Getting Started, Documentation, Tips & Tricks

Hello,

I am just getting into SGI's. I've wanted one forever, but finally started looking for one and bought one on ebay. I now have Octane cmnb015anf250. It's supposed to be a dual 270Mhz, 256MB ram, MXI video card, and a 36GB drive. The pictures from the ad showed it running, but upon arrival it will not boot. I hear the relay click when I plug it in. When I turn it on it goes green and then solid red with another click. I check the leds in the front and they look like the following

X
X0
00
0X

which seems right to me for what cards are installed. I have re-seated the XO cards, system board, memory chips, and cpu with no change. I figured it could be my monitor, so I disconnected everything and hooked a null modem cable to serial port 1 and I don't see anything. I'm using minicom which I have not used before, but I have it set to 9600 8N1 no flow control. Do I need to do anything in minicom to connect?

I'm not sure where to look next. Does anyone have any ideas that I could try?


I'm looking forward to getting the Octane up and running. I hope you guys can help me out.

Thanks in advance,

James

Update: I pulled the MXI card and now I see the POD on the serial connection. The led is still red and it doesn't seem to acept any commands over the serial cable yet.

hi jc! congrats for your new Octane hehe reminds me of my first experience too

ok im just a bit confused of your LEDs, which one are the lit ones? X or O? usually its the O right? if so then it means your system only has the PCI box, QD, QB and QC running, which is very strange.. but if you say X is the lit one, then BaseIO, QA and Heart is running, so this is more preferable, can you please confirm which one you mean to have a better understaning on the situation?

Base from your description, first Green, then stays at Red, it failed the diagnostic and we need to see which one, does it show on a monitor where it fails? Please note it should have a kbd and mice inorder to pass the diagnostic too.

If you plan to check it through your minicom, make sure remove the kbd and mice first then connect your null modem cable to COM 1 coz thats the default for Octane? Then if all are well it should dump the messages to your minicom and see where it fails.

for now this is all i can say.. one thing to consider too is dust bunny on the compression IO, but lets wait first for your next reply.


btw, happy CNY to everyone! hehe just got back from cold north mainland.. curse the weather up there hehe sorry ham

Wait til August. You'll be begging to go to qiqihaer

hehe its ok im used to hot weather coz back home its always hot hehe but yeah i agree, summer down here really almost feels like home only missing are the coconut trees and some natural shades

wow! qiqihar is far north than harbin! you been there? my God i wonder how people spend their winter there.. actually i been to cold places, but the only thing missing here in mainland is their heating system.. they rather get use to the colds? than spending a nice hitech warming system..

my worst experience this CNY was to take a bath on a public shower.. dont ask more.. also encountered the most disgusting but very funny scene was.. on one of the service station we stop to stretch our legs or use the WC due to tha 29 hours ride.. when i went in.. someone took a dump on the boys urine bowl!! my God.. poor guy.. maybe he cant wait anymore.. but one thing i wonder was all the people inside just ignored him hehe just like he was not there sitting on that most uncomfortable position hehe thats one most cool thing i saw in my life, but even if i get crazy one day? im sure i still cant do that hahaha

ok, I found (and fixed) the problem. One of the cards that is part of the MXI card was loose and partially disconnected from being shipped. Plugged it back together, slid the card back in and it booted right away. Awesome. Now onto fixing the video so that it works better with my widescreen lcd.

Thanks