rs6000 cd scsi boot problem

From: Paul Thompson <thompson_at_mail.athenet.net>
Date: Tue Apr 24 14:45:17 2001

Sorry, I deleted the original message on getting the rs/6000 to boot from
CD rom but intended to reply

The author mentioned a code 253, this is supposed to be "Attempting a
service mode IPL from SCSI attached devices specified in the ROM device
list"

The AIX manual lists the following steps to boot from installation media
seems like obvious stuff you've probably already done

1) turn on external devices
2) switch to service mode
3) installation media in cd drive
4) turn on rs6k
5) eventually you should get bos install menu

I could not find any mention of required scsi ID's for the CDROM.
Here is portions of the bootlist man page which might be helpful

Description

The bootlist command allows the user to alter the list of boot devices
scanned by read-only-storage (ROS) when the system is booted. This
command can alter the contents of the two battery backed-up RAM (NVRAM)
boot device lists and the choice of boot device used on the next and
subsequent system boots. This command supports the updating of the
following:

* Service boot list. The service list designates possible boot
devices when the front panel keylock is in the Service position.

* Normal boot list. The normal list is used when the keylock
is in the Normal position.

* Previous boot device entry. Retained in battery-backed-up
RAM on the system unit.

Each list contains a maximum of 84 bytes. When searching for a boot
device, the ROS system selects the first device in the list and determines
if it is bootable. If no boot file system is detected on the first
device, ROS moves on to the next device in the list. As a result,
the ordering of devices in the device list is extremely important.

If no device list has been supplied, or if it was empty, the ROS system
attempts to boot from the boot device used on a previous boot. (This
assumes that the previous boot device was not a diskette drive.) If
this boot device is unavailable or not bootable, the ROS system starts
searching the I/O bus for the first device from which it can boot.

The bootlist command supports the specification of generic device
types as well as specific devices for boot candidates. Possible device
names are listed either on the command line or in a file. Devices
in the boot device list occur in the same order as devices listed
the invocation of this command.

Device Choices

The device name specified on the command line (or in a file) can occur
in one of two different forms:

* It can indicate a specific device by its device logical name.

* It can indicate a generic or special device type by keyword.
The following generic device keywords are supported:

fd Any standard I/O-attached diskette drive

scdisk Any SCSI-attached disk (including serial-link disk drives)

badisk Any direct bus-attached disk (Model 320 only)

cd Any SCSI-attached CD-ROM

rmt Any SCSI-attached tape device

ent Any Ethernet adapter

tok Any Token-Ring adapter

fddi Any Fiber Distributed Data Interface adapter

<snip>

When a specific device is to be included in the device list, the device's
logical name (used with system management commands) must be specified.
This logical name is made up of a prefix and a suffix. The suffix
is generally a number and designates the specific device. The specified
device must be in the Available state. If it is not, the update to
the device list is rejected and this command fails. The following
devices and their associated logical names are supported (where the
bold type is the prefix and the xx variable is the device-specific
suffix):

fdxx Diskette-drive device logical names

hdiskxx Physical-volume device logical names

cdxx SCSI CD-ROM device logical names

rmtxx Magnetic-tape device logical names

entxx Ethernet-adapter logical names

tokxx Token-ring adapter logical names

fddixx Fiber Distributed Data Interface adapter logical names

<snip>

Attention: Care must be taken in specifying the possible boot devices.
A future reboot in Normal mode may fail if the devices specified in
the device list become unbootable. A diskette boot is always available
when the keylock is in the Service position. The system must not be
powered off or reset during the operation of the bootlist command.
If the system is reset, or power fails at a critical point in the
execution of this command, a checksum error can cause the system setup
information in battery-backed-up RAM to be lost.

The file specified by the file variable should contain device names
separated by white space:

hdisk0 hdisk1 cd1

or one device per line:

hdisk0
hdisk1
cd1


-- 
Received on Tue Apr 24 2001 - 14:45:17 BST

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