HP Visualization Center sv6 Troubleshooting Manual

troubleshooting guide

hp visualization center sv6

Manufacturing Part Number: A6062-IE002

Edition: E1001

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4

Contents

1. troubleshooting your hp visualization center sv6

architecture overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

isolating problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

troubleshooting the hp workstation j6000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

wide field displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

stereoscopic viewing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

troubleshooting tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

1. Verify Physical Connections and Cycle Power First . . . . . . . . . . . .16

2. Installation Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

3. Problems Powering Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

4. Boot Time Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

5. Network Attachment Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

6. Serial Port Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

7. I/O Device Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

8. Software Installation Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

9. One of the Workstations Doesn’t Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

10. File Configuration Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

11. X server or Window Manager Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

12. sv6 Specific Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

13. Compositor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

14. 10/100 BaseT Switch Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

15. Gigbit Ethernet LAN Software Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

16. Gigabit Ethernet LAN Hardware Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

17. No Display (black screen). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

18. Display Looks Incorrect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

19. Stereo or Flat Panel Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

20. Unexpected Performance Decrease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

21. Using the DigiSwitch to Narrow Down Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

5

Contents

6

1 troubleshooting your hp

visualization center sv6

The purpose of this Guide is to help you either identify the correct action
to take to resolve sv6 problems yourself or to gather information to give

Chapter 1 7

troubleshooting your hp visualization center sv6

to your HP Technical Consultant.
The “Architectural Overview” section gives you an overall picture of the

sv6 system layout. The “Isolating Problems” section takes you through
general steps that resolve common startup issues. The “Troubleshooting
Tree” provides more technical details for resolving hardware turn-on or
component problems.

If you’ve already narrowed the problem down to one of the sv6
components, proceed directly to the corresponding topic in the
“Troubleshooting Tree” section.

NOTE Every effort was made to make sure this information was complete at the

time it was printed. However, additional information and
troubleshooting tips may have become available after this guide was
printed. For the very latest information, please visit the

http://www.hp.com/workstations/support web site.

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architecture overview

architecture overview

The sv6 scalable visualization architecture consists of three main blocks:

• An OpenGL/X server distribution front-end,

• a rendering pipeline and

• image composition.
The distribution front-end is responsible for:

• Interacting with the user or application to define the current
operating mode - accelerate, full scene anti-aliasing via jitter
(sub-pixel movement), or full scene anti-aliasing via fx10
supersampling.

• Setting up the screen partitioning.

• Buffering the OpenGL commands for transmission to the rendering
pipelines.

• Augmenting the buffered data with information to assist accelerated
rendering.

• Performing any 2D X server requested rendering. In addition to
containing the 2D X server rendering, this stream also fills the 3D
windows with a chroma key value that the Compositor uses much like
a write-enable to overlay the 3D rendering into the final output
stream.

The rendering pipelines are responsible for:

• executing a buffer of OpenGL commands in the context of a
sub-portion of the screen.

The image compositor is responsible for:

• Taking digital video streams produced by the pipelines and
integrating them into a single image.

• During the integration operation, it can optionally down-sample the
data (super-sample mode) or sum the streams and average them
(jitter mode).

In addition to these main blocks, there is de-bugging support and
connections between the main blocks. For convenience of direct access

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troubleshooting your hp visualization center sv6

architecture overview

without extra I/O devices for processes such as debugging, there is a
Digi-terminal server. To conveniently access each HP J6000, they are
connected to a LAN. The ProCurve switches pass the protocol to the
Gigabit networking. All of these components are shown in the diagram
below.

Figure 1-1 sv6 Architecture

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isolating problems

isolating problems

This section covers the basic steps for seeking technical assistance with
the HP visualization center sv6 solution. Its purpose is to help you
gather essential information about your problem for the HP Technical
Consultant. For more specific information on troubleshooting
components, refer to the appropriate section of the “Troubleshooting
Tree.”

If you need direct technical consulting, you will be asked about the
measures you’ve already taken to address your problems. Please keep
track of them carefully.

It will be helpful if you isolate your problem to one of the following
components, prior to contacting the HP Technical Consultant:

• HP J6000 Workstations

• Wide Field Display

• Stereoscopic viewing aid

• Compositor

• Network

1.Power down all electrical hardware including any interface boxes.
Then, power up in this order (from Workstation out to display):

• Compositor

• Workstations

• All network switchboxes and hubs

• Monitor or Wide Field Display output devices

• Stereo equipment
If this does not clear up the condition, proceed to Step 2.

2.If you are using standard monitor(s) as your output device, proceed to
Step 4. Detach the Workstations from the Wide Field Display and
ensure that appropriate console monitors are directly attached to the
graphics adapters.If the same problem can be seen on direct monitors
versus the Wide Field Display, proceed to the “Troubleshooting HP
Workstations” section.

3.If a visual problem shows up on the Wide Field Display but not on the
attached Workstation consoles (this includes stereo viewing modes),
proceed to the “Wide Field Display” section.

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isolating problems

4.If visual problems such as image jumping, red or green sections, or
other noise occur, proceed to the “Display Looks Incorrect” section
(#18) in the “Troubleshooting Tree.”

5.If the problem concerns the stereoscopic viewing option, determine if
the following is true on your sv6 systems. Check to see if:

• all cables are properly connected,

• all batteries are healthy and properly installed,

• emitters (if any) are switched on,

• master/slaves are appropriately software-configured
If,after applying all of these checks and the simple_stereo application

(/opt/graphics/OpenGL/demos/stereo/simple_stereo.c)
fails to display in stereoscopic mode, check the following:

• Does stereo appear on a console monitor but not on your Wide

Field Display? - proceed to “Wide Field Display” section.

• Have you substituted alternate stereo equipment and still no

stereo effect? - proceed to “Stereoscopic Viewing” section,

If simple_stereo application does not appear in stereo on your
console monitor, then you should proceed to the “Troubleshooting HP
Workstations” section.

If simple_stereo appears in stereo but your third party application
fails under the same conditions, consult the technical support for that
vendor application.

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troubleshooting the hp workstation j6000

troubleshooting the hp workstation j6000

To determine which systems are causing problems, run:
/opt/graphics/OpenGL/sv/bin/setpipes -test

Each number in the test program matches one of the slave nodes. For
example, if rectangle #3 is black, do the following steps on the SV3 (slave
node #3).

If nothing appears on the display, the problem is likely on the master
system. Proceed to the “Troubleshooting Tree.”

1. To isolate the problem, configure your suspect system to run as a
stand-alone Workstation. To temporarily configure this way:

• Go to init level 2 on the master node

• Log in to the suspect system

• Execute:

cd /etc/X11/
cp X0screens tmp.X0screens

• Then edit the /etc/X11/X0screens file to contain only the following

line:

Screen /dev/crt

• Un-comment the following lines in the /etc/X11/X0devices file:

NULL first keyboard
NULL first pointer

• Go to init level 3 on the suspect Workstation.

2.Reboot the suspect Workstation(s).

3.If the problem persists, report a Workstation or HP-UX configuration
problem to HP Support.

4.If the problem disappears on a stand-alone configuration, proceed to
Section 1 of the “Troubleshooting Tree,” then submit a 3D SLS/d
problem with Hewlett-Packard as directed by your current HP
Support Contract.

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troubleshooting the hp workstation j6000

5.Use your standard support process for contacting Hewlett-Packard
Customer Support as defined by your HP Support Contract. Define
the symptoms and troubleshooting information to expedite resolution
of the problem.

6.If 3D SLS/d is suspected, your HP Support contact will instruct you to
check your file configurations, log files, or run swlist to gather other
HP diagnostics information.

wide field displays

Here are general procedures for HP-compatible Wide Field Display
options for multi-channel configurations. Follow the installation
procedures recommended by the vendor of your Wide Field Display.

Common possible problems encountered with projectors and other Wide
Field Display devices:

• System console lock-up.

• No image from projectors.

• Screen geometry misaligned or incorrect.

1.System console lock-up.

❏ Control of mouse or keyboard?
❏ If Yes - perform a safe shutdown, cycle power on the Compositor

and reboot the master system.

❏ If No - cycle power on the Compositor, then use reset button or

power-cycle the master system to reboot.

❏ If failure persists, contact the display vendor.

2.No image from display device.

❏ Are all devices powered on?
❏ If Yes - proceed.
❏ If No - power up.
❏ Are they in a ‘sleep’ mode?
❏ If Yes - take out of sleep mode and proceed.
❏ If No - proceed.
❏ Do you get output if you attach a standard monitor?
❏ If Yes -contact display vendor.
❏ If No - proceed to the “Display Looks Incorrect” section of the

“Troubleshooting Tree”

3. Screen geometry misaligned or discolored.

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troubleshooting the hp workstation j6000

❏ Do you see the same problems when you attach a monitor?
❏ If Yes - proceed to the “Display Looks Incorrect” section of the

Troubleshooting Tree.

❏ If No - contact display vendor.

For all other Wide Field related issues, contact the vendor.

stereoscopic viewing

1.Attempt to resolve the problem by following the steps in the “Stereo
or Flat Panel Display Problems” section of the “Troubleshooting
Tree.”

2.If you have problems with stereo equipment, contact the vendor for
further assistance.

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troubleshooting tree

troubleshooting tree

These topics are arranged in the relative order of things that MUST
happen for everything to work correctly up to that point. Start at the
subheading where you think you’re having problems and continue down
the list to try to methodically narrow down the problem.

In some cases, going through these steps will resolve the problem. In
other cases, the tree will suggest that hardware components be replaced
or that existing documentation for that component be used to do further
trouble shooting.

1. Verify Physical Connections and Cycle Power First

• Because the sv6 solution requires so many cables, there is a high
possibility of the cables slipping out, or being attached incorrectly.

❏ Check for complete attachment of cables.
❏ Check for correct cabling on each J6000; use this connection

diagram:

Figure 1-2 J6000 Connection Diagram

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troubleshooting tree

❏ Match labels on components to labels on cables.
❏ Make sure all Power Distribution Units and power switches are

ON.

❏ On components that were recently worked on, reseat or tighten:

✓ Cards
✓ Thumb screws (large screws that fasten the Workstation cases)
✓ Adapters
✓ Connectors
✓ PCI cages
✓ Covers
✓ Cables

• Turn everything (including the Compositor) OFF, then back ON in
this order:

❏ Compositor
❏ Master system
❏ All hubs and network switch boxes
❏ Slave systems

2. Installation Checklist

Use this review to check the critical steps used to install the system at
your site. It summarizes details given in the Installation section of the

sv6 Installation/User’s Guide.

• Install optional display devices or other peripheral hardware for each
Workstation.

• Tosee what version of the X Window software you have and the build
date, run:

what /usr/bin/X11/X

The build date should be May 30, 2001 or later and should be exactly
the same on every Workstation in the visualization center.

• For each machine, independently localize it with hostname, IP
address, DNS, disk partitions and user.

• Log ins, etc. - ensure function is correct and network connectivity is
established before proceeding. Ping the other systems. Press Ctrl+C
to stop.
For example: ping 192.168.1.2

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troubleshooting tree

• Boot each Workstation and configure the network files (for example,
use setparms ip_address).

• Power up the Digi EtherLite serial port switch and configure it with
an IP address and automatically generated node device files
(/usr/sts/Install).

• Power up the Gigabit LAN switch. Default Gigabit hostnames and IP
addresses were pre-configured.

• Reboot machines when all are configured (master will boot in
/etc/init3).

• Connect stereoscopic equipment to the Compositor controller card ­enable stereo mode as documented in the sv6 Installation/User
Guide.

• Run cable and configuration verification test:

/opt/graphics/common/bin/setpipes -test

3. Problems Powering Up

• See the sv6 Site Prep Guide to verify:
❏ Your PDU must have the appropriate voltage and connector type

for your site.

❏ Power cords must have the proper connectors for your PDU.
❏ You must have the proper power and cooling facilities.

J6000 doesn’t power on

• If the digital output on the front of the machine is on, but the boot
doesn’t complete, see the “Network Attachment Problems” section.

• Tighten thumb screws on the Workstation.(On J6000s, it is under the
face plate on the front).

• Check the back of the Workstation to see if the fan is unobstructed
and turning.

• Swap with a known good power outlet (i.e. if monitor is getting power,
plug its cord into the J6000).

• Look at the Workstation’s digital display.
❏ Is the green backlight on with a little heart blinking on and off?

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troubleshooting tree

✓ If yes, the J6000 is powered up and may already be booted.
✓ From the master system in init 3, standalone Workstation

mode, use the following Digi EtherLite command to open a
connection to one of the slave systems via the RS232 port

/usr/local/bin/dinc /dev/digi/<slave_gigbit_hostname>

The Workstation may be set to output to a console instead of
one of the graphics cards or:

— press Enter to get a prompt in the terminal window.

❏ Watch for “FAIL” messages during the boot process.

• If any hardware components inside the Workstation were recently
added or replaced:

❏ Reseat cards.
❏ Check RAM (reseat, correct pairing and slot orientation if

additional RAM was added).

❏ Pull up PCI cage then reseat.
❏ Make sure stray wires or any other objects are not sticking into

fans.

❏ Firmly slide cover back onto the Workstation.
❏ Tighten thumb screws completely on the front of the J6000.

• Repeat sliding cover off then on again. All contacts on the case must
be touching the contact points on the machine for power to go on.

• If you don’t have a green light on the Workstation’s LAN cable, see
the “Network Attachment Problems” section.

• Refer to HP J6000 documentation for further assistance.
❏ A hard copy was included as part of your system.

• Report this to HP Support as a J6000 hardware problem.
❏ If you see any LEDs through the back of the Workstation case,

you’re getting power. Be sure to mention this to HP Support.

4. Boot Time Problems

• The first time the systems are booted, the master is typically booted
and configured BEFORE the slaves get booted.

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troubleshooting tree

❏ Manually configure LAN0 (the 10/100 BaseT network) by running

/sbin/setparms initial on the master node.

✓ Login to each system one at a time.
✓ Edit the /etc/hosts and etc/rc.config.d/netconf file.
✓ Add in the new hostnames and IP addresses you wish to use. A

block of contiguous IP addresses is recommended for ease of
use.

✓ See the File Configuration section of the sv6

Installation/User’s Guide for syntax and file contents.

✓ NOTE: If the hostnames in /etc/hosts are changed, the

hostnames and IPs must also be changed on LAN1 in
/etc/rc.config.d/netconf.

✓ NOTE: Do not change the IP_ADDRESS[1]="192.168.1.x"

entry in /etc/rc.config.d/netconf. This is the static IP
address for the Gigabit Ethernet Card in the switchbox.

• Verify that 10/100 Base-T hostnames and IP addresses are registered
at your site.

❏ Verify that the same IP address is NOT being used by another

machine.

❏ Watch the digital displays on the front of the Workstations to

verify that:

✓ the system shows you have firmware 4.8 or later,
✓ the little heart ‘beats’,
✓ the display has green backlight.

• If you get network FAIL errors during boot time, check with the
system administrator to verify that all network configurations are
correct.

❏ For NIS or NFS failures see the “Networking Attachment

Problems” section of this document.

❏ Get to a prompt and run set_parms addl_netwrk
❏ Verify that all of the settings are correct for your site:

✓ Hostname
✓ IP
✓ Subnet mask
✓ Gateway IP
✓ Local domain name
✓ DNS server IP address (optional)

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troubleshooting tree

✓ NIS domain name (optional)
✓ NIS server name or address (optional)

• If you don’t see a green LED on the Workstation’s 10/100 LAN cable,
see the “Network Attachment Problems” section.

• If you can’t get to a prompt, see the “Network Attachment Problems”
section, and look up HP-UX 11.0 documentation at

http://www.docs.hp.com.

• If CDE doesn’t come up at boot time, go to:
— init:2

— init:4

❏ If that doesn’t work, at the init 2 main menu prompt, type:

X:0

This will start up an X server. You should see a gray pattern
(called root weave) on the monitor. Press Ctrl+C to exit.
Did you see the root weave pattern?
If Yes - Try another Window Manager i.e. run the

/var/opt/ignite/sps/sv6files/startX0script

to see if mwm works. If so, you may have a CDE problem.
If No - Go to the “X server” or “Windows Manager Problems”
section of this document.

• If you see just a black screen.
❏ Make sure your output device (monitor) is plugged into the

Compositor and that all DVI cables connect the Compositor to the
graphics cards on the Workstations.

❏ Make sure all Workstations, monitors, and other components in

the rack are powered ON.

• For more assistance refer to HP-UX 11.0 ACE or J6000
documentation at www.hp.com/workstations/support and

www.docs.hp.com.

• Report boot problems to HP Support as HP-UX 11.0 ACE 64 bit on
J6000.

5. Network Attachment Problems

• If your systems can talk to each other, but not to the sites’s network:

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troubleshooting tree

❏ Verify that all hostnames and IP addresses are registered at your

site.

❏ From a remote system, verify that nslookup and ping work for

each of the systems. You should get output similar to this example:
nslookup sv1

Name: sv1
Address: 192.168.1.1

ping sv1 NOTE: press Ctrl+C to exit
PING sv1: 64 byte packets
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0. time=0. ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1. time=0. ms

----sv1 PING Statistics---­5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0%
packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 0/0/0

❏ Using set_parms addl_network, verify that all of the

networking configuration numbers are correct.

✓ Hostname
✓ IP
✓ Subnet mask
✓ Gateway IP
✓ Local domain name
✓ DNS server IP address
✓ NIS domain name
✓ NIS server name or address

❏ Verify that the NFS server is running and the correct NIS domain

is set:

✓ go to init4
✓ ps -ef|grep nfs
✓ You should see something similar to:

root 635 0 0 16:50:26? 0:00 nfskd

✓ If not, run SAM, Networking and Communications,

— NIS - verify that the correct domain is set

✓ Choose:

Networked File Systems, Exported Local File Systems, Actions
Menu, Enable NFS Server

❏ Ifthey’re not found (ping: unknown host or nslookup:***

No address information is available for sv1)

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troubleshooting tree

✓ Use set_parms addl_netwrk to check your configurations

as described above.

✓ Check the LED indicator for the LAN cable connection on the

Workstation to make sure it is powered on.

✓ Try a known good LAN tap (plug in one that worked with

another system).

✓ Check with your system administrator.

• Verify that nslookup and ping work for each of the systems.

• If the systems can’t see each other.
❏ Create an /etc/exports file on the master with hostnames

(separated by a space) of all systems in the sv6 configuration.

❏ Then run:

/sbin/exportfs -a

❏ Verify that the green link lights on the cards in the Gigabit

Ethernet switch(es) are all ON. Only cards without cables should
have the link lights off.

❏ If link lights for one of the cards is OFF, proceed to the Gigabit

Ethernet sections.

• From the master, ping each of the slaves.
❏ If there’s no response, use set_parms to check your network

configurations.

• Using the

sv6 Installation/Users Guide

, check the IP
addresses and hostnames in the following files:
/etc/hosts
/etc/rc.config.d/netconf

• See the Gigabit Ethernet Problems section if you believe the problem
is on the local fast LAN.

• See the “10/100 Base T Switch Problems” section if you can’t ping the
sv6 systems from other systems on the network.

6. Serial Port Problems

• By default, the Compositor is on serial port2 of the master system. If
you move the Compositor to any other serial port you must specify the
port’s address in the /etc/X11/X0screens file. i.e.:

ScreenOptions
SlsdCompositorSerialPort <port_name>

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troubleshooting tree

where <port_name> can be /dev/tty0p0, /dev/tty1p0, or any
other valid serial port name.

• The Digi EtherLite Switch allows access to each of the Workstations
in the configuration. It is connected to each slave node on serial port1
using an RJ4S to RS232 adapter. Verifythat connection lights on both
ends of the cable are ON.

7. I/O Device Problems

• Keyboard and mouse don’t work.
❏ Go to init2 and see if the keyboard works at the prompt

If not, swap with a known good keyboard and mouse.

• Interference/noise on the screen.
See the “Compositor Problems” section.

8. Software Installation Problems

• Check installation logs for ERROR messages.
❏ Look at

/var/adm/sw/swinstall.log, swmodify.log, swreg.log
and swremove.log for warnings or errors during patch updates.

❏ swremove and swinstall any .depots that had errors.
❏ Enable the Reinstall options under the swinstall Options menu.

• Check the log file in swinstall window for errors.

• Watch the reboot process to make sure no red FAIL indicators occur.

❏ If there are NFS or NIS failures:

✓ See “Network Attachment Problems” or “Gigabit LAN

Problems” sections.

❏ If the system panics follow the directions on the screen to get back

to a normal state.

❏ If there are kernel errors, revert to the previous kernel and try

your process again.

❏ If kernel problems persist, backup any data that you don’t want to

lose, then ignite the system using the EasySetup CD and sv6
Recovery CD or your backup images.

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• There is an automatic check in the HP X server that will verify that
certain “key” libraries are consistent across all sv6 slave systems. If
they don’t match, a warning will be printed to the screen and the list
of files will be printed to the log files along with other errors.
Look at:

/var/X11/Xserver/logs/X0.log and /var/dt/Xerrors

❏ Update all systems in the visualization center sv6 to the latest

graphics patches as directed in the sv6 Installation/Users Guide.
The patch versions must be exactly the same on all Workstations.

9. One of the Workstations Doesn’t Work

Try to narrow down the problem using the other sections in this
document If you feel that there is something wrong with hardware inside
of the Workstation, contact HP Support.

10. File Configuration Problems

• There are a series of files that need to be customized in order for your
sv6 system to work properly.

• Follow the instructions in the sv6 Installation/Users Guide to verify
that the following files are properly customized.

11. X server or Window Manager Problems

• See the documentation for your specific window manager or HP X
server at www.hp.com.

• Ctrl+Shift+Break to restart the X server.

• Press ESC if you see any red warning symbols during X server
startup.

• If you get RPC errors:
❏ Verify that the SLS/d daemon is running on all Workstations:

ps -ef|grep SLSd_daemon
root 1388 1 0 16:57:45? 0:00
/usr/bin/X11/SLSd_daemon

• Remote login and check to see if the daemons (ps -ef | grep

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SLDd_daemon) or X servers (ps -ef |grep X) are running.

— Kill any X servers or SLSd_daemons (kill -9 <pid number>)
— Manually start daemon (/sbin/init.d/slsd start) and then

switch to init state 3 (init3).

— Verify that slsd daemon and X servers are running.

• Check X server log files and startup screen for clues about what
might be wrong:

/var/dt/Xerrors (on master)
/var/X11/Xserver/logs/X0.log (on master)
/var/X11/Xserver/logs/X*.log (on all systems)

• Try resetting the Window Manager:
As root:

init2
init3

• Try starting an X server by hand from command line:

init2
/usr/bin/X11/X :0

Press <Ctrl Shift + Break> to get back to the prompt.

• Try starting the X server on the Workstation that you suspect is
having problems:

❏ On the master, go to init2.
❏ Login to the Workstation you wish to test:

cd /etc/X11/

❏ If an X0screens file exists, move it aside:

mv X0screens X0screens.save

❏ Create a new /etc/X11/X0screens file with ONLY the

following line:

Screen /dev/crt

❏ Run /usr/bin/X11/X :0
❏ If a gray weave pattern appears:

✓ Log in to the master remotely from another system and run:

/usr/bin/X11/mwm &

✓ Right click to bring up a terminal window and verify that the

mwm windows manager works.

✓ If mwm works, there is probably a CDE-specific problem.

❏ If the screen comes up with no prompt and line of yellow bars at

bottom:

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✓ Call HP Support and report an sv6 X server problem.

NOTE Only one graphics card per Workstation is supported for sv6

configurations.

12. sv6 Specific Software Problems

• Graphics software patches must be the same across all master and
slave systems.

❏ If you get version mismatch errors at x server start-up, update

graphics patches on all systems (see sv6 Installation/ Users
Guide).

• Red check marks at X server startup screen.
❏ Check /etc/X11/X0screens file for typos or invalid

configurations.

❏ Troubleshoot the first system with a red check mark.
❏ Other check mark colors:

White: Slave system has been contacted
Yellow: Slave has been configured for use in SLS/d or sv6
Blue: Slave X server has been started
Green: Slave X server has been reached and communication has
been established
Red: Error

sv6 startup error and warning messages

Master Error Messages:

• Duplicate Slave entries detected in X*screens file.
Edit /etc/X11/X0screens and look for two slave nodes that have

the same hostname.

• Invalid number of Slaves for current mode of operation.
Run /opt/graphics/OpenGL/sv/bin/setpipes to set a screen

layout that is appropriate for your configuration.

• Bad default visual detected for one or more Slaves.

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This is a bit mismatch or a graphics card mismatch.

• Invalid number of Visuals detected for one or more Slaves.
This is a bit mismatch or a graphics card mismatch.

• SLS/d Extension major version mismatch in one or more

Slaves.

Update all Workstationsto the latest graphics patches as described in
the sv6 Installation/User's Guide.

• Internal error: cannot set mode.
Bad SLS/d Monitor Configuration specified in X*screens file. Use a

different video timing file, or remove all Video timing information
from /etc/X11/X0screens to return to default resolution.

• Cannot run Scalable Visualization with only one Slave.
Put the hostnames of the other slave nodes back into

/etc/X11/X0screens.

• Could not recover from Compositor Reset.
Reboot the master and cycle power on the Compositor.

• One or more Slaves failed to start.
Look at the front of each Workstation to determine which slave didn't

start. Refer to the “J6000 doesn't Power On” section.

• One or more Slaves are down or unresponsive.
Look at the front of each Workstation to see if any have errors. Refer

to the “Boot Time Problems” section.

• Compositor communication has been lost.
Cycle power on compositor and reboot master

• Internal error: call technical support.
Call Technical Support as directed in your HP Support Plan.

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Master Warning Messages:

• Graphics card mismatch in one or more Slaves.
Mixing heterogeneous graphics cards is not supported by sv6. If

you've added one, remove the non-standard card.

• SLS/d Extension minor version mismatch in one or more

Slaves.

Update all systems to the most current version of graphics patches as
directed by the sv6 Installation/User's Guide.

• OpenGL and/or cursor performance may not be optimal with

installed patches.

Update all systems to the most current version of graphics patches as
directed by the sv6 Installation/User's Guide.

• Failed to initialize the Scalable Visualization Compositor.
Check all power and cable connections to Compositor.

• Invalid Compositor Input/Output card combination.
Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem

• One or more Compositor cards missing FPGA programming.
Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem

• One or more Compositor cards may have corrupt FPGA

programming.

Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• Bad data transfer from Compositor Controller card.
Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• Bad data transfer to Input/Output card.
Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• Video signal integrity problem detected.
Call Technical Support.

• Compositor reset detected.
Reboot master machine.

• Compositor Output Card is in the wrong slot.

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Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• One or more Compositor Input Cards are in the wrong slot or

missing.

Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• Graphics library mismatch in one or more Slaves.
Update all systems to the most current version of graphics patches as

directed by the sv6 Installation/User's Guide.

• Compositor firmware mismatch. Results may be unpredictable.
Call Technical Support with Compositor hardware problem.

• Serial port does not have the correct permissions.
See the “Serial Port Problems” sections.

• Video Timing file uses obsolete syntax. Cannot set video

timing.

See /etc/X11/X0screens to find out which video timing file is being
referenced. Edit the video timing file to resolve issues or use one of
the templates from
/usr/lib/X11/Xserver/misc/slsd/videotiming.

• Internal warning...
Check the log files at /var/dt/Xerrors and

/var/X11/Xserver/logs/X*.log for errors.

13. Compositor Problems

The Compositor has LEDs that show its status.

• LED1 ON = Compositor ready
❏ If LED 1 on the front of the Compositor doesn’t turn on after about

5 minutes, verify that the graphics card on the Workstation, to
which it is connected by serial port, is being detected.

✓ /usr/bin/graphinfo
✓ If you get an ‘Unable to open device file’ message, contact HP

Support with a graphics card problem.

✓ Cycle power on the Compositor and wait for LED1 to turn on,

then reboot the master system.

• Compositor card LEDs:

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❏ Green - Working and connected.
❏ Yellow - Not connected. Check connections on all cables from the

DVI input card of the Compositor to the graphics card in the
Workstation.

❏ Red - Uninitialized or error.

Cycle power on Compositor and master Workstation.

• The green LED light on the Compositor’s serial port will be on if it is
working properly.

❏ The Compositor is connected to serial port2 on the master system

by default. If this has changed, refer to the “Serial Port Problem”
section.

• Note: Do not cycle power on the Compositor while the X server is
running. If this happens by accident:

1.Assuming both the master Workstation and the Compositor are
both on, cycle power on the Compositor first.

2.Wait for LED1 on the front of the Compositor to turn on.

3.Re-boot the master.

• Verify that the Compositor is plugged into serial port2 of its master
system.

• Refer to “Display Looks Incorrect” section.

• Refer to the Compositor documentation.

14. 10/100 BaseT Switch Problems

If you can’t log in to slave systems using 10/100 hostnames, but you can
log in from the master system using Gigabit hostnames:

• Verify that the green LEDs are illuminated on both ends of all
network cables.

• If green LEDs are on, see the “Network Attachment Problems”
section.

15. Gigbit Ethernet LAN Software Problems

If you can’t log in from the master to the slave systems using Gigabit
hostnames, but you can log in remotely using 10/100 hostnames:

• If the link lights on the cards in the Gigabit LAN switchbox aren’t
ON.

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❏ Watch for failures during boot up:

✓ NIS failures:

Run set_parms addl_netwrk and configure the settings for

your site.

❏ As root, run swlist and make sure that the Gigabit Ethernet

driver is installed, for example:
A4929A 1000Base-SX PCI Gigabit Ethernet (for copper)

❏ Obtain the latest driver patch from HP Support.
❏ Verify that your /etc/hosts and /etc/rc.config.d/netconf

files have hostnames that are matched to the IP addresses in the
netconf file. Each Workstation has two hostnames and IP
addresses. One set is for the private Gigabit LAN (sv*,

192.168.1.*) and the other is for site wide 10/100 LAN. See the File
Configuration section of the sv6 Installation/Users Guide for
details.

16. Gigabit Ethernet LAN Hardware Problems

• If the link lights on the ProCurve 8000 switch cards are OFF,
verify that the PCI Gigabit Ethernet driver is enabled on each
Workstation.

❏ Run HP’s System Administration Manager (SAM).
❏ Select: Networking and Communications.
❏ Select: Network Interface Cards.
❏ Select the one listed as lan1, i.e.:

1000Base-T lan1 10/6/3/0 Enabled 192.168.1.16

❏ If it is not enabled, select Actions menu, enable.
❏ If there is no lan1 entry, contact HP Support to get help

re-installing the Gigabit EtherNet driver.

17. No Display (black screen)

• Verify the following:

❏ All video cables are firmly attached.
❏ Workstations, output device, and Compositor are powered on.
❏ Compositor’s LEDs for all connectors where there’s a DVI cable

connected to a graphics card are green.

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• Check /etc/X11/X0screens
❏ If you’re using a monitor timing file, verify that it is spelled

correctly and contains valid settings for your output device.

• The default is 1280 X 1024 at 75 Hz for sv6. The graphics cards on
each system automatically get set to the same monitor type that is
being used by the Compositor. Change monitor type using the SLSd
video timing options in the /etc/X11/X0screens file

• To verify that the output from your graphics card is working:
❏ Plug a monitor directly into the fx10 card’s analog connector.

Note: The narrower connector is analog, the wider one is digital

❏ If not there already, go to init3.
❏ If you get normal output on the screen, proceed to the

“Compositor Problems” section.

• If you don’t get normal output from one graphics card, call HP
Support and report that there may be something wrong with your
graphics card.

18. Display Looks Incorrect

Symptoms covered by this section deal with incorrect rendering to the
screen. For example, there might be a bad region of the screen while the
rest of the screen looks normal.

• Verify that all of the systems have EXACTLY the same versions of
Hewlett-Packard X server and OpenGL graphics patches.

❏ Verify that the X server and OpenGL patch versions installed on

all Workstation are the same:

what /opt/graphics/OpenGL/lib/libGL.1
what /usr/bin/X11/X

ALL machines MUST have the exact same dates for the X version
and for the libGL.1 version.

• To identify which pipe is displaying a “bad” section:

❏ Run /opt/graphics/OpenGL/sv/bin/setpipes -test
❏ Unplug one DVI cable at a time (The cables that connect the

graphics cards to the Compositor input cards)
The section associated with the disconnected cable will turn red.

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TIP

Break your large cluster of systems into smaller clusters to isolate the
problem. For example:
If you have an 8-pipe system, comment out four of the names.

If you have a 16-pipe system, use the comment character (#) to ignore

eight of the hostnames in /etc/X11/X0screens.

• Symptom: One of the setpipes -test rectangles is red.

❏ One section of the screen is red:

✓ The Compositor is not receiving a signal for that pipe.
✓ Check output from that 3D pipe by attaching monitor directly

to output channel for that pipe.

✓ If output from pipe is correct make sure cables and input cards

are plugged in properly.

❏ The entire screen is red:

✓ Check the outputs from 3D pipes. If they are working, check

the Compositor cables and cards.

• Symptom: One of the setpipes -test rectangles has a
checkerboard effect.

❏ This happens if you’ve used the setpipes tool to choose an x or y

offset that doesn’t fill the entire screen space.

❏ Run /opt/graphics/common/bin/setpipes -grid to go

back to a standard pipe rectangle layout.

• Symptom: setpipes -test rectangles look like they’re out of order
or image sections do not line up correctly.

❏ Verify that the 3D slave machines are plugged into the Compositor

correctly.
✓ Make sure the labels on the cables match the labels on the

Compositor.

✓ Add the screen option SlsdCompositorShowConfigurationBrief to

/etc/X11/X0screens.
Remove this option when you’re finished troubleshooting.

✓ Restart X server:

Ctrl+Shift+Break

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✓ Use the Compositor configuration diagram that appears to

verify that the DVI cables are connected to the Compositor in
the correct order.

• Symptoms: Some of the screen rectangles display images that flash
randomly.

❏ Verify that all stereo synch cables are attached.
❏ Verify that there is a complete chain of synch cables starting at

the master system and ending at the last slave system.

❏ Make sure all graphics card have stereo synch cables attached.
❏ Starting from the Workstation that is rendering the bad pieces,

verify that there is no space between the plastic pieces connecting
the synch cables (y connector) to the graphics card and to the
extender cable that plugs into the y connector.

• Symptom: Flickering or tearing of the image pipes.
❏ On each system, run:

what /usr/bin/X11/X
what /opt/graphics/OpenGL/lib/libGL.1

❏ By comparing the dates in the output, verify that all systems have

exactly the same version of X and libGL.1.

• Symptom: Sparkles on the image being displayed.
❏ Call HP Support and report an sv6 Compositor problem.

19. Stereo or Flat Panel Display Problems

• If you’re running a stereo timing file and the screen goes black:
❏ Double check to make sure there are no typos in the timing file

entry in /etc/X11/X0screens or in the .vid timing file to which
it points.

❏ For flat panel displays, add the following line to the bottom of the

/etc/X11/X0screens file and comment out any other timing
files:

/usr/lib/X11/Xserver/misc/slsd/videotiming/flat.vid

❏ Create the flat.vid file with these lines:

width: 1280
height: 1024
frequency: 60
dvi: 1

Verify these settings, then increase the frequency as needed.

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20. Unexpected Performance Decrease

• Do not install graphics card in slot 1 if using Firmware version 4.8 or
higher on your j6000 Workstation.

❏ To check version of firmware:

reboot
check the first line that appears
...or from the sti boot prompt, enter in fw

• See the “Optimization” section of the sv6 Installation and User’s
Guide for more details.

21. Using the DigiSwitch to Narrow Down Problems

• On the master system; open a terminal window.

• Use the dinc command to attach to the Workstation(s) where there
are problems.

/usr/local/bin/dinc /dev/digi/<slave.gigabit.hostname>

• The Digi EtherLite Terminal server is configured to access each
Workstation’s serial port via the 10/100 BaseT switch.

• This will allow you to see everything happening on the slave system
without having to plug in a mouse, keyboard and monitor.

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