Chapter 6. Basic Troubleshooting

This chapter provides the following sections to help you troubleshoot your system:

Troubleshooting Chart

Table 6-1 lists recommended actions for basic problems that can occur. To solve problems that are not listed in this table, contact your SGI system support engineer (SSE).

Table 6-1. Troubleshooting Chart

Problem Description

Recommended Action

The system will not power on.

Ensure that the power cords of all the sticks, switches and the head node are seated properly in the power receptacles.

Ensure that the PDU circuit breakers are on and properly connected to the wall source.

If all the power cords are plugged in and the circuit breaker is on, contact your SSE for additional guidance.

An individual stick enclosure will not power on.

Ensure the power cable of the stick is plugged in firmly at both ends and the PDU is powered on.

View the LED output on the rear of the power supply - if it shows amber (yellow) there may be a problem with the supply. Contact your SSE for additional guidance.

The system will not boot the operating system.

Contact your SSE.

The PWR LED of a stick's populated PCIe slot is not illuminated.

Reseat the PCIe card. If the problem is not resolved, replace the PCIe card or contact your PCIe supplier for additional guidance.

The Fault LED of a populated PCIe slot is illuminated (on).

Reseat the PCIe card. If the fault LED remains on, replace the PCIe card.

The red or amber LED of a disk drive is on.

Replace the disk drive.


LED Status Indicators

There are a number of LEDs on the system components that can help you detect, identify and potentially correct functional interruptions in the system.

The following subsections describe these LEDs and ways to use them to understand potential problem areas.

Power Supply LEDs

Each stick's power supply has a single bi-color (green/amber) status LED located between the power plug and supply fan.

The LED will either light green or amber (yellow), or flash green or yellow to indicate the status of the individual supply. See Table 6-2 for a complete list.

Table 6-2. Power Supply LED States

Power supply status

Green LED

Amber LED

No AC power to the supply

Off

Off

Power supply has failed

Off

On

Power supply problem warning

Off

Blinking

AC available to supply (standby) but stick is off

Blinking

Off

Power supply on (stick on)

On

Off

This type of information can be useful in helping your administrator or service provider identify and quickly correct hardware problems.