ │ │ │ │ ▪ │ └────┘ │ │ ──┐ ┌── │ ▪ ┌──────┤ ▪ ▪ │ ┌┘ │ │ ▪ ┌─┤ └──┐ │ │ ┌──┘ │ │ │ ││ ││ │ ┌─┐ │ │ └─┼┤ └┴─┴───┘ │ │ │ ─┘│ │ │ │ ┌──────┐ └┬──────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ └───┘ If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ)	3 Feb 2020 08:20
To:	koswix	2 of 22

42546.2 In reply to 42546.1
I can see why, having spent so much on it, you want to repair it possible. I'm not overly familiar with the system, so let's try the basics first: Have you tried increasing the voltage on the AGP Port? Kenny

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 10:09
To:	Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ)	3 of 22

42546.3 In reply to 42546.2

Ah, well I did think of that but there's no agp slot.

I did temporarily increase the voltage to the PSU, from 230V AC to 415V AC. That was a few weeks before it died, do you think it could be related?


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If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ)	3 Feb 2020 10:13
To:	koswix	4 of 22

42546.4 In reply to 42546.3
Depends - what colour was the smoke that came out? I'm assuming smoke came out. Kenny

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From:	william (WILLIAMA)	3 Feb 2020 10:20
To:	koswix	5 of 22

42546.5 In reply to 42546.1
looks fairly simple from the IBM manuals. You try recovery using the backup IMM start code by means of the IMM backup jumper Quote: If the IMM starts up successfully, follow the remaining steps to finish the recovery procedure. Otherwise, replace the system board You aren't helped by the fact that even if you could flash the IMM firmware it looks as though you need an activation key. never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 10:25
To:	Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ)	6 of 22

42546.6 In reply to 42546.4

Didn't see what colour, server lives in the loft.

The smoke from my AV receiver was acrid grey, if that's any help.


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If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 10:27
To:	william (WILLIAMA)	7 of 22

42546.7 In reply to 42546.5

New board on eBay is £150 T-T

I think you only need the code/license for the advanced features? The basic functionality should just work, I think.


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If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	william (WILLIAMA)	3 Feb 2020 10:37
To:	koswix	8 of 22

42546.8 In reply to 42546.7
Hmm £150 vs £31 Are you tempted? Pity you've just had your birthday, haven't you? never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead

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From:	william (WILLIAMA)	3 Feb 2020 11:01
To:	koswix	9 of 22

42546.9 In reply to 42546.7
I didn't bother digging very far because it started to remind me of work so I got all panicky and cold-sweaty and stopped, but what is the flash procedure? I saw that there's a web method (which seems a bit dumb, at least in an emergency, since the IMM controls the network). We had a little server room at the end of the corridor with a rack of switches and some servers. There was an ancient free-standing server that had been running for years but nobody knew what it was because it wasn't on any network plans and the sticky label had dropped off. Some Network people were mucking about with re-routing some new staff workstations and one of then decided to reboot it using the big button on the front. I did suggest that plugging in the spare monitor that was standing about a foot away just to check first might be clever, but that earned me a sneer. That wouldn't restart either. turned out to be something crucial to do with Stamp Duty. Cost more than £150 on ebay to rebuild. never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 11:30
To:	william (WILLIAMA)	10 of 22

42546.10 In reply to 42546.9
The flash procedure seems to be "do it via the the web interface, if the IMM won't load, boot the backup IMM and do it via the web interface". As far as I could see in the manual, if the backup IMM won't load either, replace the motherboard. Surely must be a header somewhere I could flash from, though? Struggling to find any cheap replacement boxes on eBay, thankfully it's just a Plex and file storage server of little consequence to anything mission critical - glad I'm not trying to explain to the bean counters why the beans are no longer being counted. ▪ ┌────┐ ┌────┐ │ │ │ │ ▪ │ └────┘ │ │ ──┐ ┌── │ ▪ ┌──────┤ ▪ ▪ │ ┌┘ │ │ ▪ ┌─┤ └──┐ │ │ ┌──┘ │ │ │ ││ ││ │ ┌─┐ │ │ └─┼┤ └┴─┴───┘ │ │ │ ─┘│ │ │ │ ┌──────┐ └┬──────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ └───┘ If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	3 Feb 2020 14:10
To:	koswix	11 of 22

42546.11 In reply to 42546.10
No chance it's the CMOS battery? “Finally, my home state is known for something besides racism and old people!”

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 14:20
To:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	12 of 22

42546.12 In reply to 42546.11

¯\(°_o)/¯

Would surely still boot, just lose its BIOS settings? I've taken battery out and cleared CMOS to no effect.


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If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	3 Feb 2020 14:53
To:	koswix	13 of 22

42546.13 In reply to 42546.12
Re-seated ram, add-in cards, different psu yadda?. We're in hail-mary-pass land now... (I didn't know you could oc a psu?) “Finally, my home state is known for something besides racism and old people!”

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From:	koswix	3 Feb 2020 14:57
To:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	14 of 22

42546.14 In reply to 42546.13
Tried all that (don't have bother PSU to try). Didn't OC the PSU so much as accidentally blow up half my house due to 1950s electrics going wrong

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From:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	3 Feb 2020 15:07
To:	koswix	15 of 22

42546.15 In reply to 42546.14
I've had a pc that wouldn't post until I pulled the hdd. Then it would post, boot from a cd, and ultimately from a new hdd. “Finally, my home state is known for something besides racism and old people!”

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From:	Matt	3 Feb 2020 18:25
To:	koswix	16 of 22

42546.16 In reply to 42546.14
Probably the PSU then. Get your Multimeter out and measure the outputs of the 12v and 5v rails on the PSU motherboard connector and see what it is giving out.

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From:	william (WILLIAMA)	3 Feb 2020 21:29
To:	koswix	17 of 22

42546.17 In reply to 42546.16
...with a paperclip shorting pins 15 & 16 (green and black) natch never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead

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From:	koswix	4 Feb 2020 07:56
To:	Matt	18 of 22

42546.18 In reply to 42546.16

Will check at the weekend.


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  │   │      │   │                              
  │   │      │   │                              
  └───┘      └───┘

If Feds call you and say something bad on me, it may prove what I said are truth, they are afraid of it.

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From:	CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)	4 Feb 2020 13:02
To:	william (WILLIAMA)	19 of 22

42546.19 In reply to 42546.17
Worked for me! “Finally, my home state is known for something besides racism and old people!”

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From:	william (WILLIAMA)	13 Feb 2020 22:34
To:	koswix	20 of 22

42546.20 In reply to 42546.18
So, what happened? never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead

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