Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
drive and is not bootable at the moment?

On 21 May 2007 09:53:57 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybillness@netzero.net> wrote:

>Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
>a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
>board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
>it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
>original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
>the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
>the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
>using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
>boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
>able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
>how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
>drive and is not bootable at the moment?

Did you move the 4 eprom chips from the old board to the new one

On May 22, 10:38 am, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> On 21 May 2007 09:53:57 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>
> >Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
> >a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
> >board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
> >it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
> >original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
> >the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
> >the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
> >using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
> >boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
> >able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
> >how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
> >drive and is not bootable at the moment?
>
> Did you move the 4 eprom chips from the old board to the new one

No, I haven't tried that yet. I thought about that, but since the old
eprom chips have the newest firmware on them, I figured it would
confuse the box even more. And I don't have the tool that you're
supposed to use to pry them off the board without damaging them. Is
there something else I can use instead of the "proper" tool? Thanks
for your help!

On 22 May 2007 09:48:03 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybillness@netzero.net> wrote:

>On May 22, 10:38 am, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>> On 21 May 2007 09:53:57 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>>
>> >Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
>> >a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
>> >board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
>> >it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
>> >original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
>> >the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
>> >the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
>> >using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
>> >boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
>> >able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
>> >how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
>> >drive and is not bootable at the moment?
>>
>> Did you move the 4 eprom chips from the old board to the new one
>
>No, I haven't tried that yet. I thought about that, but since the old
>eprom chips have the newest firmware on them, I figured it would
>confuse the box even more. And I don't have the tool that you're
>supposed to use to pry them off the board without damaging them. Is
>there something else I can use instead of the "proper" tool? Thanks
>for your help!

The tool is not expensive and can be bought at Radio Shack , but i use to use a very small allen wrench just be very
careful not to bend any of the pins

The eproms on your old one will match the firmware on the sytem planar and should allow you to come up . kind of odd the
the GSA level will not allow you to boot as it is suposse to be compatiable with all levels so that you can bring the
system up and do a mirco upgrade. Only thing i can think of is the GSA level possibly does not have support for a faster
processor card . this was quite common on 7044 when they allowed for 450mhz . you would replace asystem planar and also
have to bring along a 375mhz processor till you updated the firmware.

On May 22, 6:24 pm, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> On 22 May 2007 09:48:03 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >On May 22, 10:38 am, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> >> On 21 May 2007 09:53:57 -0700, Stephanie Echevarria <sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>
> >> >Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
> >> >a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
> >> >board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
> >> >it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
> >> >original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
> >> >the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
> >> >the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
> >> >using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
> >> >boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
> >> >able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
> >> >how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
> >> >drive and is not bootable at the moment?
>
> >> Did you move the 4 eprom chips from the old board to the new one
>
> >No, I haven't tried that yet. I thought about that, but since the old
> >eprom chips have the newest firmware on them, I figured it would
> >confuse the box even more. And I don't have the tool that you're
> >supposed to use to pry them off the board without damaging them. Is
> >there something else I can use instead of the "proper" tool? Thanks
> >for your help!
>
> The tool is not expensive and can be bought at Radio Shack , but i use to use a very small allen wrench just be very
> careful not to bend any of the pins
>
> The eproms on your old one will match the firmware on the sytem planar and should allow you to come up . kind of odd the
> the GSA level will not allow you to boot as it is suposse to be compatiable with all levels so that you can bring the
> system up and do a mirco upgrade. Only thing i can think of is the GSA level possibly does not have support for a faster
> processor card . this was quite common on 7044 when they allowed for 450mhz . you would replace asystem planar and also
> have to bring along a 375mhz processor till you updated the firmware.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

This explains so much!!! We have a 450 mhz processor and the error
that the box keeps stopping on is for the processor. Thank you so
much for all your help. I won't be able to work on this again until I
come back from California next week, but I will let you know how it
works out. Thanks again!

On May 23, 1:23 pm, Stephanie Echevarria <sybilln...@netzero.net>
wrote:
> On May 22, 6:24 pm, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 22 May 2007 09:48:03 -0700,StephanieEchevarria<sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>
> > >On May 22, 10:38 am, Andy <non...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> > >> On 21 May 2007 09:53:57 -0700,StephanieEchevarria<sybilln...@netzero.net> wrote:
>
> > >> >Hello everyone! I am having a problem with our IBM pseries 640. It's
> > >> >a machine type 7026 model B80. My problem is a few weeks ago, the I/O
> > >> >board went bad so I ordered a used part from a vendor and installed
> > >> >it. Unfortunately, the firmware on the new I/O board is factory
> > >> >original and now I cannot get the box booted at all. I can get into
> > >> >the service processor menu, and can even boot into the SMS menu, but
> > >> >the only option to upgrade the firmware from those menus involves
> > >> >using a diskette drive, which my 7026 does not have. I also tried to
> > >> >boot from media, unsuccessfully, because I'm assuming I won't even be
> > >> >able to do that until I get the firware issue corrected. Any ideas on
> > >> >how to upgrade the firmware on a box that doesn't have a diskette
> > >> >drive and is not bootable at the moment?
>
> > >> Did you move the 4 eprom chips from the old board to the new one
>
> > >No, I haven't tried that yet. I thought about that, but since the old
> > >eprom chips have the newest firmware on them, I figured it would
> > >confuse the box even more. And I don't have the tool that you're
> > >supposed to use to pry them off the board without damaging them. Is
> > >there something else I can use instead of the "proper" tool? Thanks
> > >for your help!
>
> > The tool is not expensive and can be bought at Radio Shack , but i use to use a very small allen wrench just be very
> > careful not to bend any of the pins
>
> > The eproms on your old one will match the firmware on the sytem planar and should allow you to come up . kind of odd the
> > the GSA level will not allow you to boot as it is suposse to be compatiable with all levels so that you can bring the
> > system up and do a mirco upgrade. Only thing i can think of is the GSA level possibly does not have support for a faster
> > processor card . this was quite common on 7044 when they allowed for 450mhz . you would replace asystem planar and also
> > have to bring along a 375mhz processor till you updated the firmware.- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> This explains so much!!! We have a 450 mhz processor and the error
> that the box keeps stopping on is for the processor. Thank you so
> much for all your help. I won't be able to work on this again until I
> come back from California next week, but I will let you know how it
> works out. Thanks again!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -


Yup, changing out the EEPROM's worked. thanks so much for the help!