SSN1EGS4

Did you ever meet NO_BD_SOFT Alarm on your EMS4 and EGS4 borads

Summary:

The Micron memories on some SSN1EMS4 and SSN1EGS4 boards have processing issues, which cause the boards to report NO_BD_SOFT alarms during running.

[Problem Description]

Trigger conditions:

This issue is occasionally triggered after the board (listed in List of SSN1EGS4 Boards for Rectification and List of SSN1EMS4 Boards for Rectification) is powered on and goes online, and takes place during the site deployment phase in most cases.

Symptom:

1. The SSN1EMS4 and SSN1EGS4 boards occasionally report the NO_BD_SOFT alarm during running.
2. The SSN1EMS4 and SSN1EGS4 boards reset at a low probability during running and report the COMMUN_FAIL alarm.
3. When the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board is re-inserted, there is a low probability that the board cannot be started after being powered on and reports the COMMUN_FAIL or BD_STATUS alarm.

Identification method

Any board that belongs to one of the following board categories is prone to this issue:
1. SSN1EMS4 and SSN1EGS4 boards that are manufactured during the period from July 2013 to May 2014 and whose bar codes are listed in List of SSN1EGS4 Boards for Rectification and List of SSN1EMS4 Boards for Rectification.
2. Boards whose chips U45 and U46 have silkscreen “48LC16M16A2 -6A G” (Boards whose chips U45 and U46 have other silkscreen such as “48LC16M16A2 -75 D” are free from this issue.)

SSN1EGS4[Root Cause]

The memory chips of the SSN1EMS4 and SSN1EGS4 boards have processing issues. The CPU occasionally fails to read or write the SDRAM. If a memory fault occurs on a runtime board, the software integrity check may fail and a NO_BD_SOFT alarm may be reported, or a warm reset takes place and a COMMUN_FAIL alarm is reported. If a memory fault occurs on a re-inserted and powered-on board, the board fails to be started and a COMMUN_FAIL or BD_STATUS alarm is reported.

[Impact and Risk]

1. The NO_BD_SOFT alarm (occasionally reported when the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board is running) indicates a software check failure. The alarm does not affect services.

2. The warm reset and COMMUN_FAIL alarm (found at a low probability when the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board is running) do not affect services, but make the board unable to respond to configuration and query commands.

3. The board start failure and COMMUN_FAIL or BD_STATUS alarm (found at a low probability when the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board is re-inserted and powered on) cause service connection failures.

[Measures and Solutions]

Recovery measures:
The recovery measures are the same as the solution.

Workarounds:
No workaround is provided.

Solution:

For delivered boards, actively adopt the following rectification:

1. If a NO_BD_SOFT alarm is reported on a runtime board, upgrade the basic BIOS of the board to issue 2.36. (Issue 2.36 has been verified by the weak mapping test. Basic BIOS upgrade and activation do not affect board services.)
2. If a warm reset occurs and a COMMUN_FAIL alarm is reported on a runtime board, replace the faulty SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board.
3. If a powered-on board cannot be started and a COMMUN_FAIL or BD_STATUS alarm is reported, replace the faulty SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board.

Material handling after replacement:

Send the faulty boards to Huawei HQ for repair.

[Rectification Scope and Time Requirements]

Rectification scope: boards in List of SSN1EGS4 Boards for Rectification and List of SSN1EMS4 Boards for Rectification
Time requirements: Rectification must be completed before June 30, 2015.

[Rectification Instructions]

Board replacement: Replace the faulty board with a normal one, and ensure that the new board meets the version requirement.
Basic BIOS upgrade: Use the U2000 DC tool to load the basebios.hwx file of basic BIOS issue 2.36 to the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board, and activate the file. The file for the SSN1EMS4 or SSN1EGS4 board can be obtained from the board-level software package of NG SDH V100R010C03SPC215 (about to be released in June 2014).
For details about the upgrade procedure, see SSN1EMS4/SSN1EGS4 Basic BIOS Upgrade Guide. Note that only the basic BIOS needs an upgrade while the board software does not need.

[Require the PMI Tool or Not]

This issue does not require the PMI tool.

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