FSP problems (Was: Src B200-8105 on early i5s.)

We lost the backplane/FSP in our 550 last Sunday over Labor Day weekend.
We had IPL'd one partition and the partition never came back. 

Operators paged me and when I got to the computer room (3am failures are
just so much fun!) I found the 550 showing B181 7201 and flashing to a
screen with F and all zeros.  Contacted IBM and they said the backplane
needed replacing.  Several hours later we had the part and replaced it.
Then we had a hell of a time getting the HMC to talk with the new FSP,
but when it did, the i5 550 was reporting it was a p Series model 720
(Open Power Linux box).  If I wasn't so tired, I might have found that
funny.  With the help of my Business Partner (George Lemen of Sirius
Computer Solutions - Thanks George!!) and several IBM Product Engineers,
we talked the 550 FSP out of that madness and convinced it to join the
world of the i5s.  After that we recovered the partition data and
flashed the FSP from i5/OS.  The whole recovery only took 17 hours (YES,
17 hours!!!!) from the time of the original call to my house.  

BTW, we had just purchased and installed this i5 550 on August 14th, so
it's a new system.  I have no idea how old the replace backplane/FSP
was.  Our HMC's were purchased at the same time.  

I don't know if my problem is related to Larry's story, but I thought
I'd share my misery from Labor Day weekend.  (:o)

Glenn 

Glenn Birnbaum
Platform Technology Services, REI
253-395-8206
"Get Outside Yourself":  http://www.rei.com


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Larry Bolhuis
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 10:48 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Src B200-8105 on early i5s.


Rob,

  It's not the code level that tells the tale.  The customer was at 
level 96 I believe before we updated to 143.  With 143 the enforcement 
took place for sure and the partitions failed. Going back to 96 they 
came up. The issue is that the VET codes that were generated and entered

into these older machines (at the plant) turn out to be incorrect. So 
when the codes finally get enforced the i5/OS partitions fail.

   - Larry

rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

>Larry,
>
>If you go into LIC code maintenance,  ..., View system information, 
>what
>do you have for 
> - E/C number
> - Installed Level
> - Accepted level
>
>Installed and Accepted are FSP's equivalent of A side and B side, or as
>you put it, T & P.
>
>I would think that an Early Ship customer would have a commitment to
>keeping current with these levels of service.  Perhaps it was a very
early 
>GA account.
>
>
>Rob Berendt
>  
>