Power7 System Firmware

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• On systems running Dynamic Platform Optimizer (DPO) ,  a problem was fixed that caused an incorrect placement of dedicated processors for partitions larger than a single chip.  When this occurs, the performance is impacted over what would have been gained with proper placement.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• A problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump to be generated with SRC B18187DA "NETC_RECV_ER" logged.
• A problem was fixed that prevented 1100xxxx SRCs from being sent to the partitions.
• A problem was fixed that was caused by an attempt to modify a virtual adapter from the management console command line when the command specifies it is an Ethernet adapter, but the virtual ID specified is for an adapter type other than Ethernet.  The managed system has to be rebooted to restore communications with the management console when this problem occurs; SRC B7000602 is also logged.
• The Hypervisor was enhanced to allow the system to continue to boot using the redundant data chip on the anchor (VPD) card, instead of stopping the Hypervisor boot and logging SRC B7004715,  when the primary data chip on the anchor card has been corrupted.
• A problem was fixed that caused a migrated partition to have to rebooted on the target system.
• A problem was fixed that caused a performance loss after a configuration change, such as un-licensing a processor, because the Hypervisor is unable to dispatch a partition to a shared processor.
• A problem was fixed that may cause inaccurate processor utilization reporting.
• A problem was fixed that caused erroneous A70047xx SRCs to be logged that called out the Anchor (VPD) card.   This led to unnecessary replacements of the Anchor card.
  

• When switching between turbocore and maxcore mode, a problem was fixed that caused the number of supported partitions to be reduced by 50%.
• On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) partitions, a problem was fixed that may arise due to the incorrect handling of a return code in an error path during the logical partition migration (LPM) of an AMS partition.
• On systems running Dynamic Platform Optimization (DPO), a problem was fixed that caused the current DPO score for a partition to be incorrect.  When this occurs, it looks like DPO would not improve performance when in fact it would improve the performance.
  

• On systems in which there are no processors in the shared processor pool, a problem was fixed that caused the Hypervisor to become unresponsive (the service processor starts logging time-out errors against the Hypervisor, and the HMC can no longer talk to the Hypervisor) during a concurrent hot add/repair maintenance operation.  SRC B182953C will also be called home.
  

New Features and Functions

• Enablement of concurrent hot add/repair maintenance on 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• A problem was fixed that caused a card (and its children) that was removed after the system was booted to continue to be listed in the guard menus in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI).
• A problem was fixed that caused a firmware update to fail with SRC B1818A0F.
• A problem was fixed that caused a partition to become unresponsive when the AIX command "update_flash -s" is run.
• A problem was fixed that caused the service processor (or system controller) to crash when it boots from the new level during a concurrent firmware installation.
  
• A problem was fixed that can cause fans in the server to run at maximum speed and generate a serviceable event during system boot (B130B8AF, a predictive error with hardware callout) as a result of an incorrect calibration of a particular thermal sensor.
  
• A problem was fixed that caused system fans to be erroneously called out as failing with one or more of the following SRC's: 11007610,11007620,11007630,11007640, or 11007650.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRCs B70069F4 and B130E504 to be erroneously logged when a system was powered down.  This also results in I/O hardware being guarded out, and the hypervisor is not able to "unguard" the I/O hardware at runtime.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1812A40 to be erroneously logged; a memory DIMM  and the symbolic FRU AMBTEMP were listed in the FRU list.
  

• On systems running iSCSI, a problem was fixed that caused pinging from the iSCSI menu in the System Management Services (SMS) to fail.
• On a partition with a large number of potentially bootable devices, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to fail to boot with a default catch, and SRC BA210000 may also be logged.
• On a system running a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) operation, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to successfully appear on the target system, but hang with a 2005 SRC.
  
• On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused errors to occur when the memory assigned to the partition was changed.
• On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused the partition to stop functioning after certain operations.  When this problem occurs, the client partition may not power off.
  
• On a system using the modem/serial port on the service processor, a problem was fixed that caused a service processor dump (with SRC B181EF88 logged) to be erroneously generated when the connection was dropped.
• On systems that support all types of both memory and processor Capacity on Demand (CoD) operations, and on which CoD operations are frequently performed, the firmware was enhanced to reduce the number of informational SRC B7005300 logged.
• On systems with redundant service processors, a problem was fixed that caused the sibling service processor state to show up as "unknown" in the service processor error log if a code synchronization problem was detected after a service processor was replaced.
• On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, a problem was fixed that caused SRC B200F00F to be logged when the partition was resumed after hibernation.
• On a partition with the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled, the Hypervisor was enhanced to display (on the management console) the minimum maximum memory required to support the partition.
• On systems running AIX or Linux, a problem was fixed that caused a partition to fail to boot with SRC CA260203.  This problem also can cause concurrent firmware updates to fail.
  
• On systems with TurboCore processors and unlicensed processors, a problem was fixed that caused the output of the AIX lparstat command for "Active Physical CPUs in system" to be incorrect.
• On systems running Active Memory Sharing (AMS) partitions, a problem was fixed that caused the system to hang after an AMS partition was deleted or mobilized, combined with either an AMS pool resize or relocation of AMS pool memory.
  
• On systems with an I/O tower attached, the a problem was fixed that caused multiple service processor reset/reloads if the tower was flooding the System Power Control Network (SPCN) with bad data. 
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• A problem was fixed that caused an uncorrectable error (SRC B123E504) to be erroneously logged when 64GB DIMMs were installed in a system that already had 16GB or 32GB DIMMs.
• A problem was fixed that caused the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) to produce a core dump when changing the admin user password.
• A problem was fixed that caused SRC B1813221, which indicates a failure of the battery on the service processor, to be erroneously logged after a service processor reset or power cycle.
• A problem was fixed the caused the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to erroneously indicate that a partition was using hardware encryption and memory compression co-processors when those co-processors were not installed in the managed system.
• A problem was fixed that caused various parts to be erroneously guarded out when an ac power cord was unplugged when the system was powered on.
• A problem was fixed that caused invalid temperature sensor failures to be reported on memory DIMMs.  SRC B124B8A4 was logged when this problem occurred.
  

• On system running the Dynamic Platform Optimizer (DPO), a problem was fixed that caused an incomplete status output when using the "lsmemopt" HMC CLI command.  Specifically, the "requested" and "protected" sets of partitions will appear empty in the lsmemopt output, even though the user may have explicitly specified partitions in these sets on the optmem command.
  
• On systems running the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM), a problem was fixed that caused a memory leak when a vTPM-enabled partition was disabled, migrated, or deleted.
• On systems running IBM i, a problem was fixed that caused the P7+ random number generator to be unavailable.
• The Power Hypervisor was enhanced to insure better synchronization of vSCSI and NPIV I/O interrupts to partitions.
  

New Features and Functions

• Support for the 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems.
• On 9117-MMD and 9179-MHD systems, support for attachment of the F/C 5888 I/O drawer.
• Support for a new processor power-saving deep-sleep mode.
• Enablement of the encryption accelerator.
  
• Enablement of the compression accelerator.
• Support for Dynamic Platform Optimizer.
• Support for 0.05 processor granularity.
• The Hypervisor was enhanced to enforce broadcast storm prevention between the primary and backup SEAs (Shared Ethernet Adapters).  This fix requires VIOS 2.2.2.0 or later on all VIOS partitions with SEA devices.