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Hello!

I've got IBM RS/6000 (43P Model 150). Operating system (AIX 4.3.3) had
stopped to boot.
I'll describe boot sequence here:

Signals I can see on status LED are: E244.. E301.. E308, E24C, E216..
E19E, E1B6, E1BD, E1DB, E1DF ... E1FB (some CD-ROM activity at this
step), E1DC, E1F1 (here i can hear some sound from dynamic), E140,
E17B, E105, 0840.. 0517 (at this step monitor turns on), E42C (here
some backup dialog appears, it asks where I want to save system dump..
then monitor turns off again), 0517, 0553... 0686, 0828.. 0538, 0C32,
00C9 (some HD activity here). Then monitor turns on again and I see
this message at the screen:

**************
* Starting Desktop Login on display :0.
*
* Wait for the Desktop Login screen before logging in.
**************

And here is the deadend. I can see infinity cycle at status LED: 0888
(it flashes), 0102, 0700, 00C0, 0388 and then 0888 again.

I even can't boot from CD (AIX 4.3.3 Volume 1) -- it just ignores CD,
so I don't know what can I do. Please, advice me some solutions for
this problem.

Thanks!

Do you see the SMS menu, if you do, enter the boot settings and put
CD#1 in, and boot off that.

If you don't see SMS menu, when system is starting up press F1 or F5
constantly until you get the SMS menu.

Karma, the E1DC step is the point where the display console is
determined, and the E1F1 step is where the prompts appear on the
display console. Since you see nothing on your graphics display at
this point, it would appear that the first serial port is set as your
display console (system console). There are two simple approaches you
can follow at this point:

(1) Hook up a serial terminal (or a PC emulating a serial terminal) to
the first serial port. A "LapLink" or "Serial Data Transfer" cable is
a good choice to make the connection, since each end of the cable has
both 9-pin and 25-pin connectors, and the "null modem" wiring
configuration is correct for the RS/6000. IBM 3151 emulation would be
ideal, but the more common VT52/VT100 emulation will work almost as
well -- it's more than adequate for the task at hand. Boot up the 43P
and when E1DC appears, start tapping on the "1" key of your "serial
terminal". When you get the menu, pick Utilities (3), then pick Select
Console (7). A prompt should appear on both the "serial terminal" and
your graphics display, hit the key that appears on the graphics display
on your PS/2 keyboard, and the system will restart. When you reach the
E1DC/E1F1 step this time around, press F1 on your PS/2 keyboard and
you'll be able to set up to boot from CD.

(2) With the power cord unplugged, remove the backup battery from it's
holder, and leave it removed for 15-20 minutes. Put everything back
and boot the 43P, at the E1DC step you should get the display prompt on
your graphics display, and you would proceed as I described in the
previous paragraph. *HOWEVER*, there have been reports of 43Ps going a
bit "crazy" when the backup battery has been removed, and sometimes it
is difficult to get the system back into an operational state once this
has been done. If you are someone who always seems to have "bad luck",
I'd recommend using the serial terminal approach -- it takes longer to
set up, but it's "safer".

Your 0888 0102 0700 00C0 0388 0888 sequence indicates that your boot
sequence had a program interrupt crash code, and a dump was taken
successfully.

For additional helpful information, see the 43P Service Manual at
http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pser...pdf/380512.pdf

Rick Ekblaw