RE: [Freeipmi-devel] Re: SEL datestamp 01-Jan-1970?

[Won De Erick]

Thanks for this clarification.

So now, it is most likely that the other problem (date is always late by one 
day on IBM x343) due to a firmware bug(?).

Let me share you the other problem that I've encountered, which had led me to 
suspect before that CMOS clock was not properly sync'ed. I hope you can give me 
more hints/explanations for me to come up with a conclusive findings.

1. Get the date/time in shell
   # date
   Fri Feb 13 14:20:20 PHT 2009

2. Rebooted the box, then entered BIOS config to verify date/time

System Time : 06:25:29        # seems correct, it runs at UTC (8hrs diff)
System Date : Fri 02/13/2009

3. Let the system up.
4. Unplugged the power cord to come up with a new event in SEL. I am using 
FreeIPMI v0.7.1 to retrieve the logs.

1724:01-Jan-1970 08:00:12:Power Supply Power Supply 2:Presence detected
1744:01-Jan-1970 08:00:12:Power Supply Power Supply 2:Power Supply input lost 
(AC/DC)  --------------> unplug the power.
1764:01-Jan-1970 08:00:12:Power Unit Power Redundancy:Entered from 
Non-redundant:Insufficient Resources
1784:01-Jan-1970 08:00:41:System Event System Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
1804:12-Feb-2009 14:27:50:System Event System Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
1824:12-Feb-2009 14:28:15:System Event System Event:OEM System Boot Event
1844:12-Feb-2009 14:29:53:System Event System Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
1864:12-Feb-2009 14:29:53:System Event System Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
1884:12-Feb-2009 14:31:55:System Event System Event:OEM System Boot Event 
-------------> datestamp incorrect

The datestamp '01-Jan-1970' should now be an indication of your explanations 
below. Does the datestamp '12-Feb-2009' being not updated to the correct date 
(13-Feb-2009) is a sign of a firmware bug?

Thanks again for your usual support.


--- On Tue, 2/17/09, Al Chu <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hey Andy,
> 
> Do you know if the phrase "Pre-init timestamp" is
> defined by some spec
> (maybe outside of the IPMI one)?  I remember seeing that
> ipmitool
> outputs this when the timestamp is 0, but is this really
> the right
> phrase or just what an ipmitool coder picked?  I do agree
> that perhaps a
> "Uninitialized" or atleast something else should
> be output instead of
> 01-Jan-1970.
> 
> Al
> 
> On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 12:50 -0800, Andy Cress wrote:
> > Won,
> > 
> > That date is actually a 0 value, meaning 0 seconds
> since 1-Jan-1970.  
> > Most of the time, the BMC stays running on 5V standby
> power, but if the
> > BMC firmware restarts (e.g. after input power is lost
> or unplugged), it
> > starts over and starts its clock value at 0 until BIOS
> comes up and
> > gives it the real clock value.  
> > So, you'd expect to see a "Pre-init
> timestamp" in this case because the
> > SEL shows that the input power was lost.  
> > 
> > Andy
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:
> address@hidden
> >
> [mailto:address@hidden
> On
> > Behalf Of Al Chu
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 12:34 PM
> > To: address@hidden
> > Cc: address@hidden; address@hidden
> > Subject: [Freeipmi-devel] Re: SEL datestamp
> 01-Jan-1970?
> > 
> > Hey Won,
> > 
> > Well, I don't know if "normal" is the
> right phrase to use :-)  From my
> > experiences, many motherboards do report incorrect
> timestamps.  FreeIPMI
> > simply parses whatever information is on the
> motherboard.  So if it is
> > given a bad timestamp, it will output whatever that
> timestamp equates
> > to.
> > 
> > Al
> > 
> > On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 08:29 -0800, Won De Erick wrote:
> > > Hi All,
> > > 
> > > it seems that the CMOS battery is just fine.
> I've replicated this to
> > several similar boxes.
> > > 
> > > Is this related to how freeipmi parses logs? or
> this is just normal?
> > > 
> > > Thanks in advance.
> > > 
> > > Won
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --- On Fri, 2/13/09, Won De Erick
> <address@hidden> wrote:
> > > > Hi Al,
> > > > 
> > > > I noticed the following erroneous datestamps
> when viewing
> > > > SEL.
> > > > 
> > > > #ipmi-sel
> > > > 144:08-Feb-2009 03:51:08:System Event System
> > > > Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
> > > > 164:08-Feb-2009 03:51:03:System Event System
> > > > Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
> > > > 184:08-Feb-2009 03:51:25:System Event System
> Event:OEM
> > > > System Boot Event
> > > > ...
> > > > 444:01-Jan-1970 08:00:11:Power Supply Power
> Supply 2:Power
> > > > Supply input lost (AC/DC)
> > > > 464:01-Jan-1970 08:00:12:Power Unit Power
> > > > Redundancy:Entered from
> Non-redundant:Insufficient Resources
> > > > 484:01-Jan-1970 08:00:50:System Event System
> > > > Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
> > > > 504:10-Feb-2009 11:45:09:System Event System
> > > > Event:Timestamp Clock Synch
> > > > 
> > > > I've replicated this to several
> machines. Though the
> > > > CMOS battery could be the potential reason,
> I want to know
> > > > if ipmi-sel is related to this, or has
> something to do with
> > > > this.
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > 
> > > > Won
> > > 
> > > 
> > >       
> > > 
> -- 
> Albert Chu
> address@hidden
> Computer Scientist
> High Performance Systems Division
> Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory