Partition keeps booting to SMS

Technote

Symptom

A partition is rebooted and instead of booting to the AIX operating system, it will stop in SMS and require manual intervention to complete the boot process.

Resolving the problem

If the partition boot process stops at SMS, ensure you do not get any LED codes that indicate that no boot device was found. If the bootlist is not properly set or no boot device is found, the lpar will stop at SMS.
If you are able to select X to exit SMS and the boot process continues normally without having to select the boot device, there are some more things you can check.

1. Check that the partition's Boot Mode is set to Normal.

On the HMC V7 HMC, select the partition and go to Properties. In the settings tab, check that Boot Mode is not set to SMS. If it is set to SMS, you will need to bring down the partition and reactivate it with a profile that has boot mode set to Normal.



2. Check that the Multiboot Option is set to OFF in SMS
                      I.        Activate the partition in SMS and open a vterm.
                    II.        In the Main Menu, select #5 "Select Boot Options"
                   III.        Check #3 "Multiboot Startup". It should be set to OFF




3. Check that keylock position is not set to Manual

Select the managed system that has the partition you are working on and select Properties.
In the Power-On Parameters tab, make sure the Current Keylock position is not Manual. If so, set the Next Keylock position to Normal. Unfortunately, this will require the entire managed system be power cycled for the change to take effect.




4. For p5 systems, check the parent adapter of the boot disk and its adapter microcode

The following Ultra320 SCSI Adapter microcode levels have selection time-out problems w/ HUS10K DASD. This may cause a boot drive not to be seen during the boot process which would cause the system to boot to SMS.


CCIN/Feature Code
Microcode version
Adapter description
5702/1974
05080064
Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
5703/1975
05090066
Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Adptr
5709/1976
050D0067
SCSI RAID Enablement Card
2780
050E0064
Quad Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Adptr
573D/1908
05110048
SCSI RAID Enablement Card
570A/570B
050A0064
Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Integrated
573E
05100047
Dual Channel SCSI Integrated Cntrllr
NOTE:CCIN 573E includes the following part numbers which were built with this problem SCSI microcode:
SYSTEM FRUs
9111-285 39J4245
9131-52A 39J4240
9115-505 10N6679, 10N6688, 10N6696

If you have the Ultra320 SCSI Adapter at the microcode level listed above, you will need to update to the latest available microcode level for your given adapter or integrated controller. This will prevent occurance of the issue.
Since the adapters contain the boot disks, a Diagnostic CD and an ISO image CD containing the microcode image can be used to download microcode to an adapter in a system that will not boot to AIX/Linux. Instructions are contained in the various microcode READMEs.