This post is about powering up the IBM AS400 9401-150 and encountering SRC codes which prevented the system to IPL and load the OS/400 operating system.
I will make this post rather short, as this machine will be documented in more details in other posts.
The SRC error codes
These are reference notes (hopefully helpful) for people hitting into these SRC error codes: C13F2050 hanging for too long with all disks connected, or, SRC B1924505 with the load source disk only.
Also, if more disks initiated properly along with the load source, but still not all the required disks where connected/properly started up: SRC C600450A for a while and then eventually stopping at A6005090 (with 00020000 error cause when hitting option 13).
For all the above codes, no console was coming up, though for SRC A6005090 the cursor position on the terminal moved from the top right to the top left position, indicating the system was somehow close to display on the console.
What I’ve tried with no effect
The disks would spin up connected individually, so those are healthy, but with all disks connected, only one would spin up then hitting C13F2050 and hanging there.
When switching some of the disk connectors around, and, when by chance a few more disks were properly initialized (but still not all of them being so), the system would churn the disks for a longer time but ultimately landing on the SRC C600450A, which after a few more minutes topping with the attention light on SRC A6005090.
Refitting memory / disk cable connectors didn’t helped (partial fix for the disks).
What worked
As I had another 150 system opened for extracting it’s PSU, I thought about a last try: borrowing the identical SCSI cable from the machine, starting on again, and surprise! The disks started to spin up in sequence (as they should) while also getting past the C13F2050 and then kept loading the OS successfully. I had to quit the current system messages with F3, set the date and time for the machine and then logged in using QSECOFR/QSECOFR which is the standard login for AS/400 systems on this super administrative account.
You would not expect that form what needs to be a fixed, ‘connect and forget’ passive component in a system, but s the saying goes, never say never.
This was another lucky case – my experience with AS/400 is still limited (though I have extensively looked for documentation or mentions on those specific SRC codes, so I can make an idea about the issue). Also, having the disks not wiped by the last owner, and surviving during the long shipping journey across Europe, this old machine to eventually be able to load the OS as if nothing happened, is fantastic!