MicroTCA Testing at Building 904

This twiki documents the procedure used to test the microTCA crates and their components using the racks in Building 904.

Crate Installation

• Obtain a bar code sticker, attach it to the crate, record the number and send it to Tina Vernon.

• Install the crate in a rack of your choice, preferably using support rails, and plug in the AC power. (Depending on where your crate came from, you may need to supply a cable that fits the local outlets.)

• Turn the crate on and check the output of its integrated DC power supply. It should be consistent with other working crates (~48 V, positive terminal on the right).

Power Module and MCH Installation

• Record PM and MCH serial numbers, then plug the PM into their appropriate slot in the crate (bottom-left).

• Connect the DC cable from the crate to the PM and switch on the crate.

• If nothing explodes, power off the crate and plug the MCH into its slot.

• Connect the top port of the MCH to the network via an ethernet cable.

Testing

• Turn the crate on.

• Telnet into it with "telnet 192.168.1.41".

• Read out the temperature and status of the PM; check that they look reasonable. Use show_sensorinfo command, where FRU is the FRU number of the desired part--the Power Module in this case. This will display assorted sensor information from the PM, including its temperature, the voltages it is outputting, and the currents on its various channels.

• Note: show_pm can also be used to see the status of the PM, including the currents. However, the currents this displays are not the same as those shown by show_sensorinfo. They appear to be the current "quota" for the given channels. Still, this can be useful for seeing what is plugged into a given channel.

• Change the IP address of the MCH:

• • telnet 192.168.1.41

• • use "ip" command to change the last block of numbers to the desired value (e.g. 192.168.1.31). Make sure the values are unique to each crate, and not in conflict with anything else on the network.

• Power-cycle the crate and confirm that you can telnet into it again using the new IP address.

• If successful, put a sticker on the front face of the MCH recording the newly assigned IP address.

• Check the stats again.

• If everything looks normal, leave the crate powered for several days, then check the stats once again.

• If everything still looks safe, you are done.

MCH Firmware Update

• Telnet into the crate: "telnet 192.168.1.##"

• Give the "update_firmware" command (no arguments), and when the prompt says "firmware>", give the IP address of the computer's NIC (not the crate), followed by a colon and the file, mch_fw.bin, which should be available globally, even if you do not have it in your local directory. This takes the form:

firmware>192.168.1.2:mch_fw.bin

• The output will be a few lines of dots, followed by a long list of notices of sectors being erased, followed by a couple of final checks. It should then return the prompt. The process will take a couple of minutes.

• Reboot with the "reboot" command.

• Wait a couple of minutes, check the version with the "version" command. If it is what was expected, you are done.

-- AlexeyFinkel - 24 Jul 2014