IBM Netfinity 3000 Error 176 & Keyboard Locked

[ElCamino]

I run a small computer shop in a small Maine town. I got a call from a small library in a nearby town, here is the scenario. There used to be a local volunteer several years back that set them up win a Netfinity 3000 & software to run the catalog system. He is gone now and the system had been running unattended for a year or so working fine. Well, the other day someone turned off the battery backup unit causing power loss to the server. Upon reapplication of power it says:

176 The system has been tampered with
Turn off power and back on
The system is now locked

Simply cycling power only repeats the same error. Did a google on 176 and it is a "cover open" error. I opened the machine and there is indeed (as expected) an intrustion detection switch but it seems to be working fine. It requires a fairly wide range of movement to "switch" so there is no way it was accidentally tripped.

The kicker to all this is that there is a security feature configured that at beginning of post it says "Keyboard is locked" then after SCSI device detection it says "Keyboard is unlocked." So it is locking the keyboard out durring post so I can't press F1 to enter setup. From research online I can't find any info about unlocking they keyboard and there is no obvious jumper for this inside the machine.

I have already cleared the CMOS with the jumper on the motherboard and the keyboard is still locked and I still get error 176.

Cany anyone offer me any advice? I have taken on this job free of charge to help a low budget library, they don't really want to buy a new server and would rather get this one functional again. Nobody around seems to know about netfinity servers that I've called.

Thanks!

 

[rclarke250]

The system board is bad...If you look at the capaciters on the board close to the cpu slot you will notice that they are leaking.

 

[miss4wd]

I have the same problem. Does this mean we have to replace the motherboard?

 

[catorze]

Yes. Contact IBM Support at (800)IBM-SERV for a replacement.

 

[backSquash]

Hi Elcamino,
I have a Netfinity 3000 and have the exact same issue and error message.

176 The system has been tampered with
Turn off power and back on
The system is now locked

I have not found out much else regarding this problem on the web. Can you advise if you were able to fix it and what the solution was.

Thanks,

Chew

 

[Mammoth]

You could check your motherboard first to see if you have any capacitors that are bulging or leaking. Also a 176 error can mean that the cover is off the machine. Some of IBMs servers had tamper switches on the case. First check your caps, and then check for the tamper switch. If the caps are leaking or bulging then the motherboard needs replacing. If that is not the case and you find a tamper switch then just verify that the cover is closing the switch or just short the switch.

 

[Patrickske]

If you don't have IBM support anymore, and you want to save money on an IBM guy changing ur mainboard for a huge amound of $$$, you might try to replace the defect caps (your mainboar is defect anyways, so why not give it a try), located above the CPU. These three caps are slightly bigger then the other caps on the mainboard, and my be leaking and/or bulging.

These three caps have a value of 560uF / 25V. Replace them with equivilent values. Since these caps are parallel to each other, you can also use two 1000uF/25V caps. It's not a problem when the voltage is higher.

I replaced them with two 1000uF/35V caps, whitch we had on stock. The problem was solved.

Good luck
Patrick

 

[backSquash]

Patrickske,

I did find a motherboard on Ebay for $20 and replaced the entire thing--works like a charm. Looks like IBM changed the part number and rev'd the motherboard--it was different that the original Motherboard part number it came with. Maybe they changed the capacitors. If it happens again, I will try your capacitor fix.

Thanks,

backSquash.

 

[Mammoth]

There has been several revs for certain boards that had bulging, leaking or even exploding capacitors. It's a known issue, however they seem to have it licked!