[scheerer]

Hi there,

We have a client that is having a problem with a 7315-C01 Power 4 HMC that had a power failure last week-end and although it now boots up it hangs after we have log in as hscroot.

Unfortunately the client cannot locate the HMC Recovery CD and Power4 recovery images can no longer be downloaded from IBM.

We have attempted to order one from IBM, but we are still waiting.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated, or perhaps someone has a recovery CD image that we can download from somewhere.

Best Regards,

Mike Scheerer
Technical Consultant
Keystone Computer Group

Tel: 01889 560 200
Fax: 01889 560 201

[cdelgadop]

Hi

First you need to identify the HMC version running. This because you can use a Linux (Suse or Redhat, all depends of the HMC version) in order to start your HMC in maintenance mode and run some fsck checks and even modify the /etc/passwd file so hscroot doesn't have a password.

I did this once and worked ok.

Hope this helps

[scheerer]

Originally Posted by cdelgadop

First you need to identify the HMC version running.

Can you give me any clues as to how I can do this !!!

In the meantime I have managed to get the HMC into [REPAIR MODE] and I can manually check the filesystems and remount them. I can also manually restart services whilst in this mode, so is there a way that I can find the HMC Version whilst in this mode, or perhaps perform an upgrade to a newer version in the hope that this will bring the HMC back to life ?

[cdelgadop]

Hi

hscroot@hmc2_p630:~> lshmc -V
Version: 3
Release: 3.6
HMC Build level 20050706.1

hscroot@hmc2_p630:~>

hscroot@hmc2_p630:~> cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.4.19-4GB-SMP (root@mcpbuild0) (gcc version 3.2.2) #1 SMP Tue Apr 12 23:51:32 UTC 2005
hscroot@hmc2_p630:~>

Hmmm, well, if you have managed to get into rescue then you can view the contents of /etc/shadow file, you can create a backup of such file and edit this file so hscroot userid does not have a password.

Linux Root Password Recovery



Hope this helps

[scheerer]

Originally Posted by cdelgadop

Hmmm, well, if you have managed to get into rescue then you can view the contents of /etc/shadow file, you can create a backup of such file and edit this file so hscroot userid does not have a password.

Well, the hscroot password is not my problem, just to give you a little more information.

The HMC will boot up fine and filecheck itself, it will then arrive at the HMC login screen...

I can then login as hscroot and it will start to login and then all that happens is I get a BLANK xserver screen with the large X mouse cursor and that is as far as it will go, I have left the system at this point for a number of hours but nothing else happens, there is no disk activity. I can do nothing else at this point except to move the cursor around the screen with the mouse and eventually I have to power off the HMC and reboot to go through the same process again.

All that I can do is attempt to break into the boot process, which will cause the fsck to fail and enter Maintenance Mode asking for the root password, which I can enter to give me a shell prompt at which point I can manually check the filesystems and mount them manually, and then I effectively have root access to the HMC, but I am not sure what I can do from there without some further guidance.

Best Regards,

[mshulman1980]

Not to go off topic,
Wouldn't it be easier at this point to install HMC 3.3.7? I haven't heard too many problems with this version.
Here's the install CDs and patches:
IBM - HMC 3.3.x Recovery CD packages for UNIX servers

[scheerer]

Originally Posted by mshulman1980

Wouldn't it be easier at this point to install HMC 3.3.7? I haven't heard too many problems with this version.
Here's the install CDs and patches:
IBM - HMC 3.3.x Recovery CD packages for UNIX servers

I love your train of thought, and that would have been the ideal solution, BUT the HMC 3.3.7 recovery CD's are NO LONGER AVAILABLE for download from IBM, you will notice from the link that you have supplied that they must be ordered. We already ordered the CD's last Monday, but we cannot gauge from IBM or our distributor just how long this order process will take, and we have now already been waiting for a week.

If anybody has these CD's and would be good enough to create an ISO image of them for us that we could download from somewhere then we would be eternally grateful.

Best Regards,

[drax]

FYI It took just 3 days for my replacement HMC media to arrive after logging an order. I am in Melbourne, Australia.

[scheerer]

Originally Posted by drax

FYI It took just 3 days for my replacement HMC media to arrive after logging an order. I am in Melbourne, Australia.

I just had confirmation this morning that our CD has been dispatched with UPS, so hopefully we will receive it tomorrow.

I just cannot understand WHY IBM do not have the recovery CD's for POWER 4 available for download, it would make life so much easier....

[mshulman1980]

sorry, I didn't look at the site closely enough to see that the media isn't downloadable.
I'm baffled why the current version of power4 HMC software isn't availible.