Method and computer program product for diagnosing and handing non-responsive device in a computer system
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsVeera Deenadhayalan, Parthiban Munusamy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and device for detecting and handling non-responsive devices in a computer system where the device non-responsiveness may be due to a powered-down status rather than a device failure, and more particularly to such computer systems when the devices are RAID disk drives. By scanning all devices connected in a configuration and maintaining a count of devices that time out without responding, a determination can be made as to whether the devices are powered off or are experiencing some other problem that requires attention of a system support technician.
Claims2
A method for handiling a powered down situation in a computer system, comprising:
- if a drive is selected and does not respond within a predetermined time interval, the selection process times out;
- if after selection there is no timeout, then operation is normal;
- if there is a selection timeout, but the drive is not part of the then current configuration operation is normal;
- if there is a selection timeout and the selected disk that times out is part of the drive configuration, then the SCSI bus is reset;
- initializing at a value equal to the number of configured disk drives;
- each drive is selected in turn to see if it responds within the timeout period;
- if it responds to the selection, operation is normal, but if the drive selection times out, the counter is incremented and additional drives are selected and tested until the counter is equal to the number of configured drives. If the counter reaches that value, then an installation abort occurs;
- if abort occurs this indicating that the drive cabinet must be powered off.
A device for identifying a power down situation in a computer, comprising:
- a device;
- a controller controlling said device;
- timing means for identifying a timeout condition for said device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.