Question

How do I reset an IBM RSA II to factory defaults

Asked by: mpr2008

I have several IBM RSAII cards that are used for out-of-band management of IBM xSeries servers.  We need to reset these cards to factory defaults.  IBM has a bootable diskette we can use to reset them, but the existing card firmware is for an xSeries server we currently don't have available.  If we put the card in to another xSeries server, the floppy boots and says "no devices found" - which means it can't talk to the card due t the firmware being for another server type.  I read where there was a reset button dance you could do on some IBM management modules (blade center) that we tried (5-5-10) with no luck.  We also tried the IBM MPCLI utility with the same results.

Any thoughts or magic to reset these cards?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-01-10 at 07:59:50ID23072787
Tags

IBM

,

Remote Supervisor Adapter II

,

13N0832 or 39M4948

,

RSAII

Topics

Computer Servers

,

Network Operations

,

Network Cards & Adapters

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
10

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. factorials
    i need a code that will work with the numbers 1 -20. a factorial if you have forgoten is the ' ! ' in math
  2. Factory Settings
    Dumb question of the day - I have a PIX515 that someone made a real mess of - (after which I contributed) apparently the factory-default command does nothing on this model. WHat is the best way to scrub clean a Pix and start from scratch? If anyone has a default config fi...
  3. Factories
    I have this code: public class DataInputFactory { public DataInput getBigEndian(File f, String mode) { return new RandomAccessFile(f, mode); } public DataInput getLittleEndian(File f, String mode) { return new LittleEndianRandomAccessFile(f, mode...
  4. Factory Methods
    Hi Experts, I want to know about the Factory methods in java. Why we need to have factory methods. In what way they will be usefull. Can you gimme the explanation and some practical situations when we go for factory methods and the implementation details about the factory me...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: lnkevinPosted on 2008-01-10 at 11:41:17ID: 20630271

You can download ASU from ibm site and reset the card with the following instruction on page 42 of 68
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x_pdf/43w7833.pdf

The third one from the bottom of this page is the utility to download:
https://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-55021&brandind=5000008

K

 

by: lnkevinPosted on 2008-01-10 at 11:44:37ID: 20630319

Correction:
The third one from the bottom of the link to dowload not the bottom of the page. You wand to look for the .exe file and if you want you can also download the readme file on the second link as well:
https://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-55021&brandind=5000008

K

 

by: mpr2008Posted on 2008-01-10 at 12:04:45ID: 20630557

One thing I should mention is that I have a stack of these RSAII cards and I am trying to default them so we can reuse them.  The previous user made them all static IP and disabled DHCP.  I am using an x345 (lab server) to attempt to restore these cards.  I have no way of knowing what server thay came out of and/or the IP, username, password.

I did try ASU (DOS version) previously it claimed it could not find the card.  I believe the cards have the wrong platform firmware and while there is a way to update the firmware and change the platform, I need to get in first!  I also made sure I patched ASU for the actual server the RSA is installed on (x345) - no luck.

 

by: mpr2008Posted on 2008-01-14 at 08:09:42ID: 20653972

We cannot upgrade the firmware as the host server does not see it as a valid RSA - or if we attempt to upgrade via the web, we cannot access it due to not being able to reset it to defaults.

 

by: lnkevinPosted on 2008-01-14 at 08:24:25ID: 20654107

Just need to reset the card by pitching the hole. Check page 12 on this guide to reset your card:
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/i/advantages/integratedserver/pdf/ixa_pdguide.pdf

K

 

by: mpr2008Posted on 2008-01-14 at 08:45:47ID: 20654284

On the RSA II cards, the reset button only does a processor reset (restart) but does not default the settings to factory (USERID, PASSW0RD).  I did see this document and the IXA is a slightly different animal than the RSA II or RSA II Slimline.

 

by: lnkevinPosted on 2008-01-14 at 11:21:15ID: 20655734

OK. Here are two other ways to reset password:
1)Get in your bios --> Configuration utility --> Advanced Setup --> RSA II setting --> Restore RSA II to defaults...
Check this semulation:
http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/reflib/simulators/xseries/x260/main.html

2) Flashing bios
Dowload Bios flask disket for RSA II:
https://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-64967&brandind=5000008
Then follow this instruction to flash it on your card:
http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-42044&brandind=5000008

K


 

by: mpr2008Posted on 2008-01-15 at 08:08:28ID: 20663762

Inkevin - I am going to try something your last post made me think of - the x345's we use to configure our RSA cards do not have the "Configure RSA" option in BIOS (they are configured only by floppy) - so I will see if I can find a slightly newer xSeries server that does have that option and use it to reset all of our cards... I'll try one out and mark this as Accepted.  Thanks!

 

by: mpr2008Posted on 2008-01-17 at 07:08:25ID: 31420494

I'm accepting this solution as it prompted me to think of a work-around based on the suggestions given here.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...