PCA Serviceability Issue: Non-default Baud Rate Can Cause Unreadable Text on the SP Console (Doc ID 2299834.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 01, 2024

Applies to:

Purpose

Oracle PCA is delivered as an appliance: a complete and controlled system composed of selected hardware and software components.

The PCA software ships with the default baud rate set to 9600 on both the compute and management nodes.  A serviceability issue may exist when the default baud rate is changed incorrectly.  Unreadable text may be seen on the SP console.  The SP console may be non-responsive.  You, or an Oracle field engineer, may be unable to troubleshoot and/or interact with the node when needed. 

Unreadable text on the SP console is commonly a result of baud rate mismatch and is not normally caused by a fault on the motherboard or service processor. 

The default baud rate for the server node components is at three locations:

#1 - ILOM

From the /SP/console, you should see text during the entire boot up sequence, from power on, up to and including the login prompt. 
It is especially important at these key stages:
   Server BIOS
   LSI BIOS
   grub menu
   Login prompt

Examples

   Server BIOS
   - If directed by Oracle Support, you should be able to enter BIOS Setup via F2 or Ctrl-E

   Mgmt and Compute server nodes look similar to this
  

   LSI BIOS
   - If directed by Oracle Support, you should be able to enter LSI BIOS via Ctrl-H or Ctrl-Y

   Mgmt Node
     

   Compute Node
  

   grub menu
   - If directed by Oracle Support, you should be able to stop and/or edit grub
  
   Mgmt Node
  

   Compute Node
  

   OS launch
   (Shown here to verify OS starts and that you can see any errors if any are logged)

   Mgmt Node
  

   Compute Node
  

   Login prompt
   - If directed by Oracle Support, you should be able to login

   Mgmt and Compute nodes both will have login prompts similar to this
  

Examples of serviceability issues
You may not see POST errors, node faults, or any other error conditions.
You may not be able to interact with the node via the keyboard when needed.

Complete unreadable text or unknown characters shown
You never see any readable text.  System and LSI BIOS are never shown. 
The grub screen is never shown.  The SP console is non-responsive to any keystrokes.

  

Partial unreadable text
Some text is readable whereas other text is not.  You may or may not see the system BIOS, LSI BIOS, or grub.
The SP console will start and may respond to ESC (
You may be able to run other SP CLI command, but when SP console starts it will only show unreadable text.
The SP console may be responsive to keystrokes but unreadable text will be shown.

One line
Only one line of readable text is seen followed by blank and/or non-responsive console screen.
The SP console is non-responsive to any keystrokes.

  

Troubleshooting Steps

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