Review the following information before you perform the
checkout procedure for diagnosing hardware problems.
- Read the safety information that begins on Safety.
- The diagnostic programs provide the primary methods of testing
the major components of the server, such as the system board, Ethernet
controller, keyboard, mouse (pointing device), serial ports, and hard
disk drives. You can also use them to test some external devices.
If you are not sure whether a problem is caused by the hardware or
by the software, you can use the diagnostic programs to confirm that
the hardware is working correctly.
- When you run the diagnostic programs, a single problem might cause
more than one error message. When this happens, correct the cause
of the first error message. The other error messages usually will
not occur the next time you run the diagnostic programs.
Exception: If multiple error codes or light
path diagnostics LEDs indicate a microprocessor error, the error might
be in the microprocessor or in the microprocessor socket. See
Microprocessor problems for information about
diagnosing microprocessor problems.
- Before you run the diagnostic programs, you must determine whether
the failing server is part of a shared hard disk drive cluster (two
or more servers sharing external storage devices). If it is part of
a cluster, you can run all diagnostic programs except the ones that
test the storage unit (that is, a hard disk drive in the storage unit)
or the storage adapter that is attached to the storage unit. The failing
server might be part of a cluster if any of the following conditions
is true:
- You have identified the failing server as part of a cluster (two
or more servers sharing external storage devices).
- One or more external storage units are attached to the failing
server and at least one of the attached storage units is also attached
to another server or unidentifiable device.
- One or more servers are located near the failing server.
Important: If the server is part of a shared hard
disk drive cluster, run one test at a time. Do not run any suite of
tests, such as "quick" or "normal" tests, because this might
enable the hard disk drive diagnostic tests.
- If the server is halted and a POST error code is displayed, see POST error codes. If the server is halted and
no error message is displayed, see Troubleshooting tables and Solving undetermined problems.
- For information about power-supply problems, see Solving power problems.
- For intermittent problems, check the error log; see Event logs and Diagnostic messages.