The error "BIOS corruption detected" may be caused by a faulty CPU on the Sun Blade[TM] x6250 server

Asset ID:	1-72-1021121.1
Update Date:	2012-07-04
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1021121.1 : The error "BIOS corruption detected" may be caused by a faulty CPU on the Sun Blade[TM] x6250 server

Applies to:

Sun Blade X6250 Server Module - Version Not Applicable to Not Applicable [Release N/A]
All Platforms
***Checked for relevance on 04-Jul-2012***

Symptoms

The error "BIOS corruption detected" may be caused by a faulty CPU on the Sun Blade[TM] x6250 server

Cause

The error "BIOS corruption detected" may be caused by a faulty CPU on the Sun Blade x6250 server

Solution

It has been observed on the Sun Blade x6250 server that when the platform fails to boot and video is not present on the system console, that a CPU replacement may be required.
On checking the service processor logs, if the error "BIOS Corruption detected" is observed then a CPU replacement may be required.

Re-flash of ILOM and BIOS as well as a Blade motherboard replacement may not solve the problem and may mask the failure. 


Only after replacing the boot strap CPU (BSP) is the problem often solved. The boot strap CPU, often CPU0 is responsible for downloading, 


decompression and executing BIOS from a PROM into RAM. If the CPU is faulty, then this process of downloading and executing BIOS may produce a 


"BIOS Corruption detected" error as the BIOS code is being executed incorrectly.





Event logs below provide a sample of the problem as it presents itself to the user and what a normal boot should look like without the error:



Logs when system boots properly:

1230   Thu Oct 23 23:08:46 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   90 : 10/23/2009 : 23:08:46 : System ACPI Power State : ACPI : S0/G0: working
1231   Thu Oct 23 23:09:12 2009  Audit     Log       minor
KCS Command : Set Serial/Modem Mux : channel number = 0 : MUX setting get MUX setting : success
1232   Thu Oct 23 23:09:13 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   91 : 10/23/2009 : 23:09:13 : System Boot Initiated : BIOS : Initiated by warm reset
1233   Thu Oct 23 23:09:13 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   92 : 10/23/2009 : 23:09:13 : System Firmware Progress : BIOS : Primary CPU initialization
1234   Thu Oct 23 23:09:13 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   93 : 10/23/2009 : 23:09:13 : System Firmware Progress : BIOS : Secondary CPU Initialization
1237   Thu Oct 23 23:19:43 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   94 : 10/23/2009 : 23:19:43 : System Firmware Progress : BIOS : Video initialization
1238   Thu Oct 23 23:20:01 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   95 : 10/23/2009 : 23:20:01 : System Firmware Progress : BIOS : Memory initialization
1239   Thu Oct 23 23:20:02 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   96 : 10/23/2009 : 23:20:02 : System Firmware Progress : BIOS : Option ROM initialization



Logs when there is no display in the system:

1213   Thu Oct 22 22:20:48 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   7a : 10/23/2009 : 22:20:48 : System ACPI Power State : ACPI : S0/G0: working
1214   Thu Oct 22 22:21:11 2009  IPMI      Log       critical
ID =   7b : 10/23/2009 : 22:21:11 : System Firmware Error : sensor number= 0x00 : BIOS corruption detected.




After BIOS corruption there is no initialization of CPU, memory, VIDEO and options ROM's and video is not seen on console.



The most common reason for the error "BIOS Corruption detected" is when the BIOS file has been corrupted during download. 


After attempting to download a new copy BIOS and flashing the BIOS on the x6250, consider replacing the boot strap CPU if the error keeps 


presenting itself before any other hardware changes are made.

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