Recovery from LED 552, 554, or 556 in AIX 3.1 or 3.2

Contents

WARNINGS:

• Please do not use this document if the system is a /usr client, diskless client, or dataless client.
• Do not use this procedure on an Andrew File System (AFS) file server. Doing so may remove all AFS file server data because fsck would be run on the AFS volumes.
• Voice support is no longer available for AIX Versions 3.x. Therefore, use of this document is at your own risk. If the directions provided do not solve the problem, then for reasons of time and the integrity of your AIX operating system, the best alternative may be to reinstall AIX.

Causes of an LED 552, 554, or 556

Summary of the recovery procedure

Procedure

1. Turn the key to the Service position.

2. With BOSboot diskettes or tape of the same version and level as the operating system, boot the system.
   
   

   WARNING: If you boot a 3.2 system with 3.1 media, or boot a 3.1
   system with 3.2 media, then you will not be able to use
   the standard scripts, getrootfs or /etc/continue, to
   bring your workstation into full Maintenance mode.
   

   Moreover, performing the scripts on a 3.1 system with
   3.2 boot media may actually remove some files and
   prevent your system from booting successfully in normal
   mode until missing files, such as /etc/mount and /etc/umount, are
   replaced on the disk.
   

   NOTES:

   • For information on BOSboot diskettes, refer to the product documentation.
   • If you are booting from diskettes, when you see LED c07, insert the next diskette. This may be the optional display extensions diskette (required for AIX 3.2.5) or the display diskette.
   • If you have AIX 3.2.5, used a fddi network install, and selected that option for the install device, you will need the communications extensions diskette. If this diskette is not available, you can build it from another system with fddi installed or call your branch office for assistance.

   NOTE: If you get a 552, 554, or 556 on this step, the diskette or tape is malfunctioning and the machine is trying to boot off of the fixed disk. Try it again with new BOSboot diskettes or tape.

   Follow the prompts to the installation/maintenance menu.

3. Choose the maintenance shell (option 5 for AIX 3.1, option 4 for AIX 3.2).

4. Determine the hdisk# to use with the getrootfs or /etc/continue command. If you have only one disk, then hdisk0 is the proper hdisk# to use. If you have more than one disk, do the following:
   • For AIX 3.2.4 or later:

     Enter the following command:

        getrootfs
     

     The output indicates the disk that should be used with getrootfs in the next step.

   • For AIX 3.1 to 3.2.3e:

     Enter the following command:

        lqueryvg -Atp <hdisk#> | grep hd5
     

     for each hdisk# (hdisk0, hdisk1, etc.) until you get output that looks like the following:

        00005264feb3631c.2  hd5 1
     

     The exact output you get will be different but will follow the form as follows:

        large_number.x  hd5 1
     

     You may find more than one disk with this output. These will all be disks which belong to the rootvg volume group. You may use any of the disks identified to be in rootvg in the following step.

5. Now access the rootvg volume group by running /etc/continue (for AIX 3.1) or getrootfs (for AIX 3.2). (# is the number of the fixed disk, determined in step 4.)

   For AIX 3.1 only, run

      /etc/continue <hdisk#> sh
   

   For AIX 3.2 only, run

      getrootfs <hdisk#> sh
   

   If you get errors from /etc/continue or getrootfs, do not continue with this procedure. First, correct the problem causing the error.

6. Run the following commands to check and repair file systems. (The -y option gives fsck permission to repair file systems when necessary.)

      fsck -y /dev/hd1
      fsck -y /dev/hd2
      fsck -y /dev/hd3
      fsck -y /dev/hd4
   

   For AIX 3.2 only, also run

      fsck -y /dev/hd9var
   

   If fsck indicates that

   • block 8 could not be read, the file system is probably unrecoverable. See step 7 for information on unrecoverable file systems.
   • block 8 could be read, but one of the following errors is given:
     fsck: Not an AIXV3 file system.
     fsck: Not a recognized file system type.
     then go to step 8.
   • a file system has an unknown log record type, or fsck fails in the logredo process, then go to step 9.
   • the file system checks were successful, skip to step 11.

7. The easiest way to fix an unrecoverable file system is to recreate it. This involves deleting it from the system and restoring it from a backup. hd2 and hd3 can be recreated but hd4 cannot be recreated. If hd4 is unrecoverable, you must reinstall AIX. For assistance with unrecoverable file systems, contact your local branch office or point of sale, or contact your AIX support center. Do not follow the rest of the steps in this fax.

8. Attempt to repair the file system with this command: (replace hd# with the appropriate file system)

      dd count=1 bs=4k skip=31 seek=1 if=/dev/hd# of=/dev/hd#
   

   Now skip to step 10.

9. A corruption of the JFS log logical volume has been detected. Use the logform command to reformat it.

   On AIX 3.1 only, run

      /etc/aix/logform  /dev/hd8
   

   On AIX 3.2 only, run

      /usr/sbin/logform /dev/hd8
   

   Answer YES when asked if you want to destroy the log.

10. Repeat step 6 for all file systems that did not successfully complete fsck the first time. If step 6 fails a second time, the file system is almost always unrecoverable. See step 7 for an explanation of the options at this point. In most cases, step 6 will be successful. In that case, continue to step 11.

11. With the key in Normal position, run the following commands to reboot the system:

       exit
       sync;sync;sync
       shutdown -Fr
    

    As you reboot in Normal mode, notice how many times LED 551 (be sure it is, 551, not 552) appears. If LED 551 appears twice, fsck is probably failing because of an unusable fshelper file. If this is the case and you are running AFS, see step 15.

    The majority of LED 552s, 554s, and 556s will be resolved at this point. If you still have an LED 552, 554, or 556, try the following steps:

12. Repeat steps 1 through 4.

13. For AIX 3.2, skip to step 14.

    For AIX 3.1 only, run the following commands, which will remove much of the system's configuration, saving it to a backup directory.

       exit
       mkdir /etc/objrepos/bak
       cp /etc/objrepos/Cu* /etc/objrepos/bak
       cp /etc/objrepos/boot/Cu* /etc/objrepos
    

    Determine which disk is the boot disk with the lslv command. The boot disk will be shown in the PV1 column of the lslv output.

       lslv -m hd5
    

    Save the clean ODM database to the boot logical volume. (# is the number of the fixed disk, determined with the previous command.)

       savebase -d /dev/hdisk#
    

    If you are running AFS, go to step 15. Otherwise, go to step 16.

14. For AIX 3.2 only, run the following commands, which will remove much of the system's configuration, saving it to a backup directory.

       mount /dev/hd4 /mnt
       mount /dev/hd2 /usr
       mkdir /mnt/etc/objrepos/bak
       cp /mnt/etc/objrepos/Cu* /mnt/etc/objrepos/bak
       cp /etc/objrepos/Cu* /mnt/etc/objrepos
       /etc/umount all
       exit
    

    Determine which disk is the boot disk with the lslv command. The boot disk will be shown in the PV1 column of the lslv output.

       lslv -m hd5
    

    Save the clean ODM database to the boot logical volume. (# is the number of the fixed disk, determined with the previous command.)

       savebase -d /dev/hdisk#
    

    If you are running AFS, go to step 15. Otherwise, go to step 16.

15. If you are running the AFS, use the following commands to find out whether you have more than one version of the v3fshelper file.

    For AIX 3.1:

       cd /etc/helpers
    

    For AIX 3.2:

       cd /sbin/helpers
    

    Then in both AIX 3.1 and 3.2,

       ls -l v3fshelper*
    

    If you have only one version of the v3fshelper file (for example, v3fshelper), proceed to step 17.

    If there is a version of v3fshelper marked as original for example, v3fshelper.orig, run the following commands:

       cp v3fshelper v3fshelper.afs
       cp v3fshelper.orig v3fshelper
    

16. WARNING: Please do not proceed further if the system is a /usr client, diskless client, or dataless client.

    Recreate the boot image (hdisk# is the fixed disk determined in step 13 or 14.):

       bosboot -a -d /dev/hdisk#
    

17. If you copied files in step 15, copy the AFS file-system helper back to v3fshelper. Enter:

       cp v3fshelper.afs v3fshelper
    

18. Turn the key to Normal position and enter:

       shutdown -Fr
    

If you followed all of the preceding steps and the system still stops at an LED 552, 554, or 556 during a reboot in Normal mode, then for reasons of time and the integrity of your AIX operating system, the best alternative may be to reinstall AIX.

[ Doc Ref: 90605189114744     Publish Date: Oct. 12, 2000     4FAX Ref: 1457 ]