• DISRUPTIVE: HIPER/Pervasive:  A change was made to fix an intermittent processor anomaly that may result in issues such as operating system or hypervisor termination, application segmentation fault, hang, or undetected data corruption.  The only issues observed to date have been operating system or hypervisor terminations.
  
• A problem was fixed for a drift in the system time (time lags and the clock runs slower than the true value of time) that occurs when the system is powered off to the service processor standby state.  To recover from this problem, the system time must be manually corrected using the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) before powering on the system.  The time lag increases in proportion to the duration of time that the system is powered off.

• DEFERRED: HIPER/Pervasive:  A change was made to address a problem causing SAS bus errors and failed/degraded SAS paths with SRCs or SRNs such as these logged: 57D83400, 2D36-3109, 57D84040, 2D36-4040, 57D84060, 2D36-4060, 57D84061, 2D36-4061, 57D88130, 2D36-FFFE, xxxxFFFE, xxxx-FFFE, xxxx4061 and xxxx-4061.   These errors occur intermittently for hard drives and solid state drives installed in the two high-performance DASD backplanes (feature codes #EJ1M and #EJ1D).  This problem pertains to the 9009-41A, 9009-42A, and 9223-42H models only.   Without the change, the circumvention is to replace the affected DASD backplane.
  

New features and functions

• A option was added to the SMS Remote IPL (RIPL) menus to enable or disable the UDP checksum calculation for any device type.  Previously, this checksum option was only available for logical LAN devices but now it extended to all types.  The default is for the UDP checksum calculation to be done, but if this calculation causes errors for the device, it can be turned off with the new option.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER/Non-Pervasive:  A problem was fixed to address potential scenarios that could result in undetected data corruption.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for the USB port having the wrong location code assigned.  The "P1-T4-L1 USB DVD R/RW or RAM Drive" location code should be "P1-T3-L1".   The USB DVD still works correctly but reported location codes such as in error logs will have the wrong location code shown.  A previous fix for this problem in FW910.20 did not have the hypervisor portion of the fix, so the error still occurred after the fix was applied.
  This problem only pertains to IBM Power System models S914(9009-41A), S924(9009-42A), and H924 for SAP HANA (9223-42H).
• DEFERRED:PARTITION_DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for repeated CPU DLPAR remove operations by Linux (Ubuntu, SUSE, or RHEL) OSes possibly resulting in a partition crash.  No specific SRCs or error logs are reported.   The problem can occur on any DLPAR CPU remove operation if running on Linux.  The occurrence is intermittent and rare.  The partition crash may result in one or more of the following console messages (in no particular order):
   1) Bad kernel stack pointer addr1 at addr2
   2) Oops: Bad kernel stack pointer
   3) ******* RTAS CALL BUFFER CORRUPTION *******
    4)  ERROR: Token not supported
  This fix does not activate until there is a reboot of the partition.
•  A problem was fixed for an intermittent IPL failure with SRC B181E540 logged with fault signature " ex(n2p1c0) (L2FIR[13]) NCU Powerbus data timeout".  No FRU is called out.  The error may be ignored and the reIPL is successful.  The error occurs very infrequently.
• A problem was fixed for an IPMI core dump and SRC B1818601 logged intermittenly when an IPMI session is closed.  A flood of B1818A03 SRCs may be logged after the error occurs.  The IPM server is not impacted and a call home is reported for the problem.  There is no service outage for the IPMI users because of this.
• A problem was fixed for systems which were running at low processor frequencies and voltages because the High Frequency Trading (HFT) Policy had been selected(thereby disabling the On-Chip Controller (OCC)) but without IBM Support assisting to set the core nest frequencies to a maximum level.  Without the extra manual steps to set the core frequencies, the system defaults to Safe mode (lowest frequency and voltage) because it is running without the OCC.  With the fix, the High Frequency Policy menu is hidden in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) so that only the IBM Support representative can set the HFT mode while also setting the core frequencies to the maximum value that can be sustained on that specific system.
• A problem was fixed for a PCIe Hub checkstop with SRC B138E504 logged that fails to guard the errant processor chip.  With the fix, the problem hardware FRU is guarded so there is not a recurrence of the error on the next IPL.
• A problem was fixed for an incorrect SRC of B1810000 being logged when a firmware update fails because of Entitlement Key expiration.  The error displayed on the HMC and in the OS is correct and meaningful.  With the fix, for this firmware update failure the correct SRC of B181309D is now logged.
• A problem was fixed for deconfigured FRUs that showed as Unit Type of "Unknown" in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI).  The following FRU type names will be displayed if deconfigured (shown here is a description of the FRU type as well):
  DMI: Processor to Memory Buffer Interface
  MC: Memory Controller
  MFREFCLK: Multi Function Reference Clock
  MFREFCLKENDPT: Muti function reference clock end point
  MI: Processor to Memory Buffer Interface
  NPU:  Nvidia Processing Unit
  OBUS_BRICK: OBUS
  SYSREFCLKENDPT: System reference clock end point
  TPM: Trusted Platform Module
• A problem was fixed for certain SR-IOV adapters where SRC B400FF01 errors are seen during configuration of the adapter into SR-IOV mode or updating adapter firmware.  This fix updates the adapter firmware to 11.2.211.37  for the following Feature Codes: EN15,  EN17, EN0H, EN0J, EN0M, EN0N, EN0K, EN0L, EL38, EL3C, EL56, and EL57.
  The SR-IOV adapter firmware level update for the shared-mode adapters happens under user control to prevent unexpected temporary outages on the adapters.  A system reboot will update all SR-IOV shared-mode adapters with the new firmware level.  In addition, when an adapter is first set to SR-IOV shared mode, the adapter firmware is updated to the latest level available with the system firmware (and it is also updated automatically during maintenance operations, such as when the adapter is stopped or replaced).  And lastly, selective manual updates of the SR-IOV adapters can be performed using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).  To selectively update the adapter firmware, follow the steps given at the IBM Knowledge Center for using HMC to make the updates:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER9/p9efd/p9efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm.
  Note: Adapters that are capable of running in SR-IOV mode, but are currently running in dedicated mode and assigned to a partition, can be updated concurrently either by the OS that owns the adapter or the managing HMC (if OS is AIX or VIOS and RMC is running).
  
• A problem was fixed for DDR4 2933 MHZ and 3200 MHZ DIMMs not defaulting to the 2666 MHZ speed on a new DIMM plug, thus preventing the system from IPLing.
• A problem was fixed for IPMI sessions in the service processor causing a flood of B181A803 informational error logs on registry read fails for IPv6 and IPv4 keywords.  These error logs do not represent a real problem and may be ignored.
• A problem was fixed for the HMC in some instances reporting a VIOS partition as an AIX partition.  The VIOS partition can be used correctly even when it is misidentified.
• A problem was fixed for shared processor partitions going unresponsive after changing the processor sharing mode of a dedicated processor partition from "allow when partition is active" to either "allow when partition is inactive" or "never".  This problem can be circumvented by avoiding disabling processor sharing when active on a dedicated processor partition.  To recover if the issue has been encountered, enable "processor sharing when active" on the dedicated partition.
  
• A problem was fixed for intermittent PCIe correctable errors which would eventually threshold and cause SRC B7006A72 to be logged.   PCIe performance degradation or temporary loss of one or more PCIe IO slots could also occur resulting in SRCs B7006970 or B7006971.
• A problem was fixed for I/O adapters not recovering from multiple, concurrent low-level EEH errors, resulting in a Permanent EEH error with SRC BA2B000D logged or SRC BA188002 and B7006A22 logged.  The affected adapters can be recovered by a re-IPL of the system.  With the fix, the adapters are able to reset and recover from the simultaneous error conditions.  The problem frequency is low because it requires a second error on a slot that is already frozen with an error and going into a reset.
• A problem was fixed for hypervisor error logs issued during the IPL missing the firmware version.  This happens on every IPL for logs generated during the early part of the IPL.
  
• A problem was fixed for a continuous logging of B7006A28 SRCs after the threshold limit of PCIe Advanced Error Reporting (AER) correctable errors.  The error log flooding can cause error buffer wrapping and other performance issues.
• A problem was fixed for an error in deleting a partition with the virtualized Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) enabled and SRC B7000602 logged.  When this error occurs, the encryption process in the hypervisor may become unusable.  The problem can be recovered from with a re-IPL of the system.
• A problem was fixed in Live Partition Mobility (LPM) of a partition to a shared processor pool, which results in the partition being unable to consume uncapped cycles on the target system.  To prevent the issue from occurring, partitions can be migrated to the default shared processor pool and then dynamically moved to the desired shared processor pool.  To recover from the issue, use DLPAR to add or remove a virtual processor to/from the affected partition, dynamically move the partition between shared processor pools, reboot the partition, or re-IPL the system.
• A problem was fixed for informational (INF) errors for the PCIe Hub (PHB) at a threshold limit causing the I/O slots to go non-operational.   The system I/O can be recovered with a re-IPL.
• A problem was fixed for errors in the PCIe Host Bridge (PHB) performance counters collected by the 24x7 performance monitor.
• A problem was fixed for partitions becoming unresponsive or the HMC not being able to communicate with the system after a processor configuration change or a partition power on and off.
  
• A new SRC of B7006A74 was added for PHB LEM 62 errors that had surpassed a threshold in the path of the #EMX0 expansion drawer.  This replaces the SRC B7006A72 to have a correct callout list.  Without the fix, when B7006A72 is logged against a PCIe slot in the CEC containing a cable card, the FRUs in the full #EMX0 expansion drawer path should be considered (use the B7006A8B FRU callout list as a reference).
• A problem was fixed for eight or more simultaneous Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations to the same system possibly failing in validation with the HMC error message of "HSCL0273 A command that was targeted to the managed system has timed out".  The problem can be circumvented by doing the LPM migrations to the same system in smaller batches.
• A problem was fixed for a boot failure using a N_PORT ID Virtualization (NPIV) LUN for an operating system that is installed on a disk of 2 TB or greater, and having a device driver for the disk that adheres to a non-zero allocation length requirement for the "READ CAPACITY 16".  The IBM partition firmware had always used an invalid zero allocation length for the return of data and that had been accepted by previous device drivers.  Now some of the newer device drivers are adhering to the specification and needing an allocation length of non-zero to allow the boot to proceed.
• A problem was fixed for a possible boot failure from a ISO/IEC 13346 formatted image, also known as Universal Disk Format (UDF).
  UDF is a profile of the specification known as ISO/IEC 13346 and is an open vendor-neutral file system for computer data storage for a broad range of media such as DVDs and newer optical disc formats.  The failure is infrequent and depends on the image.  In rare cases, the boot code erroneously fails to find a file in the current directory.  If the boot fails on a specific image, the boot of that image will always fail without the fix.
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent IPL failure with B181345A, B150BA22, BC131705,  BC8A1705, or BC81703 logged with a processor core called out.  This is a rare error and does not have a real hardware fault, so the processor core can be unguarded and used again on the next IPL.
• A problem was fixed for informational logs flooding the error log if a "Get Sensor Reading" is not working.
  
• A problem was fixed which caused network traffic failures for Virtual Functions (VFs) operating in non-promiscuous multicast mode.  In non-promiscuous mode, when a VF recieves a frame, it will drop it unless the frame is addressed to the VF's MAC address, or is a broadcast or multcast addressed frame.  With the problem, the VF drops the frame even though it is multicast, thereby blocking the network traffic, which can result in ping failures and impact other network operations.  To recover from the issue, turn multicast promiscuous on.  This may cause some unwanted multicast traffic to flow to the partition.
• A problem was fixed for a hypervisor task getting deadlocked if partitions are powered on at the same time that SR-IOV is being configured for an adapter.  With this problem, workloads will continue to run but it will not be possible to change the virtualization configuration or power partitions on and off.  This error can be recovered by doing a re-IPL of the system with a scheduled outage.
• A problem was fixed for hypervisor tasks getting deadlocked that cause the hypervisor to be unresponsive to the HMC ( this shows as an incomplete state on the HMC) with SRC B200F011 logged.  This is a rare timing error.  With this problem,  OS workloads will continue to run but it will not be possible for the HMC to interact with the partitions. This error can be recovered by doing a re-IPL of the system with a scheduled outage.
• A problem was fixed for broadcast bootp installs or boots that fail with a UDP checksum error.
  
• A problem was fixed for failing to boot from an AIX mksysb backup on a USB RDX drive with SRCs logged of BA210012, AA06000D, and BA090010.  The boot error does not occur if a serial console is used to navigate the SMS menus.
  
• A problem was fixed error recovery from loss of VPD for FRUs caused by a stuck I2C bus.  When this problem occurs, there is a flood of B1561312 SRCs with fault signature " IVPD_REASON_IIC_FDAL_READ_FAIL errno 72". This is a rare problem that occurs if the I2C slave gets stuck low for some reason.  To recover from this problem, A/C power cycle the system.  With the fix, the I2C bus is reset so the VPD reads for the FRU can be retried without user intervention until successful.
• A security bypass vulnerability problem was fixed in the service processor secure socket layer (SSL) which could allow an attacker to make unauthorized reads on a rejected SSL connection. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2017-3737.
• A security problem was fixed in the service processor Network Security Services (NSS) services which, with a man-in-the-middle attack, could provide false completion or errant network transactions or exposure of sensitive data from intercepted SSL connections to ASMI, Redfish, or the service processor message server.  The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-12384.
• A security problem was fixed in the service processor OpenSSL support that could cause secured sockets to hang, disrupting HMC communications for system management and partition operations.  The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-0732.
• A security problem was fixed in the service processor TCP stack that would allow a Denial of Service (DOS) attack with TCP packets modified to trigger time and calculation expensive calls.  By sending specially modified packets within ongoing TCP sessions with the Management Consoles,  this could lead to a CPU saturation and possible reset and termination of the service processor.   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-5390.
• A security problem was fixed in the service processor TCP stack that would allow a Denial of Service (DOS) attack by allowing very large IP fragments to trigger time and calculation expensive calls in packet reassembly.  This could lead to a CPU saturation and possible reset and termination of the service processor.   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-5391.  With the fix, changes were made to lower the IP fragment thresholds to invalidate the attack.

• HIPER/Pervasive: DISRUPTIVE:  A problem was fixed where, under certain conditions, a Power Management Reset (PM Reset) event may result in undetected data corruption.  PM Resets occur under various scenarios such as power management mode changes between Dynamic Performance and Maximum Performance, Concurrent FW updates, power management controller recovery procedures, or system boot.
• A problem was fixed for a system terminating if there was even one predictive or recoverable SRC.  For this problem, all hardware SRCs logged are treated as terminating SRCs.  For this behavior to occur, the initial service processor boot from the AC power off state failed to complete cleanly, instead triggering an internal reset (a rare error),  leaving some parts of the service processor not initialized.  This problem can be recovered by doing an AC power cycle, or concurrently on an active system with the assistance of IBM support.
  

New features and functions

• Support was enabled for eRepair spare lane deployment for fabric and memory buses.
  

System firmware changes that affect all systems

• HIPER/Non-Pervasive:DEFERRED:   A problem was fixed for a potential problem with I/O that could result in undetected data corruption.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for DASD VRM reduced stability margins leading to a possible system shutdown due to temperature component aging over a long period of time.  The DASD VRM is not updated with the fix until after the system IPLs from a powered off state.  It is recommended that this fix be activated as soon as possible but fix activation should not be delayed for more than three months maximum.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for PCIe and SAS adapters in slots attached to a PLX (PCIe switch) failing to initialize and not being found by the Operating System.  The problem should not occur on the first IPL after an AC power cycle, but subsequent IPLs may experience the problem.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for the PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (#EMX0) links to improve stability.   Intermittent training failures on the links occurred during the IPL with SRC B7006A8B logged.  With the fix, the link settings were changed to lower the peak link signal amplification to bring the signal level into the middle of the operating range, thus improving the high margin to reduce link training failures.  The system must be re-IPLed for the fix to activate. Without the fix, the system can be powered off and the re-IPLed to restore the PCIe links.
• DEFERRED:   A problem was fixed for concurrent maintenance operations for PCIe expansion drawer cable cards and PCI adapters that could cause loss of system hardware information in the hypervisor with these side effects:  1) partition secure boots could fail with SRC BA540100 logged.; 2) Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations could be blocked; 3) SR-IOV adapters could be blocked from going into shared mode; 4) Power Management services could be lost; and 5) warm re-IPLs of the system can fail.  The system can be recovered by powering off and then IPLing again.
• DEFERRED:  A problem was fixed for predictive error logs occurring on the IPL following a DIMM error recovery.  These logs, related to failed memory scrubbing, have the following "Signature Description":  "mba(n0p15c1) () ERROR: command complete analysis failed".  These error logs do not indicate a hardware problem and may be ignored.
• A problem was fixed for link speed for PCIe Generation 4 adapters showing as "unknown"  in the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) PCIe Hardware Topology menu.
• A problem was fixed for differential memory interface (DMI) lane sparing to prevent shutting down a good lane on the TX side of the bus when a lane has been spared on the RX side of the bus.  If the XBUS or DMI bus runs out of spare lanes, it can checkstop the system, so the fix helps use these resources more efficiently.
• A problem was fixed for IPL failures with SRC BC50090F when replacing Xbus FRUs.  The problem occurs if VPD has a stale bad lane record and that record does not exist on both ends of the bus.
• A problem was fixed for a firmware update concurrent remove and activate that fails in the hypervisor during the activate with SRC B7000AFF.  To recover the system, do a re-IPL and it will be at the correct firmware level that is expected for the remove operation.
• A problem was fixed for a flood of BC130311 SRCs that could occur when changing Energy Scale Power settings, if the Power Management is in a reset loop because of errors.
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV adapter workloads being suspended with SRC B400FF01 logged while an internal reset of SR-IOV virtual function in the hypervisor occurs.  This problem is infrequent and caused by heavy workloads for the adapter or vNIC failovers.  The workloads resume after the virtual function reset without user intervention.
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV VFs, where a VF configured with a PVID priority may be presented to the OS with an incorrect priority value.
  
• A problem was fixed for the creation of a vNIC adapter that may show the MAC address twice and cause confusion.  For the AIX OS, the duplicate MAC address shows on the entstat output.  No recovery is needed for this error except to ignore the extra MAC address in the ethernet adapter status.
  
• A problem was fixed to reduce the time to reach a "failed" status on an SR-IOV adapter for certain persistent errors.  Without the fix, adapter spends an extended period of time in the "not ready" state, eventually reaching the "failed" state.   With the fix, the adapter is able to go to the "failed" state in less than 30 seconds for the persistent fault. 
  
• A problem was fixed for a SR-IOV Virtual Function (VF) configured with a PVID that fails to function correctly after a VF reset.  It will allow the receiving of untagged frames but not be able to transmit the untagged frames.
• A problem was fixed for a SMS ping failure for a SR-IOV adapter Virtual Function (VF) with a non-zero Port VLAN ID (PVID).  This failure may occur after the partition with the adapter has been booted to AIX, and then rebooted back to SMS.  Without the fix, residue information from the AIX boot is retained for the VF that should have been cleared.
• A problem was fixed for SRCs B400FF01 and B200F011 experienced for false SR-IOV adapter errors during Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migrations of a logical partition with vNIC clients.  The SR-IOV adapter does recover from the errors but there is delay in the adapter communications while the adapter recovers.  These errors can be ignored when evaluating the outcome of a LPM migration.
• A problem was fixed for partition SMS menus to display certain network adapters that were unviewable and not usable as boot and install devices after a microcode update.  The problem network adapter is still present and usable at the OS.  The adapters with this problem have the following feature codes:  EN0A, EN0B, EN0H, EN0J, EN0K, EN0L, EN15,  EL5B, EL38, EL3C, EL56, and EL57.
• A problem was fixed for a Logical LAN (l-lan) device failing to boot when there is a UDP packet checksum error.  With the fix, there is a new option when configuring a l-lan port in SMS to enable or disable the UDP checksum validation.  If the adapter is already providing the checksum validation, then the l-lan port needs to have its validation disabled.
• A problem was fixed for Hostboot error log IDs (EID) getting reused from one IPL to the next, resulting in error logs getting suppressed (missing)  for new problems on the subsequent IPLs if they have a re-used EID that was already present in the service processor error logs.
• A problem was fixed for error log truncation with SRC B1818A12 logged for the error.  This problem occurs only rarely when creating a combined error log entry that exceeds the error log entry maximum size.  With the fix, these type of combinations are not done if too large, and two error logs are written instead.
• A problem was fixed for coherent accelerator processor proxy (CAPP) unit errors being called out as CEC hardware Subsystem instead of PROCESSOR_UNIT.
• A problem was fixed for a Self Boot Engine (SBE) recoverable error at runtime causing the system to go into Safe Mode.
• A problem was fixed for an IPL that ends with the HMC in the "Incomplete" state with SRCs B182951C and A7001151 logged.  Partitions may start and can continue to run without the HMC services available.  In order to recover the HMC session,  a re-IPL of the system is needed (however, partition workloads could continue running uninterrupted until the system is intentionally re-IPLed at a scheduled time).  The frequency of this problem is very low as it rarely occurs.
• A problem was fixed for a system failure with SRC B700F103 that can occur if a shared-mode SR-IOV adapter is moved from a high-performance slot to a lower performance slot.   This problem can be avoided by disabling shared mode on the SR-IOV adapter; moving the adapter;  and then re-enabling shared mode.
• A problem was fixed for a rare Live Partition Mobility migration hang with the partition left in VPM (Virtual Page Mode) which causes performance concerns.  This error is triggered by a migration failover operation occurring during the migration state of "Suspended" and there has to be insufficent VASI buffers available to clear all partition state data waiting to be sent to the migration target.  Migration failovers are rare and the migration state of "Suspended" is a migration state lasting only a few seconds for most partitions, so this problem should not be frequent.  On the HMC, there will be an inability to complete either a migration stop or a recovery operation.  The HMC will show the partition as migrating and any attempt to change that will fail.  The system must be re-IPLed to recover from the problem.
• A problem was fixed for Linux or AIX partitions crashing during a firmware assisted dump or when using Linux kexec to restart with a new kernel.  This problem was more frequent for the Linux OS with kdump failing with "Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init" in some cases.
• A problem was fixed for a SR-IOV adapter vNIC configuration error that did not provide a proper SRC to help resolve the issue of the boot device not pinging in SMS due to maximum transmission unit (MTU) size mismatch in the configuration.  The use of a vNIC backing device does not allow configuring VFs for jumbo frames when the Partition Firmware configuration for the adapter (as specified on the HMC) does not support jumbo frames.  When this happens, the vNIC adapter will fail to ping in SMS and thus cannot be used as a boot device.  With the fix,  the vNIC driver configuration code is now checking the vNIC login (open) return code so it can issue an SRC when the open fails for a MTU issue (such as jumbo frame mismatch) or for some other reason.  A jumbo frame is an Ethernet frame with a payload greater than the standard MTU of 1,500 bytes and can be as large as 9,000 bytes.
• A problem was fixed for the USB port having the wrong location code assigned.  The "P1-T4-L1 USB DVD R/RW or RAM Drive" location code should be "P1-T3-L1".   The USB DVD still works correctly but reported location codes such as in error logs will have the wrong location code shown.
  This problem only pertains to IBM Power System models S914(9009-41A), S924(9009-42A), and H924 for SAP HANA (9223-42H).
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV adapter dumps hanging with low-level EEH events causing failures on VFs of other non-target SR-IOV adapters.
• A problem was fixed for preventing loss of function on an SR-IOV adapter with an 8MB adapter firmware image if it is placed into SR-IOV shared mode.  The 8MB image is not supported at the FW910.20 firmware level.  With the fix, the adapter with the 8MB image is rejected with an error without an attempt to load the older 4MB image on the adapter which could damage it.  This problem affects the following SR-IOV adapters:  #EC2R/#EC2S with CCIN 58FA;  #EC2T/#EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC3L/#EC3M with CCIN 2CEC.
  
• A problem was fixed for adapters in slots attached to a PLX (PCIe switch) failing with SRCs B7006970 and BA188002  when a second and subsequent errors on the PLX failed to initiate PLX recovery.  For this infrequent problem to occur, it requires a second error on the PLX after recovery from the first error.
  
• A problem was fixed for an intermittent IPL failure with SRCs B150BA40 and B181BA24 logged.  The system can be recovered by IPLing again.  The failure is caused by a memory buffer misalignment, so it represents a transient fault that should occur only rarely.
• A problem was fixed for system termination for a re-IPL with power on with SRC B181E540 logged.  The system can be recovered by powering off and then IPLing.  This problem occurs infrequently and can be avoided by powering off the system between IPL.

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• On a system with a Cloud Management Console and a HMC Cloud Connector, a problem was fixed for memory leaks in the Redfish server causing Out of Memory (OOM) resets of the service processor.
• On a system witn an IBM i partition, A problem was fixed for a DLPAR force-remove of a physical IO adapter from an IBM i partition and a simultaneous power off of the partition causing the partition to hang during the power off.  To recover the partition from the error, the system must be re-IPLed.  This problem is rare because there is only a 2-second timing window for the DLPAR and power off to interfere with each other.
• For systems with a shared memory partition,  a problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration hang after a Mover Service Partition (MSP) failover in the early part of the migration.  To recover from the hang, a migration stop command must be given on the HMC.  Then the migration can be retried.
• For a shared memory partition,  a problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration failure to an indeterminate state.  This can occur if the Mover Service Partition (MSP)  has a failover that occurs when the migrating partition is in the state of "Suspended."  To recover from this problem, the partition must be shutdown and restarted.
• On a system with an AMS partition, a problem was fixed for a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration failure when migrating from P9 to a pre-FW860 P8 or P7 system.  This failure can occur if the P9 partition is in dedicated memory mode, and the Physical Page Table (PPT) ratio is explicitly set on the HMC (rather than keeping the default value) and the partition is then transitioned to Active Memory Sharing (AMS) mode prior to the migration to the older system.  This problem can be avoided by using dedicated memory in the partition being migrated back to the older system.
• On a system with an active IBM i partition, a problem was fixed for a SPCN firmware download to the PCIe3 I/O expansion drawer (feature #EMX0) Chassis Management Card (CMC) that could possibly get stuck in a pending state.  This failure is very unlikely as it would require a concurrent replacement of the CMC card that is loaded with a SPCN level that is older than 2015 (01MEX151012a).  The failure with the SPCN download can be corrected by a re-IPL of the system.
  

• DEFERRED:   A problem was fixed for an incorrect power on sequence for the PCI PERST signal for I/O adapters.  This signal is used to indicate to the I/O adapters when the reference clock for the device has become valid and, with the problem, that valid indication may arrive before the clock is ready.  In rare cases, this could intermittently result in unexpected behavior from the I/O devices such as adapter PCIe links not training or the adapter not being available for the Operating System after an IPL.  This problem can be recovered from by a re-IPL of the system.
  
• A problem was fixed for system dumps failing with a kernel panic on the service processor because of an out of memory condition.  Without the fix, the system dump may be tried again after the reset of the service processor as the reset would have cleaned up the memory usage.
• A problem was fixed for recovered (correctable) errors during the IPL being logged as Predictive Errors.  There are no customer actions required for the recovered errors.  With the fix, the corrected errors are marked as "RECOVERED" and logged as Informational.
• A problem was fixed for an Emergency Power Off Warning (EPOW) IPL failure that would occur on a loss of a power supply or a missing power supply.  With the fix, the EPOW error will not occur on the IPL as long as there is one functional power supply available for the system.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• On systems which do not have an HMC attached,  a problem was fixed for a firmware update initiated from the Operating System (OS) from FW910.00,  FW910.01 or FW910.10 to FW910.11 that caused a system crash one hour after the code update completed.  This does not fix the case of the OS initiated firmware update back to earlier FW910.XX levels from FW910.11 which can stilll result in a crash of the system.  Do not initiate a code update from FW910.11  to a lesser FW910 level via the OS.  Use only HMC or USB methods of code update for this case.  If an HMC or USB code update is not an option,  please contact IBM support.
• On a system with a partition that has had processors dynamically removed, a problem was fix for a partition dump IPL that may experience unexpected behavior including system crashes.  This problem may be circumvented by stopping and re-starting the partition with the removed processors prior to requesting a partition dump.

• DEFERRED: On a system with a partition with dedicated processors that are set to allow processor sharing with "Allow when partition is active" or "Allow always", a problem was fixed for a concurrent firmware update from FW910.01 that may cause the system to hang.  This fix is deferred, so it is not active until after the next IPL of the system, so precautions must be taken to protect the system.  Perform the following steps to determine if your system has a partition with dedicated processors that are set to share.  If these partitions exist, change them to not share processors while active; or shut down the affected partitions; or do a disruptive update to put on this service pack.
  1) From the HMC command line, Run:  lssyscfg -r sys -F name
  2) For each system you intend to update firmware, issue the following HMC command:
  lshwres -m <System Name> --level lpar -r proc -F lpar_name,curr_sharing_mode,pend_sharing_mode
  replacing <System Name> with the name as displayed by the first command.
  3) Scan the output for "share_idle_procs_active" or "share_idle_procs_always".  This identifies the affected partitions.
  4) You need to take one of the three options below to install this firmware level:
  a) if affected partitions found, change the lapr to "never allow" or "allow when partition is inactive" on the lpar settings, and set back the value to its original value after the code update.  These changes are concurrent when performed on the lpar settings and not in the profile.
  b) Or,  shut down partitions identified in step 3.  Proceed with concurrent code update.  Then restart the partitions.
  c) Or,  apply the firmware update disruptively (power off system and install) to prevent a possible system hang.
  

• A change was made to improve IPL performance for a system with a new DIMM installed or for a system doing its first IPL.  The performance is gained by decreasing the amount of time used in memory diagnostics, reducing IPL time by as much as 15 minutes, depending on the amount of memory installed.
• Support was added for 24x7 data collection from the On-Chip Controller sensors.
• Support was added to correctly isolate TOD faults with appropriate callouts and failover to the backup topology, if needed.  And to do a reconfiguration of a backup topology to maintain TOD redundancy.
• Support was disabled for erepair spare lane deployment for fabric and memory buses.  By not using the FRU spare hardware for an erepair, the affected FRUs may have to be replaced sooner.  Prior to this change, the spare lane deployment caused extra error messages during runtime diagnostics.  When the problems with spare lane deployment are corrected, this erepair feature will be enabled again in a future service pack.
  

• A security problem was fixed in the DHCP client on the service processor for an out-of-bound memory access flaw that could be used by a malicious DHCP server to crash the DHCP client process.  The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number is CVE-2018-5732.
  
• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed for PCIe link stability errors during the IPL for the PCIe3 I/O Expansion Drawer (Feature code #EMX0) with Active Optical Cables (AOCs).  One or more of the following SRCs may be logged at completion of IPL: B7006A72, B7006A8B, B7006971, and 10007900.  The fix improves PCIe link stability for this feature.
  
• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed for an erroneous SRC 11007610 being logged when hot-swapping CEC fans.  This SRC may be logged if there is more than a two-minute delay between removing the old fan and installing the new fan.  The error log may be ignored.
• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed for a hot plug of a new 1400W power supply that fails to turn on.  The problem is intermittent, occurring more frequently for the cases where the hot plug insertion action was too slow and maybe at a slight angle (insertion not perfectly straight).  Without the fix,  after a hot plug has been attempted, ensure the power supply LEDs are on.  If the LEDs are not on, retry the plug of the power supply using a faster motion while keeping the angle of insertion straight.
• DEFERRED: A problem was fixed for a host reset of the Self Boot Engine (SBE).  Without the fix, the reset of the SBE will hang during error recovery and that will force the system into Safe Mode.  Also,  a post dump IPL of the system after a system Terminate Immediate will not work with a hung SBE, so a re-IPL of the system will be needed to recover it.
• A problem was fixed for an enclosure LED not being lit when there is a fault on a FRU internal to closure that does not have an LED of its own.  With the fix, the enclosure LED is lit if any FRUs within the enclosure have a fault.
• A problem was fixed for DIMMs that have VPP shorted to ground not being called out in the SRC 11002610 logged for the power fault.  The frequency of this problem should be rare.
• A problem was fixed for the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) option for resetting the system to factory configuration for not returning the Speculative Execution setting to the default value.  The reset to factory configuration does not change the current value for Speculative Execution.  To restore the default, ASMI must be used manually to set the value.  This problem only pertains to the IBM Power System H922 for SAP HANA (9223-22H) and the IBM Power System H924 for SAP HANA (9223-42H).
• A problem was fixed for the system early power warning (EPOW) to be issued when only three of the four power supplies are operation (instead of waiting for all four power supplies to go down).
• A problem was fixed for a failing VPP voltage regulator possibly damaging DIMM with too high of a voltage level.  With the fix, the voltage to the DIMMs is shutdown if there is a problem with voltage regulator to protect the DIMMs.
• A problem was fixed for an unplanned power down of the system with SRC UE 11002600 logged when a unsupported device was plugged into the service processor USB 2.0 ports on either of the slots P1-C1-T1 or P1-C1-T2.  This happened when a USB 3.0 DVD drive was plugged into the USB 2.0 slot and caused an overcurrent condition.  The USB 3.0 device was incorrectly not downward compatible with the USB 2.0 slot.  With the fix, such incompatible devices will cause an informational log but will not cause a power off of the system.
  
• A problem was fixed for the On-Chip Controller being able to sense the current draw for the 12V PCIE adapters that are plugged into channel 0 (CH0) of the APSS.  CH0 was not enabled meaning anything plugged into those connectors would not be included in the total server power calculation which could impact power capping.  The system could run at higher power than expected without CH0 being monitored.
• A problem was fixed for the TPM card LED so that it is activated correctly.
• A problem was fixed for VRMs drawing current over the specification.  This occurred whenever heavy work loads went above 372 amps with WOF enabled.  At 372 amps, a rollover to value "0" for the current erroneously occurred and this allowed the frequency of the processors in the system to exceed the normally expected values.
• A problem was fixed for Dynamic Memory Deallocation (DMD) failing for memory configurations of 3 or 6 Memory Controller (MC) channels per group.  An error message of "Invalid MCS per group value" is logged with SRC BC23E504 for the problem.  If DMD was working correctly for the installed memory but then began failing at a later time, it may have been triggered by a guard of a DIMM which resulted in a memory configuration that is susceptible to the problem with DMD.
• A problem was fixed for a system with CPU part number 2CY058 and CCIN 5C25 to achieve a slightly more optimum frequency for one specific EnergyScale Mode, Dynamic Performance Mode.
• A problem was fixed for a missing memory throttle initialization that in a rare case could lead to an emergency shutdown of the system.  The missing initialization could cause the DIMMs to oversubscribe to the power supplies in the rare failure mode where the On-Chip Controller (OCC) fails to start and the Safe Mode default memory throttle values are too high to stop the memory from overusing the power from the power supplies.  This could cause a power fault and an emergency shutdown of the system.
• A problem was fixed for a memory translation error that causes a request for a page of memory to be de-allocated to be ignored in Dynamic Memory Deallocation (DMD).  This misses the opportunity to proactively relocate a partition to good memory and running on bad memory may eventually cause a crash of the partition.
• A problem was fixed for an extraneous error log with SRC BC50050A that has no deconfgured FRU.  There was a recovered error for a single bit in memory that requires no user action.  The BC50050A error log should be ignored.
• A problem was fixed for Hostboot error logs reusing EID numbers for each IPL.  This may cause a predictive error log to go missing for a bad FRU that is guarded during the IPL.  If this happens, the FRU should be replaced based on the presence of the guard record.
• A problem was fixed for a rare non-correctable memory error in the service processor Self Boot Engine (SBE) causing a Terminate Immediate (TI) for the system instead of recovering from the error.  With the fix, the SBE is working such that all SBE errors are recoverable and do not affect the system work loads.  This SBE memory provides support for On-Chip Controller (OCC) tasks to the service processor SBE but it is not related to the system memory used for the hypervisor and host partition tasks.
• A problem was fixed for extraneous Predictive Error logs of SRC B181DA96 and SRC BC8A1A39 being logged if the Self Boot Engine (SBE) halts and restarts when the system host OS is running,   These error logs can be ignored as the SBE recovers without user intervention.
  
• A problem was fixed for error logging for rare Low Pin Count (LPC) link errors between the Host processor and the Self Boot Engine (SBE).  The LPC was changed to timeout instead of hanging on a LPC error, providing helpful debug data for the LPC error instead of system checkstop and Hostboot crash.
• A problem was fixed for the reset of the Self Boot Engine (SBE)  at run time to resolve SBE errors without impacting the hypervisor or the running partitions.
  
• A problem was fixed for the ODL link in Open CAPI in the case where ODL Link 1 (ODL1) is used and ODL Link 0 (ODL0) is not used.  As a circumvention, the errors are resolved if ODL 0 is used instead, or in conjunction with the ODL1.
• A problem was fixed for the wrong DIMM being called out on an over-temperature error with a SRC B1xx2A30 error log.
  
• A problem was fixed for adding a non-cable PCIe card into a slot that was previously occupied by a PCIe3 Optical or Copper Cable Adapter for the PCIe3 Expansion Drawer.  The PCIe new card could fail with a I2C error with SRC BC100706 logged.
• A problem was fixed for call home data for On-Chip Controller (OCC) error log sensor data being off in alignment by one sensor.  By visually shifting the data, the valid data values can still be determined from the call home logs.
• A problem was fixed for slow hardware dumps that include failed processor cores that have no clock signal.  The dump process was waiting for core responses and had to wait for a time-out for each chip operation, causing dumps to take several hours.  With the fix, the core is checked for a proper clock, and if one does not exist, the chip operations to that core are skipped to speed up the hardware dump process significantly.
• A problem was fixed for ipmitool not being able to set the system power limit when the power limit is not activated with the standard option.  With the fix, the ipmitool user can activate the power limit "dcmi power activate" and then set the power limit "dcmi power set _limit xxxx"  where "xxxx" in the new power limit in Watts.
• A problem was fixed for the OBUS to make it OpenCAPI capable by increasing its frequency from 1563 Mhz to 1611 Mhz.
• A problem was fixed for a Workload Optimized Frequency (WOF) reset limit failure not providing an Unrecoverable Error (UE) and a callout for the problem processor.  When the WOF reset limit is reached and failed, WOF is disabled and the system is not running at optimized frequencies.
• A problem was fixed for the callout of SRC BA188002 so it does display three trailing extra garbage characters in the location code for the FRU.  The string is correct up to the line ending white space, so the three extra characters after that should be ignored.  This problem is intermittent and does not occur for all BA188002 error logs.
  
• A problem was fixed for the callout of scan ring failures with SRC BC8A285E and SRC BC8A2857 logged but with no callout for the bad FRU.
• A problem was fixed for the On-Chip Controller (OCC) possibly timing out and going to Safe Mode when a system is changed from the default maximum performance mode (Workload Optimized Frequency (WOF) enabled) to nominal mode (WOF disabled) and then back to maximum performance (WOF enabled again).  Normal performance can be recovered with a re-IPL of the system.
• A problem was fixed for the periodic guard reminder causing a reset/reload of the service processor when it found a symbolic FRU with no CCIN value in the list of guarded FRUs for the system.   Periodically as periodic guard reminder is run, every 30 days by default, this problem can cause recoverable errors on the service processor but with no interruption to the workloads on the running partitions.
• A problem was fixed for a wrong SubSystem being logged in the SRC B7009xxxx for Secure Boot Errors.  "I/O Subsystem" is displayed instead of the correct SubSystem value of "System Hypervisor Firmware". 
  
• A problem was fixed for the lost recovery of a failed Self Boot Engine (SBE).  This may happen if the SBE recovery occurs during a reset of the service processor.  Not only is the recovery lost, but the error log data for the SBE failure may also be not be written to the error log.  If the SBE is failed and not recovered, this can cause the post-dump IPL after a system Terminate Immediate (TI) error to not be able to complete.  To recover, power off the system and IPL again.
  
• A problem was fixed for a missing SRC at the time runtime diagnostics are lost and the Hostboot runtime services (HBRT) are put into the failed state.
  A B400F104 SRC is logged each time the HBRT hypervisor adjunct crashed.  On the fourth crash in one hour, HBRT is failed with no further retries but no SRC is logged.  Although a unique SRC is not logged to indicate loss of runtime diagnostic capability, the B400F104 SRC does include the HBRT adjunct partition ID for Service to identify the adjunct.
  
• A problem was fixed for a Novalink enabled partition not being able to release master from the HMC that results in error HSCLB95B.  To resolve the issue, run a rebuild managed server operation on the HMC and then retry the release.  This occurs when attempting to release master from HMC after the first boot up of a Novalink enabled partition if Master Mode was enforced prior to the boot.
• A problem was fixed for an UE memory error causing an entire LMB of memory to deallocate and guard instead of just one page of memory.
• A problem was fixed for all variants (this was partially fixed in an earlier release) for the SR-IOV firmware adapter updates using the HMC GUI or CLI to only reboot one SR-IOV adapter at a time.  If multiple adapters are updated at the same time, the HMC error message HSCF0241E may occur:  "HSCF0241E Could not read firmware information from SR-IOV device ...".  This fix prevents the system network from being disrupted by the SR-IOV adapter updates when redundant configurations are being used for the network.  The problem can be circumvented by using the HMC GUI to update the SR-IOV firmware one adapter at a time using the following steps:  https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER9/p9efd/p9efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm. 
  
• A problem was fixed for a rare hypervisor hang caused by a dispatching deadlock for two threads of a process.  The system hangs with SRC B17BE434 and SRC B182951C logged.   This failure requires high interrupt activity on a program thread that is not currently dispatched.
• A problem was fixed for a Virtual Network Interface Controller (vNIC) client adapter to prevent a failover when disabling the adapter from the HMC.  A failover to a new backing device could cause the client adapter to erroneously appear to be active again when it is actually disabled.  This causes confusion and failures on the OS for the device driver.  This problem can only occur when there is more than a single backing device for the vNIC adapter and if a commands are issued from the HMC to disable the adapter and enable the adapter.
• A possible performance problem was fixed for workloads that have a large memory footprint.
• A problem was fixed for error recovery in the timebase facility to prevent an error in the system time.  This is an infrequent secondary error when the timebase facility has failed and needs recovery.
• A problem was fixed for the HMC GUI and CLI interfaces incorrectly showing SR-IOV updates as being available for certain SR-IOV adapters when no updates are available.  This affects the following PCIe adapters:  #EC2R/#EC2S with CCIN 58FA;  #EC2T/#EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC3L/#EC3M with CCIN 2CEC.  The "Update Available" indication in the HMC can be ignored if updates have already been applied. 
  
• A problem was fixed for the recovery of certain SR-IOV adapters that fail with SRC B400FF05.  This is triggered by infrequent EEH errors in the adapter.  In the recovery process,  the Virtual Function (VF)  for the adapter is rebuilt into the wrong state, preventing the adapter from working.  An HMC initiated disruptive resource dump of the adapter can recover it.  This problem affects the following PCIe adapters:  #EC2R/#EC2S with CCIN 58FA;  #EC2T/#EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC3L/#EC3M with CCIN 2CEC.
  
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV Virtual Functions (VFs) halting transmission with a SRC B400FF01 logged when many logical partitions with VFs are shutdown at the same time the adapter is in highly-active usage by a workload.  The recovery process reboots the failed SR-IOV adapter, so no user intervention is needed to restore the VF.
  
• A problem was fixed for VLAN-tagged frames being transmitted over SR-IOV adapter VFs when the packets should have instead have been discarded for some VF configuration settings on certain SR-IOV adapters.  This affects the following PCIe adapters:  #EC2R/#EC2S with CCIN 58FA;  #EC2T/#EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC3L/#EC3M with CCIN 2CEC.   
  
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV adapter hangs with a possible SRC B400FF01 logged.  This may cause a temporary network outage while the SR-IOV adapter VF reboots to recover from thje adapter hang.   This problem has been observed on systems with high network traffic and with many VFs defined.
  This fix updates adapter firmware to 1x.22.4021 for the following Feature Codes: EC2R, EC2S,  EC2T, EC2U, EC3L and EC3M.
  The SR-IOV adapter firmware level update for the shared-mode adapters happens under user control to prevent unexpected temporary outages on the adapters.  A system reboot will update all SR-IOV shared-mode adapters with the new firmware level.  In addition, when an adapter is first set to SR-IOV shared mode, the adapter firmware is updated to the latest level available with the system firmware (and it is also updated automatically during maintenance operations, such as when the adapter is stopped or replaced).  And lastly, selective manual updates of the SR-IOV adapters can be performed using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).  To selectively update the adapter firmware, follow the steps given at the IBM Knowledge Center for using HMC to make the updates:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER9/p9efd/p9efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm.
  Note: Adapters that are capable of running in SR-IOV mode, but are currently running in dedicated mode and assigned to a partition, can be updated concurrently either by the OS that owns the adapter or the managing HMC (if OS is AIX or VIOS and RMC is running).
• A problem was fixed for a large number (approximately 16,000) of DLPAR adds and removes of SR-IOV VFs to cause a subsequent DLPAR add of the VF to fail with the newly-added VF not usable.  The large number of allocations and deallocations caused a leak of a critical SR-IOV adapter resource.  The adapter and VFs may be recovered by an SR-IOV adapter reset.
• A problem was fixed for a system boot hanging when recoverable attentions occur on the non-master processor.  With the fix, the attentions on the non-master processor are deferred until Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) mode has been established (the point at which the system is ready for multiple processors to run).  This allows the boot to complete but still have the non-master processor errors recovered as needed.
• A problem was fixed for certain hypervisor error logs being slow to report to the OS.  The error logs affected are those created by the hypervisor immediately after the hypervisor is started and if there is more than 128 error logs from the hypervisor to be reported.  The error logs at the end of the queue take a long time to be processed, and may make it appear as if error logs are not being reported to the OS.
• A problem was fixed for a Self Boot Engine (SBE) reset causing the On-Chip Controller (OCC) to force the system into Safe Mode with a flood of SRC B150DAA0 and SRC B150DA8A written to the error log as Information Events.
• A problem was fixed for the Redfish "Manager" request returning duplicate object URIs for the same HMC.  This can occur if the HMC was removed from the managed system and then later added back in.  The Redfish objects for the earlier instances of the same HMC were never deleted on the remove.
• A problem was fixed for a possible failure to the service processor stop state when performing a platform dump.  This problem is specific to dumps being collected for HWPROC checkstops, which are not common.
• A problem was fixed for SMS menus to limit reporting on the NPIV and vSCSI configuration to the first 511 LUNs.  Without the fix, LUN 512 through the last configured LUN report with invalid data.  Configurations in excess of 511 LUNs are very rare, and it is recommended for performance reasons (to be able search for the boot LUN more quickly) that the number of LUNs on a single targeted be limited to less than 512.
• The following two errors in the SR-IOV adapter firmware were fixed:  1)  The adapter resets and there is a B400FF01 reference code logged. This error happens in rare cases when there are multiple partitions actively running traffic through the adapter.  System firmware resets the adapter and recovers the system with no user-intervention required; 2) SR-IOV VFs with defined VLANs and an assigned PVID are not able to ping each other.
  This fix updates adapter firmware to 11.2.211.26 for the following Feature Codes: EN15,  EN17, EN0H, EN0J, EN0M, EN0N, EN0K, EN0L, EL38, EL3C, EL56, and EL57.
  The SR-IOV adapter firmware level update for the shared-mode adapters happens under user control to prevent unexpected temporary outages on the adapters.  A system reboot will update all SR-IOV shared-mode adapters with the new firmware level.  In addition, when an adapter is first set to SR-IOV shared mode, the adapter firmware is updated to the latest level available with the system firmware (and it is also updated automatically during maintenance operations, such as when the adapter is stopped or replaced).  And lastly, selective manual updates of the SR-IOV adapters can be performed using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).  To selectively update the adapter firmware, follow the steps given at the IBM Knowledge Center for using HMC to make the updates:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/POWER9/p9efd/p9efd_updating_sriov_firmware.htm.
  Note: Adapters that are capable of running in SR-IOV mode, but are currently running in dedicated mode and assigned to a partition, can be updated concurrently either by the OS that owns the adapter or the managing HMC (if OS is AIX or VIOS and RMC is running).
  
• A problem was fixed for Field Core Override (FCO) cores being allocated from a deconfigured processor, causing an IPL failure with unusable cores.  This problem only occurs during the Hostboot reconfiguration loop in the presence of other processor failures.
  
• A problem was fixed for a failure in DDR4 RCD (Register Clock Driver) memory initialization that causes half of the DIMM memory to be unusable after an IPL.  This is an intermittent problem where the memory can sometimes be recovered by doing another IPL.  The error is not a hardware problem with the DIMM but it is an error in the initialization sequence needed get the DIMM ready for normal operations.  This supercedes an earlier fix delivered in FW910.01 that intermittently failed to correct the problem.
• A problem was fixed for IBM Product Engineering and Support personnel not being able to easily determine planar jumper settings in a machine in order to determine the best mitigation strategies for various field problems that may occur.  With the fix, an Information Error log is provided on every IPL to provide the planar jumper settings.
• A problem was fixed for the periodic guard reminder function to not re-post errorlogs of failed FRUs on each IPL.  Instead, a reminder SRC is created to call home the list of FRUs that have failed and require service.  This puts the system to back to original behavior of only posting one error log for each FRU that has failed.
• For a HMC managed system, a problem was fixed for a rare, intermittent NetsCMS core dump that could occur whenever the system is doing a deferred shutdown power off.  There is no impact to normal operations as the power off completes, but there are extra error logs with SRC B181EF88  and a service processor dump.
• A problem was fixed for a Hostboot hang due to deadlock that can occur if there is a SBE dump in progress that fails.  A failure in the SBE dump can trigger a second SBE dump that deadlocks.
• A problem was fixed for dump performance by decreasing the amount of time needed to perform dumps by 50%.
• A problem was fixed for an IPL hang that can occur for certain rare processor errors, where the system is in a loop trying to isolate the fault.
• A problem was fixed for an enclosure fault LED being stuck on after a repair of a fan.  This problem only occurs after the second concurrent repair of a fan.
• A problem was fixed for SR-IOV adapters not showing up in the device tree for a partition that autotboots or starts within a few seconds of the hypervisor going ready.  This problem can be circumvented by delaying the boot of the partition for at least a minute after the hypervisor has reached the standby state.  If the problem is encountered, the SR-IOV adapter can be recovered by rebooting the partition, or DLPAR and remove and add the SR-IOV adapter to the partition.
  
• A problem was fixed for a system crash with SRC B700F103 when there are many consecutive configuration changes in the LPARs to delete old vNICs and create new vNICs, which exposed an infrequent problem with lock ownership on a virtual I/O slot.  There is a one-to-one mapping or connection between vNIC adapter in the client LPAR and the backing logical port in the VIOS, and the lock management needs to ensure that the LPAR accessing the port has ownership to it.  In this case, the LPAR was trying to make usable a device it did not own.   The system should recover on the post dump IPL.
• A problem was fixed for a possible DLPAR add failure of a PCIe adapter if the adapter is in the planar slot C7 or slot C6 on any PCIe Expansion drawer fanout module.  The problem is more common if there are other devices or Virtual Functions (VFs) in the same LPAR that use four interrupts, as this is a problem with the processing order of the PCIe LSI interrupts.
• A problem was fixed for resource dumps that use the selector "iomfnm" and options "rioinfo" or "dumpbainfo".  This combination of options for resource dumps always fails without the fix.
• A problem was fixed for missing FFDC data for SR-IOV Virtual Function (VF) failures and for not allowing the full architected five minute limit for a recovery attempt for the VF, which should expand the number of cases where the VF can be recovered.
• A problem was fixed for missing error recovery for memory errors in non-mirrored memory when reading the SR-IOV adapter firmware, which could prevent the SR-IOV VF from booting.
• A problem was fixed for a possible system crash if an error occurs at runtime that requires a FRU guard action.  With the fix, the guard action is restricted to the IPL where it is supported.
• A problem was fixed for a extremely rare IPL hang on a false communications error to the power supply.  Recovery is to retry the IPL.
• A problem was fixed for the dump content type for HBMEM (Hostboot memory) to be recognized instead of displaying "Dump Content Type: not found".
  
• A problem was fixed for a system crash when an SR-IOV adapter is changed from dedicated to shared mode with SRC B700FFF and SRC B150DA73 logged.  This failure requires that hypervisor memory relocation be in progress on the system. This affects the following PCIe adapters:  #EC2R/#EC2S with CCIN 58FA;  #EC2T/#EC2U with CCIN 58FB; and #EC3L/#EC3M with CCIN 2CEC.
  
• A problem was fixed for a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration of a partition with shared processors that has an unusable shared processor that can result in failure of the target partition or target system.  This problem can be avoided by making sure all shared processors are functional in the source partition before starting the migration.  The target partition or system can be rebooted to recover it.
• A problem was fixed for hypervisor memory relocation and Dynamic DMA Window (DDW) memory allocation used by I/O adapter slots for some adapters where the DDW memory tables may not be fully initialized between uses.  Infrequently,  this can cause an internal failure in the hypervisor when moving the DDW memory for the adapters.  Examples of programs using memory relocation are Live Partition Mobility (LPM) and the Dynamic Platform Optimizer (DPO).
  
• A problem was fixed for a partition or system termination that may occur when shutting down or deleting a partition on a system with a very large number of partitions (more than 400) or on a system with fewer partitions but with a very large number of virtual adapters configured.
  
• A problem was fixed for when booting a large number of LPARs with Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) capability, some partitions may post a SRC BA54504D time-out for taking too long to start.  With the fix, the time allowed to boot a vTPM LPAR is increased.  If a time-out occurs, the partition can be booted again to recover.  The problem can be avoided by auto-starting fewer vTPM LPARs, or booting them a couple at a time to prevent flooding the vTPM device server with requests that will slow the boot time while the LPARs wait on the vTPM device server responses.
• A problem was fixed for a possible system crash.
  
• A problem was fixed for a UE B1812D62 logged when a PCI card is removed between system IPLs.  This error log can be ignored.
• A problem was fixed for USB code update failure if the USB stick is plugged during an AC power cycle.  After the power cycle completes, the code update will fail to start from the USB device.  As a circumvention, the USB device can be plugged in after the service processor is in its ready state.
• A problem was fixed for a possible slower migration during the Live Partition Mobility (LPM) resume stage.   For a migrating partition that does not have a high demand page rate, there is minimal impact on performance.  There is no need for customer recovery as the migration completes successfully.
• A problem was fixed for firmware assisted dumps (fadump) and Linux kernel crash dumps (kdump) where dump data is missing.  This can happen if the dumps are set up with chunks greater than 1 Gb in size.  This problem can be avoided by setting up fadump or kdump with multiple 1 Gb chunks.
• A problem was fixed for the I2C bus error logged with SRC BC500705 and SRC BC8A0401 where the I2C bus was locked up.  This is an infrequent error. In rare cases, the TPM device may hold down the I2C clock line longer than allowed, causing an error recovery that times out and prevents the reset from working on all the I2C engine's ports.  A power off and power on of the system should clear the bus error and allow the system to IPL.
• A problem was fixed for an intra-node, inter-processor communication lane failure marked in the VPD, causing a secure boot blacklist violation on the IPL and a processor to be deconfigured with an SRC BC8A2813 logged.
• A problem was fixed to capture details of failed FRUs into the dump data by delaying the deconfiguration of the FRUs for checkstop and TI attentions.
• A problem was fixed for failed processor cores not being guarded on a memory preserving IPL (re-IPL with CEC powered on).
• A problem was fixed for debug data missing in dumps for cores which are off-line.
• A problem was fixed for L3 cache calling out a LRU Parity error too quickly for hardware that is good.  Without the fix, ignore the L3FIR[28] LRU Parity errors unless they are very persistent with 30 or more occurrences per day.
• A problem was fixed for not having a FRU callout when the TPM card is missing and causes an IPL failure.
• A problem was fixed for the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) displaying the IPv6 network prefix in decimal instead of hex character values.  The service processor command line "ifconfig" can be used to see the IPv6 network prefix value in hex as a circumvention to the problem.
• A problem was fixed for an On-Chip Controller (OCC) cache fault causing a loss of the OCC for the system without the system dropping into Safe mode.
• A problem was fixed for system dump failing to collect the pu.perv SCOMs for chiplets c16 and above which correspond to EQ and EC chiplets.
  Also fixed was the missing SCOM data for the interrupt unit related "c_err_rpt" registers.
• A problem was fixed for the PCIe topology reports having slots missing in the "I/O Slot Locations" column in the row for the bus representing a PCIe switch.  This only occurs when the C49 or C50 slots are bifurcated (a slot having two channels).  Bifurcation is done if an NVME module is in the slot or if the slot is empty (for certain levels of backplanes).
  
• A problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) failing along with other hypervisor tasks, but the partitions continue to run.  This is an extremely rare failure where a re-IPL is needed to restore HMC or Novalink connections to the partitions, or to do any system configuration changes.
• A problem was fixed for a system termination during a concurrent exchange of a SR-IOV adapters that had VFs assigned to it.  For this problem, the OS failed to release the VFs but the error was not returned to the HMC.  With the fix, the FRU exchange gracefully aborts without impacting the system for the case where the VFs on the SR-IOV adapter remain active.
• A possible performance problem was fixed for partitions with shared processors that had latency in the handling of the escalation interrupts used to switch the processor between tasks.  The effect of this is that, while the processor is kept busy, some tasks might hold the processor longer than they should because the interrupt is delayed, while others run slower than normal.
• A problem was fixed for a system termination that may occur with B111E504 logged when starting a partition on a system with a very large number of partitions (more than 400) or on a system with fewer partitions but with a very large number of virtual adapters configured.
  
• A problem was fixed for a system termination that may occur with a B150DA73 logged when a memory UE is encountered in a partition when the hypervisor touches the memory.  With the fix, the touch of memory by the hypervisor is a UE tolerant touch and the system is able to continue running.
• A problem was fixed for fabric errors such as cable pulls causing checkstops.  With the fix, the PBAFIR are changed to recoverable atentions, allowing the OCC to be reset to recover from such faults.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• A problem was fixed to remove a SAS battery LED from ASMI that does not exist.   This problem only pertains to the S914(9009-41A), S924 (9009-42A) and H924 for SAP HANA (9223-42H) models.
• On a system with an AIX partition,  a problem was fixed for a partition time jump that could occur after doing an AIX Live Update.  This problem could occur if the AIX Live Update happens after a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration to the partition.  AIX applications using the timebase facility could observe a large jump forwards or backwards in the time reported by the timebase facility.   A circumvention to this problem is to reboot the partition after the LPM operation prior to doing the AIX Live Update.  An AIX fix is also required to resolve this problem.  The issue will no longer occur when this firmware update is applied on the system that is the target of the LPM operation and the AIX partition performing the AIX Live Update has the appropriate AIX updates installed prior to doing the AIX Live Update. 
  
• On a Linux or IBM i partition which has just completed a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) migration, a problem was fixed for a VIO adapter hang when it stops processing interrupts.  For this problem to occur, prior to the migration the adapter must have had a interrupt outstanding where the interrupt source was disabled.
• On systems with an IBM i partition,  support was added for multipliers for IBM i MATMATR fields that are limited to four characters.  When retrieving Server metrics via IBM MATMATR calls, and the system contains greater than 9999 GB, for example, MATMATR has an architected "multiplier" field such that 10,000 GB can be represented by 5,000 GB * Multiplier of 2, so '5000' and '2' are returned in the quantity and multiplier fields, respectively, to handle these extended values.  The IBM i OS also requires a PTF to support the MATMATR field multipliers.
• On a system with a IBM i partition with more than 64 shared processors assigned to it,  a problem was fixed for a system termination or other unexpected behavior that may occur during a partition dump.  Without the fix, the problem can be avoided by limiting the IBM i partition to 64 or fewer shared processors.
  

• HIPER/Pervasive: DISRUPTIVE:  In response to recently reported security vulnerabilities, this firmware update is being released to address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue number CVE-2018-3639. In addition, Operating System updates are required in conjunction with this FW level for CVE-2018-3639.
  

• HIPER/Pervasive:   A firmware change was made to address a rare case where a memory correctable error on POWER9 servers may result in an undetected corruption of data.
• A problem was fixed for Live Partition Mobility (LPM) to prevent an error in the hardware page translation table for a migrated page that could result in an invalid operation on the target system.  This is a rare timing problem with the logic used to invalidate an entry in the memory page translation table.
• A problem was fixed for a hung ethernet port on the service processor.  This hang prevents TCP/IP network traffic from the management console and the Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) browsers.  It makes it appear as if the service processor is unresponsive and can be confused with a service processor in the stopped state.  An A/C power cycle would recover a hung ethernet adapter.
• A problem was fixed for partition hangs or aborts during a Live Partition Mobility (LPM) or Dynamic Platform Optimizer (DPO) operation.  This is a rare problem with a small timing window for it to occur in the hypervisor task dispatching.  The partition can be rebooted to recover from the problem.
• A problem was fixed for service processor static IP configurations failing after several minutes with SRC B1818B3E.  The IP address will not respond to pings in the ethernet adapter failed state.  This problem occurs any time a static IP configuration is enabled on the service processor.  Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) dynamic IPs can be used to provide the service processor network connections.  To recover from the problem, the other ethernet adapter (either eth0 or eth1) should be in the default DHCP configuration and allow the failing adapter to be reconfigured with a dynamic IP.
• A problem was fixed for the system going to ultra turbo mode after an On-Chip Controller (OCC) reset.  This could result in a power supply over current condition.  This problem can happen when the system is running a heavy workload and then a power mode change is requested or some error happens that takes the OCC into a reset.
• A problem was fixed for Workload Optimized Frequency (WOF) where parts may have been manufactured with bad IQ data that requires filtering to prevent WOF from being disabled.
• A problem was fixed for transactional memory that could result in a wrong answer for processes using it.  This is a rare problem requiring L2 cache failures that can affect the process determining correctly if a transaction has completed.
• A problem was fixed for a change in the IP address of the service processor causing the system On-Chip Controller (OCC) to go into Safe mode with SRC B18B2616 logged.  In Safe mode, the system is running with reduced performance and with fans running at high speed.  Normal performance can be restored concurrently by a reset/reload of the service processor using the ASMI soft reset option.  Without the fix, whenever the IP address of the service processor is changed, a soft reset of the service processor should be done to prevent OCC from going into Safe mode.
• A problem was fixed for the recovery for optical link failures in the PCIe expansion drawer with feature code #EMX0.  The recovery failure occurs when there are multiple PCIe link failures simultaneously with the result that the I/O drawers become unusable until the CEC is restarted.  The hypervisor will have xmfr entries with "Sw Cfg Op FAIL" identified.  With the fix, the errors will be isolated to the PCIe link and the I/O drawer will remain operational.
• A problem was fixed for a system aborting with SRC B700F105 logged when starting a partition that the user had changed from P8 or P9 compatiblity mode to P7 compatibility mode.  This problem is intermittent and the partition in question had to have an immediate shutdown done prior to the change in compatibility mode for the problem to happen.  To prevent this problem when it is known that a compatibility mode is going to change to P7 mode, allow the partition to shut down normally before making the change.  If an immediate shut down of the partition is necessary and the compatibility mode has to be changed to P7, then the CEC should be powered off and then re-IPLed before making the change to prevent an unplanned outage of the system.
• A problem was fixed for a logical partition hang or unpredictable behavior due to lost interrupts with BCxxE504 logged when memory is relocated by the hypervisor because of predictive memory failures.  This problem is not frequent because it requires memory failing and the recovery action of relocating memory away from the failing DIMMs being taken.  To circumvent this failure, if memory failure has occurred, the system may be re-IPLed to allow normal memory allocations from the available memory, so the partitions do not have to run on relocated memory.
  
• A problem was fixed for a failure in DDR4 RCD (Register Clock Driver) memory initialization that causes half of the DIMM memory to be unusable after an IPL.  This is an intermittent problem where the memory can sometimes be recovered by doing another IPL.  The error is not a hardware problem with the DIMM but it is an error in the initialization sequence needed get the DIMM ready for normal operations.
  

System firmware changes that affect certain systems

• DEFERRED:   On a system with only a single processor core configured, a problem was fixed for poor I/O performance.  This problem may be circumvented by configuring a second processor core.  This additional processor core does not have to be used by the partition.
• On systems that are not managed by a HMC, a problem was fixed to enable FSP call home.  The problem always happens when the service processor attempts to call home an error log as it will fail.
• A problem was fixed for Dynamic Power Saver Mode on a system with low-CPU utilization that had reduced performance unexpectedly.  This only happens for workloads that are restricted to a single core or using just a single core because of low-CPU utilization.  This problem can be circumvented by running the system in maximum performance mode by using ASMI to enable Fixed Maximum Frequency mode.
  

• GA Level