IBM AIX 7.2 – Common Problem 144 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Client LED freezes at `0c33` during `nim -o bos_inst` from a mksysb resource.

Environment & Reproduction

AIX 7.2 NIM master serving a mksysb to a Power9 LPAR over a 1GbE management VLAN.

Root Cause Analysis

Mksysb image was created with incompatible adapter ODM or NIM `bosinst.data` is missing.

Quick Triage

Run `lsnim -l ` on the master and capture client console LED progression.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect `/var/adm/ras/nim.log` and `/var/adm/ras/bosinst.log` on the client (via SMS recover).

Solution – Primary Fix

Regenerate `bosinst.data` with `nim -o define -t bosinst_data` and reattempt.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Recreate the mksysb with `mksysb -i -X -e /excl /mnt/mksysb.img` and reimport into NIM.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Client completes install, reboots to AIX, and `oslevel -s` matches the mksysb level.

Rollback Plan

`nim -o reset` and reuse the previous mksysb resource that worked.

Prevention & Hardening

Always pair mksysb resources with a matching SPOT and validated `bosinst.data`.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Pairs with LED `0c48`, `0c54`, and `0042-001` SPOT/lpp_source mismatch errors.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.2.

View all aix-7.2 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM Docs: NIM mksysb operations, `bosinst.data`, AIX 7.2 install LED codes.