Diagnostic Monitor user interface
Options menu options

About the Options menu

The six test options in the Diagnostic Monitor are as follows:

Options
Count <number>	(loop selected diagnostic<s> <number> of passes)
Loop <yes \| no>	(loop selected diagnostic(s))
Status <yes \| no> (print status messages)
Stop <yes \| no>	(stop-on-error / keep running)
Xtnd <yes \| no>	(extended tests / regular tests)
Mchk <auto \| off \| on \| halt> (machine check control)

Count and loop options

The following table describes the count and loop options.

Count and loop options

Description

count <number>

You can control how many loop passes are executed.

The count option works only when looping is enabled.

Example

To limit an internal or external loopback test to six loop passes, you would enter:

count 6

loop no (default)

Looping is disabled. Terminates session at the end of a pass. Does not continue to loop continuously.

loop yes

Looping is enabled.

The test run loops continuously or for the specified number of loop passes, if you set the count option.

Enabled looping applies to the all and run commands.

When you enable looping with loop yes, you can also specify the number of loop passes with count <number>.

Example

To enable looping, you would enter the following command:

loop yes

**Diagnostic looping enabled

The system response tells you looping is enabled.

Example count and loop options

The following example enables looping and sets the number of loop passes to six:

loop yes
**Diagnostic looping enabled
count 6

Status option

The following table lists the status option settings.

Status option	Description
status yes (default)	Displays the diagnostic status in detail.
status no	Displays the diagnostic status in a brief sentence.

Stop option

The following table lists the stop option settings.

Stop option

Description

stop yes
(default)

When diagnostics discovers an error, it stops at the end of a complete loop pass. The error is logged to the console terminal. If the stop option is enabled, the diagnostic stops execution at the end of a complete test pass.

stop no

When diagnostics discovers an error, it continues running.

You can run additional tests and continue to encounter additional errors.

Xtnd option

Extended mode applies only to tests that are marked with the Xtnd label. There are two possible settings, described in the following table.

Xtnd option

Description

xtnd no (default)

In this test mode, called normal test mode, you are testing the system component within the inner boundaries of the unit.

xtnd yes

In this test mode, called extended test mode, you are testing the physical media outside the unit.

Note: Although loopback plugs are required to run some FC-AL diagnostic tests, they are not required when the Fibre Channel loop has its own terminator.

Example of xtnd yes

This example shows xtnd yes and the system reminding you that you might need loopback plugs and warning you of the consequences of running xtnd yes with NICs.

xtnd yes
**Extended testing enabled
NOTE:  Some diagnostics require loopback plugs for complete test
operation and will indicate failures without these plugs!!

CAUTION: Do not run these diagnostics on network adapter cards with
live network connections.  Disconnect all network connections prior
to running network diagnostics in Xtnd mode.  Running with attached
networks can adversely affect other attached devices. Type 'xtnd n' 
to cancel Extended test mode.

Example of a test failure

This example shows a test failure when you have done the following:

Failed to prepare the FC-AL adapter with loopback plugs
Failed to set the xtnd yes test option
Selected 11--Loop integrity LRC test [Xtnd] in the FCAL test menu

ERROR DLH0020: FCAL loop is open. Check cables and associated hardware
FCAL loop test...........................................FAILED

See Error Messages, for a description of individual error messages.

Preparing to run a test in extended mode

To prepare for a test in extended mode that requires loopback plugs, complete the following steps.

Step	Action
1	Disconnect the system from the network and if applicable from a cluster.
2	Connect the loopback plugs to the card.
3	Enable extended mode from the Diagnostic test menu by entering its number: 93
4	Run the comprehensive test or the specific loop test.
5	Remove the loopback plugs after the test is completed.

Mchk option

The mchk (machine check) option enables you to control system behavior when the hardware detects a machine check error.

The four mchk settings are as follows.

Mchk option	When a machine check is detected, the system...
mchk auto (default)	Automatically chooses the best machine check control for the diagnostic. Usually it halts the diagnostic session. You can use non-default machine check settings in certain memory testing circumstances to aid in diagnosing hardware problems.
mchk halt	Halts the system immediately, going into a panic state. Reboot the system to continue running diagnostics.
mchk no	Silently ignores the error, unless it is fatal.
mchk yes	Does not halt diagnostic execution if memory parity/ECC errors or similar errors are detected. The system reports the machine check and resumes the diagnostic execution. The diagnostic can continue testing and analyzing all errors in the test pass, possibly providing a more accurate callout of memory DIMM failures.

Example

In the following example, you enable machine check with the mchk yes option.

mchk yes
**Machine checks enabled
 (Display memory machine checks and continue)

Options you can set at test menu level

You can set the loop, stop, and xtnd options not only at the Diagnostic Monitor menu level, but also at the individual test menu level.

For example, when you enter gbe to run diagnostics on the GbE card, the GbE Diagnostic test menu appears, offering the following test options:

91:	Enable/disable looping
92:	Stop/continue on error
93:	Extended/Normal test mode

You can also enable looping on the card by entering the number for the option:

See Diagnostics Menus for more information about individual diagnostic test menus.

Diagnostic Monitor user interface Options menu options

About the Options menu

Count and loop options

Example

Example

Example count and loop options

Status option

Stop option

Xtnd option

Example of xtnd yes

Example of a test failure

Preparing to run a test in extended mode

Mchk option

Example

Options you can set at test menu level

Diagnostic Monitor user interface
Options menu options