[ILoveMyJob]

Hi there,

I am glad to found this forum. It makes a nice addition to the one at IBM DeveloperWorks. I have looked for an answer to my problem all over the net (or so it seems) and from the posts I have read here so far, I feel upbeat to finally get an answer

I have recently acquired an OpenPower 720 (9124-CT1) which I would like to turn into my main Linux development workhorse.
My background is in iSeries (mostly older models like 270 and 820 - not the more recent Power5 based ones) so all this SMS, HMC and ASMI business is somewhat new to me.
So far I have not set up any LPARs. IVM/VIOS is not installed.


I will try to be brief with my problem description:

I have set up the box and everything is working just fine. I have upgraded the firmware to the latest revision (240_320), installed OpenSuse 10.2 and basically should be content with what I have. Using SSH and VNC is the way I get stuff done.

Then I found out you can get a GXT135P graphics card (re-badged Matrox G400 I believe) to get native X right on the box. I wasn't able to procure one of those, but got my hands on a bargain GXT6500P. Linux/X offers limited framebuffer support on that particular card, so I went and bought it.

Looking at the VPD data and machine capabilities via ASMI I found to my delight that "3D work-station graphics card OK" is set to "true", so I figure I am good to go. Not.

Here is what happens WITHOUT the card installed:

1. I am connected to the machine via RS232 nullmodem cable to serial port #1.

2. I use minicom on my laptop to get the terminal session going. 19200, 8N1, nothing special here.

3. I supply power to the box. Wait a while. ASMI prompts for username and password. I go with 'admin'.

4. Select option 1, power up the box. Box starts powering up, SRCs start rolling by.

5. Beep Beep. SMS menu appears. No need to do anything, I have my default bootdevice list set. Beep Beep.

6. Linux boots - all is good.


Here is what happens WITH the card installed.

1. I am connected to the machine via RS232 nullmodem cable to serial port #1.

2. I use minicom on my laptop to get the terminal session going. 19200, 8N1, nothing special here.

3. I supply power to the box. Wait a while. ASMI prompts for username and password. I go with 'admin'

4. Select option 1, power up the box. Box starts powering up, SRCs start rolling by.

5. "To select this console as the active console press 0" prompt appears. SRC in LCDisplay is CA00E1DC (which is exactly what this prompt means). Since I now have a video card installed I expect to see this prompt.

6. I press "0". Nothing happens. No beeps. No SMS menu. No boot. No echo of the "0" I just typed on the screen. No response at all. SRC is still showing CA00E1DC.

7. I wait. I wait some more.

8. Eventually SRC BA210000 appears in LCDisplay. Terminal display shows several lines of hexdump (DEFAULT CATCH!, exception-handler=fff00300 and some more - registers, stacks etc.) According to IBM, BA210000 points to system's inability to start the OS). At this point I am able to type again. What I type gets echo-d to the screen. There isn't much to do so I shut the box down using the web-based ASMI interface.

I have tried a few things so far:

1. Swapped the card between PCI slots.
2. Swapped serial ports #1 and #2.
3. Made sure all boot device lists point to the HDD.
4. Changed the partition boot mode to each of available options

All yield the same result. I get stuck at the console selection prompt.

Another post I read talked about an IBM specific pin-out for the nullmodem cable. At this point this is the only thing I can think of that would prevent the system from recognizing my response to the prompt.

As far as the card is concerned - I could not find any explicit mention that this card is not supported on this box (nor could I find out whether it is...).

I would greatly appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction in tackling this problem.

Cheers,

Jack

[ross.mather]

Have you tried using a USB keyboard plugged into the USB port rather than the console?

Usually if a Graphics adapter is plugged in the box also expects a keyboard to be plugged in directly rather than trying to read the keyboard from your console.

[ILoveMyJob]

Originally Posted by ross.mather

Have you tried using a USB keyboard plugged into the USB port rather than the console?

Usually if a Graphics adapter is plugged in the box also expects a keyboard to be plugged in directly rather than trying to read the keyboard from your console.

Well,
Yes and no. I have attached a PS/2 keyboard via a USB to PS/2 adapter. Maybe it prevents the box from recognizing the keyboard at such an early phase. I will get a native USB keyboard later today.

One thing to note, which I have omitted in my first post:

The monitor attached to the video card never shows a picture.
From what I can tell, it doesn't even receive a signal. Since this
is the first time I am dealing with such a setup, I am not even sure whether it is supposed to show something.

Thanks for your advice. One more thing to cross of the list of possible culprits

[duke900ssd]

The GTX6500P card is feature code 2843 or a type 1-Z card.
The 9124 adapter placement guide does not mention this feature code so I guess it is not supported by the system:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infoce...xplacement.htm
From the list it looks like the system / firmware only supports the GTX135P - feature code 2849 - graphics card..

[ILoveMyJob]

I am afraid you are right.
Attaching a regular USB keyboard didn't allow me to make the console selection either. Oh well... I guess I will put it up on ebay.

Thank you guys for all your help

[duke900ssd]

As for te GTX135p being a badged Matrox G400, it is a dual head card with a matrox chip but the Matrox is a AGP interface where as the GTX135p is a PCI interface, just in case any one was thinking of trying this option.

[ILoveMyJob]

Originally Posted by duke900ssd

As for te GTX135p being a badged Matrox G400, it is a dual head card with a matrox chip but the Matrox is a AGP interface where as the GTX135p is a PCI interface, just in case any one was thinking of trying this option.

Of course a regular G400 won't work (much less the AGP version) - the chipset on the GXT135P is however that of a Matrox G400.

On a side note:
According to a post in DeveloperWorks, it is apparently possible to use the Mac version of an ATI Radeon (9200) PCI, as PowerPC based Macs use OpenFirmware, just like IBM boxes do.

For now though, I don't feel like taking on any more adventures and will try to obtain a GXT135P.

Cheers