SOFTPAQ NUMBER:  SP30735
PART NUMBER:  N/A
FILE NAME:  SP30735.EXE
TITLE:  Systems ROMPaq Firmware Upgrade Diskette for HP ProLiant
        DL385 Servers.

VERSION:  4.03A

LANGUAGE:  English

CATEGORY:  ROMPaqs

DIVISIONS:  Systems

PRODUCTS AFFECTED:  HP ProLiant DL385

OPERATING SYSTEM:  ALL

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION:  N/A

PREREQUISITE:  N/A

EFFECTIVE DATE:  July 5, 2005

ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED:  Yes

SOFTPAQ UTILITY VERSION: 2.X

SUPERSEDES:  SP30415

DESCRIPTION:   This release provides updated system ROM images
               for the latest maintenance releases of HP
               DL385 Servers.


New Features -


        ProLiant DL385 ROM A05 (06/14/2005)
        ============================================

        IMPORTANT: If using Linux RHEL4, RHEL4 Update 1, SLES9 Service Pack 1, 
	           or SLES9 Service Pack 2, please see the information relating 
	           to Linux in Item 2 below. For these versions of Linux, time 
	           corruption issues may occur if certain steps are not taken. 
	           These issues are related to the PowerNow support available 
	           in these operating systems and are not unique to HP's 
	           ProLiant servers.
 
		1) Added support for dual-core 200-series AMD Opteron processors.

		2) Added support for OS control of processor performance states 
		   and HP's Power Regulator feature (using the AMD PowerNow 
		   technology) that allows customers to configure their server's 
		   power usage based on their needs. This server supports HP Power 
		   Regulator - Static Low Power Mode. OS control of processor 
		   performance states is supported if Power Regulator is
		   Disabled (default).
		
		   The features include:

		   HP Static Low Power Mode: This mode will reduce all installed 
		   processors' frequency (and voltage for certain processors) to 
		   reduce power usage. This mode will reduce performance in 
		   environments with high CPU utilization, but will have little 
		   to no performance affect for other environments. This mode is 
		   useful for customers whose environment has constrained power 
		   availability and need to guarantee a lower overall system power 
		   usage.

		   Power Regulator Disable (default): When HP Power Regulator is 
		   disabled, Demand Based Switching may be enabled under the 
		   operating system to provide processor performance states. The 
		   operating system will modify the CPU's frequency and voltage 
		   based on CPU Utilization. This feature can be enabled under 
		   Microsoft Windows 2003 Service Pack 1, RedHat Enterprise Linux 
		   (RHEL) 4, RHEL4 Update 1, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 
		   (SLES9) Service Pack 1. However, due to a "clock skew" issue 
		   (where system time is not kept correctly) HP recommends that 
		   PowerNow be disabled in RHEL4 (64-bit), RHEL4 Update 1 (64-bit), 
		   and SLES9 Service Pack 1 (64-bit). These operating systems 
		   do not have a work-around for the time corruption issues.  
		   Please see below information for important details for OS 
		   control of processor performance states including information 
		   on how to disable PowerNow.

		   Note: If using OS processor performance states, also known as 
		   Demand Based Switching, the following may be useful. This 
		   information is critical for customers using certain versions 
		   of Linux. The issues described below are not unique to HP 
		   ProLiant Servers.

		   Windows 2003 SP1:

		   - Windows 2003 SP1 supports AMD PowerNow with single-core
		     AMD Opteron processors. If using dual-core AMD Opteron
		     processors, a new processor driver is required which does
		     not ship with Windows 2003 SP1 base media. This driver is 
		     available from AMD.
		   - IMPORTANT: When using AMD PowerNow, the boot.ini file must 
		     be modified to add /usepmtimer. Although HP has not 
		     identified issues relating to not performing this step, 
		     AMD indicates this is a required step.
		   - Windows 2003 SP1 does NOT enable processor performance 
		     states by default. Use configuration options under the 
		     Control Panel to enable this feature.

		   Linux:

		   - OS control of processor performance states can be utilized 
		     with RHEL4 32-bit, RHEL4 U1 32-bit, and SLES9 SP1 32-bit. 
		     PowerNow support will be enabled by default. 
		     This is an OS policy.
		   - When using AMD PowerNow with any of the above operating 
		     systems, set clock=pmtmr. This prevents a time corruption 
		     issue. Since PowerNow is defaulted to enabled, this step 
		     must be performed.
		   - RHEL4 64-bit, RHEL4 U1 64-bit, and SLES9 SP1 64-bit do not 
		     support set clock=pmtmr. Since PowerNow is enabled by 
		     default, the user must disable PowerNow when using these 
		     operating systems to prevent time corruption issues. Disable 
		     PowerNow in the following manner:

		     In Red Hat, run:
			# chkconfig --level 12345 cpuspeed off
		        and reboot the server.

		     In SUSE, set:

			POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE="off" in the 
			/etc/sysconfig/powersave/common file and reboot the server.

		   - SLES9 SP1 32-bit will work without issue with single-core 
		     AMD Opteron processors. However, set clock=pmtmr must be 
		     used to prevent time corruption issues.
		   - RHEL4 32-bit and RHEL4 U1 32-bit require manual update
		     of configuration files to enable this feature. By default, 
		     PowerNow is NOT enabled due to this issue. If the user wishes 
		     not to utilize PowerNow, they do NOT need to set clock=pmtmr. 
		     If the user does wish to utilize PowerNow, they should set 
		     clock=pmtmr and do the following:

		        1. Edit the /etc/cpuspeed.conf file and replace:

		           #DRIVER = "powernow-k7" 

		           with the line:

		           DRIVER = "powernow-k8"

		        2. Restart the "cpuspeed" daemon using:

		           # service cpuspeed restart
 
		   - When using dual-core AMD Opteron processors with the current
		     Linux operating systems supporting PowerNow, an "out of synch"
		     error may occur. This is an erroneous error which does not 
		     actually cause an issue.
		   - HP expects RHEL4 U2 and SLES9 SP2 (available in the future) 
		     will address the above issues with AMD PowerNow. It is not 
		     yet known whether it will be required to set clock=pmtmr for 
		     these future operating systems. For the latest information 
		     regarding PowerNow support when using Linux, please visit 
		     the following link:
		       
		        http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/linux/powernow-notes.html

		3) Added support for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) models using the 
		   Smart Array P600 controller. The driver for this controller 
		   will be included in HP's exclusive ROM-based Virtual Install 
		   Disk eliminating the requirement for a floppy diskette with 
		   the SA P600 driver during a Windows 2003 install.

		4) Added an RBSU Option to enable/disable Page Directory Cache 
		   (PDC). By default PDC is enabled. This option allows working 
		   around an issue in some Linux kernel versions running in 
		   64-bit mode. PDC should ONLY be disabled if running in 64-bit
		   mode with RHEL4, RHEL4 Update 1, or SLES9 with errata kernel 
		   earlier than 2.6.5-7.151 or any kernel.org based kernel 
		   earlier than 2.6.12. Disabling PDC with these versions of 
		   Linux prevents a possible but rare possibility of a Machine 
		   Check Error. Newer versions of the Linux kernel will not 
		   require that PDC be disabled. 



Problems Fixed -


        ProLiant DL385 ROM A05 (06/14/2005)
        ============================================

	        1) Updated embedded PXE Option ROM to version 7.7.8. This 
		   Option ROM addresses an issue where the NIC could assert 
		   a spurious interrupt during PXE boots. If using a Smart 
		   Array 64X or Smart Array 6i controller with a firmware 
		   version prior to 2.36 and the previous PXE Option ROM, 
		   a lock-up or continuous reboot could occur when 
		   performing a PXE Remote Installation Services (RIS) 
		   installation of Windows.

		2) Automatically enabled a legacy floppy drive if installed
		   rather than requiring the customer to enable the floppy
		   using ROM-Based Setup (RBSU).
		               
		3) Resolved issue where the Broadcom PXE Option ROM did not
		   use the proper Universal Unique ID. This will not result in 
		   any issues unless a specific UUID is required. If the PXE 
		   server is configured to only download images to servers 
		   with specific UUIDs, then the PXE installation will not work 
		   properly if the UUID the PXE Option ROM is using does not 
		   match the one configured on the PXE server.




HOW TO USE:

1.  Obtain a formatted 1.44 MB diskette.

2.  Download the SoftPaq to a directory on your hard drive and change to that directory.
The file that is downloaded is SP30735.EXE.

3.  From that drive and directory, execute the SoftPaq file:
SP30735 [ENTER]
You will be prompted to place the formatted 1.44 MB diskette into a diskette drive to
create diskette.

4.  After the diskette is created, you may delete the downloaded file
SP30735.EXE if you wish.

Copyright 2005, Hewlett-Packard Company.  All rights reserved.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their
respective companies