Getting Started, Documentation, Tips & Tricks

I've been handed a project at work that someone got the crazy idea I was qualified to take on, and am getting a bit stuck.

Basically, we have a couple of SGI systems floating around the department. All of them have Felix installed, which is an NMR(nuclear magnetic resonance) interpretation package. There's also some expensive(and still useful) protein modeling software.

Here's basically what I'm dealing with:

I'm trying to get an Octane working, which I've been told is the "main" one and is needed for all the other systems to work(this was explained to me by a non-computer person, so I don't know the full details).

In any case, this particular Octane will boot just fine to a login screen. There are three user accounts on it, and we don't know passwords for any of them(two of the people are still around )

I understand that there is a "back door" by booting off the install disk and either deleting the password files for the current user account(s) or creating a new user account.

I have an external SCSI DVD drive, along with a copy of IRIX 6.4. This is the same version of IRIX installed on the computer. When I boot off the install disk, I get the message "Unable to mount partition: /dev/dsk/dks0d1s0 on /root. This is your system disk: without it we have nothing on which to install software."

I'm then prompted to press enter to invoke C shell csh:

As I said, the HDDs are fully functional as best as I can tell. The computer will boot to them. There are two drives(80 pin SCSI), and I'm not sure if they're in RAID or simply two separate volumes. I don't think there's a SCSI ID conflict, as the computer will still boot to the OS even with the external drive attached/turned on.

I'm far from a Unix expert, but am(primarily) a Mac user and have some familiarity with a BSD Unix based OS (OS X). I can at least navigate my way around a command prompt/terminal most of the time, but am sort of stuck at the above-especially when I can't seem to find any way to get the installed HDDs to mount.

I'd appreciate any advice on where to go next.

Thanks

are you the bunnspecial from the macrumors forum?

Yes, I am

bunnspecial wrote: I've been handed a project ...
I'd appreciate any advice on where to go next.

If you are near anyone on nekochan who has an Octane or O2, it would take about five minutes to pop the disk into a running SGI box and hack the password file ... that'd be the easiest.

Do you ever come to China ?

The only thing that comes to mind is that the boot disk is not where the installer expects to see it. The disk bays in an Octane are "dks0d1" or bus 0, device 1, in the bottom bay, then device 2 above that, then device 3 on top. The SCA drives don't need jumpers, they are set by the socket they plug into. If the lowest bay is empty, the system can still work, but it could confuse the installer.

That or the partitions are arranged differently. I don't think you can boot from an XLV (RAID), so that's not it.

How are the drives listed in a PROM hinv?

Do any of the other SGI boxes boot?
If so (hopefully other Octanes), use those to mount the disk from the primary Octane.

Hang on, 6.4 doesn't require the root password on single user, does it? IIRC that in some minor release of 6.5

Thanks guys for the quick and detailed responses.

1. The drive that I assume is the boot drive(it has a sticker on the front labeled Iris 6.4) is in the bottom bay. The second drive is in the topmost bay.

2. I have an O2 sitting right next to the Octane, but I can't get it to boot. I may dig into this further. There's another Octane as well as an Octane2 elsewhere, but I don't know their current status and the PI who is in charge of them is a bit "touchy"(understandably) about people messing with her equipment. I also have an Altix 3000 minicluster in the room with me, but I'm guessing that won't be any help.

3. Here's the screen that I get from typing hinv in the PROM

One other quick question-

I have no shortage of Macs with SCSI cards, along with the appropriate 80 pin to 68 pin and 50 pin adapters. Is there any hope of being able to read/access the file system in OS X?

On that screen type printenv and look at the first boot up disk



x tells you the drive bay it is trying to book from.

Thanks-looks like it's trying to boot from bay 0, which I'm guessing is the bottom.



In the last little bit, I've also experimented with pulling both hard drives in turn. When I pull the "top" hard drive, I get a warning on booting that no user accounts will be available, but am still prompted with a login screen. When I pull the bottom(and put the top in bay 0) the computer won't boot.

type 'single' at that screen. (without the quotation)

What do you get?

It attempted to boot into SUM, but I'm prompted for a root password

I should also add that apparently the computer is running IRIX 6.5. Could my issues be related to the fact that I'm using a 6.4 install CD? If so, it's time to go digging again...

Then you have (as already mentioned) only three options.

Boot via install media (Network or CD)
Put drive into another unit.
Guess the password.

Thanks-if I can located the 6.5 media, would I have a better chance of it working?

Thanks-if I can locate the 6.5 media, would I have a better chance of it working?

Booting with 6.4 should allow you to mount the disk and remove the password.
Do you need instructions for this?

Probably so-I thought I'd found them online, but I can't seem to get anything I type to work.

I'm sorry to pester you all with what are probably simple questions.

Okay, found a 6.5 disk and booted off of it-it seemed to mount the HDDs fine.