BL890 i2 / c3000 enclosure help

[Gianluca Bonetti]

Hello

I recently got a cheap second hand BL890 i2 which I planned to install inside a c3000 enclosure I had sitting in a corner for years.
The C3000 powers up and detects very much of the four BL890 blades however, it fails to power them up and they show in "degraded" status.

I googled around and there's not very much information about these machines.
It seems I should update the firmware of the blades for being properly recognised.
The c3000 firmware is updated to hpoa497 version which seems to be the latest version (please correct me if I'm wrong)
I am now tring to locate the BL8x0 firmware bundle which should be named bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_lin.tar.gz or bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl_win.exe (one or the other, I can run both)
However I am an hobbyist in the OpenVMS area, so I don't have an HP support contract.

Do you know if this bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl is covered by HP support contract only?
Or any chance anyone of you know where to find it?
Hope someone with a BL8x0 i2 may know and help!
Very appreciated!

Cheers
Gianluca

[Robert A. Brooks]

On 9/8/2022 12:04 PM, Gianluca Bonetti wrote:

> Do you know if this bl8x0ci2_fw_bndl is covered by HP support contract only?

Yes, that is definitely available only to people with support contracts.

--

--- Rob

[E. Heuser]

What you can do is the following:
log into ilo and start the live log.
Then start to power on the board in the CM Mode via "pc on" in another
session. Look at the live log output that tells you where the problem
starts. I assume that the c3000 has not enough power.
Hope this helps
Eberhard

Am 08.09.22 um 18:04 schrieb Gianluca Bonetti via Info-vax:

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[Gianluca Bonetti]

On Thursday, 8 September 2022 at 21:50:06 UTC+2, vax...@googlemail.com wrote:
> What you can do is the following:
> log into ilo and start the live log.
> Then start to power on the board in the CM Mode via "pc on" in another
> session. Look at the live log output that tells you where the problem
> starts. I assume that the c3000 has not enough power.
> Hope this helps
> Eberhard

Hello Eberhard!
Thank you for sharing this information. I'll try it.

The C3000 is actually loaded with 6 power supplies, and they are showing as healthy.
Single BL460 Xeon modules do power up, even 8 together.
Maybe not enough power for Itaniums?
I'll check with these live logs, any more information logged there will be precious.

Thanks
Gianluca

[Robert A. Brooks]

On 9/8/2022 12:04 PM, Gianluca Bonetti wrote:

> Hello
>
> I recently got a cheap second hand BL890 i2 which I planned to install inside a c3000 enclosure I had sitting in a corner for years.
> The C3000 powers up and detects very much of the four BL890 blades however, it fails to power them up and they show in "degraded" status.

What happens if you separate the CPUs and try to power on a single IA64 blade,
rather than the conjoined BL890?

--

--- Rob

[vax...@googlemail.com]

If the board is broken:

I have two working BL860c i2 for sale. Let me know if you're interested.
I can offer a fair price.

Eberhard

[Gianluca Bonetti]

Hi!
The enclosure recognises them as being monarch and auxiliary, in not partnered configuration.

As this BL890 is coming from second hand market, it was missing the documentation.
I managed to find a document named "HP Integrity BL860c i2, BL870c i2, & BL890c i2 Server Blade Installation Guide" which I should use for setting it up properly.
It seems indeed I have to inser one at time, and let them get an IP address, then insert the other, and only when completed insert the front backplane.

Unfortunately, my holiday spare time finished and I'll have to go back to my real job in software development.
I'll come back to hardware playtime later on in september

Thanks for interest in my troubles! :)
I'll keep the group posted!

Cheers
Gianluca

[Gianluca Bonetti]

On Friday, 9 September 2022 at 18:25:05 UTC+2, vax...@googlemail.com wrote:
> If the board is broken:
>
> I have two working BL860c i2 for sale. Let me know if you're interested.
> I can offer a fair price.

Thanks Eberhard for this offer.
If it was before buying this BL890, then maybe yes, but now I have this and like to get it working.
As it's just an hobby, I don't *strictly* need one.
Will keep playing with this troubled server!

Thanks
Cheers
Gianluca

[Gianluca Bonetti]

On Friday, 9 September 2022 at 15:38:50 UTC+2, Robert A. Brooks wrote:

> What happens if you separate the CPUs and try to power on a single IA64 blade,
> rather than the conjoined BL890?

About this question, without the "BladeLink" each blade is seen as BL890i2, no monarch nor auxiliary.
I'll go for more tests in a couple weeks time, I think it's just configuration, probably don't need a firmware update.
Thanks!
Gianluca

[eh]

If the board is broken:

I have two working BL860c i2 for sale. Let me know if you're interested.
I can offer a fair price.

Eberhard

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[David Turner]

Reasons for not powering up  can be

1) bad Memory or memory in wrong order
2) CPU mismatch or cpu not seated  and
3) Missing interfaces

Example here. If you have a 8Gbit Fiberchannel card (mezzanine card)
installed you MUST have a physical interface installed at the back of
the C3000
Same goes for additional ethernet adapters, SAS etc. The hardware INSIDE
THE BL8xC server must have a connectivity path to the outside. If not
the server WILL NOT power on

DT

On 9/8/2022 12:04 PM, Gianluca Bonetti wrote: