Sun

Sun Blade 1000 - corrupted IDPROM - can I fix it?

bviking
Journeyman
Who joined Aug. 29, 2008, 3:29 a.m.
and authored 39 notes
Wrote the following at June 28, 2010, 2:59 a.m...
I'm kicking myself ... Caught napping over the weekend and missed out on a Qube 3 on eBay (au) for $80!

I've been after one (actually a 2, in keeping with MIPS theme here) for a while but they seldom show up in oz and shipping from US is a killer.

Sorry for whinging - just wanted to vent.

No chance anyone here knows of a non-eBay source of these little machines?

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morpheus256
Member
Who joined March 18, 2010, 2:50 p.m.
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Wrote the following at June 28, 2010, 2:02 p.m...
Hey, just a heads up the Qube 3 actually isint MIPS, its AMD k6, like the Raq 3/4.

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bviking
Journeyman
Who joined Aug. 29, 2008, 3:29 a.m.
and authored 39 notes
Wrote the following at June 29, 2010, 5:31 a.m...
morpheus256 wrote:
Hey, just a heads up the Qube 3 actually isint MIPS, its AMD k6, like the Raq 3/4.

Thanks, I know (this was what I meant by my reference to "a 2", although this obviously wasn't clear!)

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
and authored 19 notes
Wrote the following at July 3, 2010, 12:46 p.m...
Recently I got myself a Sun Blade 1000 workstation to play with. It has a USIII @ 900 MHz, 102 MB RAM and a PGX64 graphics card. However, most of the time it doesn't boot properly, and I can't get into the OBP (I have a serial console attached). One time when I got into the OBP, I got this out of it:
Code:
ok banner
, No Keyboard
Copyright 1998-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 4.13.0, 0 MB memory installed, Serial #0.
Ethernet address 0:0:0:0:0:0, Host ID: 00000000.


The IDPROM contents are invalid

I checked the battery (CR1632) on the motherboard, it is good.
So, can I fix the IDPROM contents? Like on my old SparcStation 2, which I just reprogram every time I want to play with it?

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
Addict
Who joined Aug. 31, 2009, 9:11 a.m.
and authored 494 notes
Wrote the following at July 3, 2010, 8:47 p.m...
From OBP (stop + a), toggle the "local-mac-address?" option, if its true, try false. It determines wether to use the system mac or the network card mac.

setenv local-mac-address? false OR setenv local-mac-address? true

It is always a good idea to do a set-defaults and asrclear on a new second hand machine though.

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 4, 2010, 5 a.m...
Well, the Sun Blade 1000 have a USB keyboard, so Stop-A doesn't work. Instead you have to press the power switch twice ("double-click") when the green light in it is blinking. Which is what I am doing. However, most of the time the only thing on my serial console is this:
Code:
Memory Configuration:
Segment @ Base:        0  Size:  1024 MB ( 2-Way)

And then it just sits there.
But I am still trying to get back into the OBP, I managed somehow one time, so it must be possible to do it again.

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
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Wrote the following at July 4, 2010, 5:56 a.m...
What are you using for a serial console? "tip" and "picocom" let you send a break which is what a stop A days. If you have a usb keyboard plugged into the machine, that will explain why you aren't seeing anything new on terminal.

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 4, 2010, 1:26 p.m...
I am using cu for a serial console. I've tried sending breaks with cu, but it doesn't seem to work with my Blade 1000. No, the usb keyboard is not connected when I am using a serial console.

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
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Wrote the following at July 4, 2010, 1:35 p.m...
Well, at this point I am not sure. It could be in diagnostic mode which takes HOURS to finish. I would remove any add on cards, reseat the ram, and torque the cpus using the included tool.

Then I would turn it on and wait a few hours and check back later.

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tingo
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Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 12:54 p.m...
1) add on cards - none
2) RAM re-seated: already done
3) CPU: taken out, re-inserted and torqued
Sorry for not mentioning points 2 and 3 before.

So diagnostic mode can take hours to finish? Really?
Well, if so, this is the first machine with OpenBoot I have experienced which takes a significant amount of time to run / finish diagnostics.

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
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Who joined Aug. 31, 2009, 9:11 a.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 1 p.m...
tingo wrote:
1) add on cards - none
2) RAM re-seated: already done
3) CPU: taken out, re-inserted and torqued
Sorry for not mentioning points 2 and 3 before.

So diagnostic mode can take hours to finish? Really?
Well, if so, this is the first machine with OpenBoot I have experienced which takes a significant amount of time to run / finish diagnostics.


Don't confuse diag mode with POST. Diag mode tests everything right down to cpu registers and it just takes for ever. A system will auto switch to diag mode after a few crashes / failed boots. You can't break from it unfortunately, you have to wait till its finished before you can break and do a set-defaults to clear the diag level.

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 1:18 p.m...
Well, then I learned something more today. :D
Anyway, I was able to get into OBP again. The first time I got this:
Code:
Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok banner
Corrected ECC Error
ok banner
Data Access Error
ok bannerÿ
Fatal Error reported by: (Cpu0)
CPU0 AFSR: 8800400000000  AFAR: 1ffe100
Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok
Not sure about that "Fatal error". Powered it down and tried again.
Code:
ok set-defaults
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
ok asrclear
asrclear ?
ok
Hmm, it doesn't look like asrclear is a supported command?
Some more commands:
Code:
ok banner
Corrected ECC Error
ok .speed
.speed ?
ok .version
Release 4.13.0  created 2004/01/19 18:27
ok banner
SUNW,Sun-Blade-1000 (UltraSPARC-III) , No Keyboard
Copyright 1998-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 4.13.0, 1024 MB memory installed, Serial #50508950.
Ethernet address 0:3:ba:2:b4:96, Host ID: 8302b496.


ÿ
Fatal Error reported by: (Cpu0)
CPU0 AFSR: 8800400000000  AFAR: 1ffe100
Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok Corrected ECC Error
ok

It doesn't look like the system is ok. But if it would stick, this would fix my IDprom:
Code:
ok set-defaults
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
ok .idprom
Format/Type: 1 83 Ethernet: 0 3 ba 2 b4 96 Date: 6 20 20 1
Serial: 2 b4 96 Checksum: 3c
ok
Cool, or something.

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Torfinn
tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
and authored 19 notes
Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 1:22 p.m...
But it won't boot:
Code:
ok boot
FATAL: OpenBoot initialization sequence prematurely terminated.

FATAL: system is not bootable, boot command is disabled
ok

So is it only the RAM which is broken, or?

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
Addict
Who joined Aug. 31, 2009, 9:11 a.m.
and authored 494 notes
Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 2 p.m...
Yes, you have a ram problem for sure.

Sorry about that, its "asr-clear".

If you can get boot enabled again using the asr-clear, you can do a "boot disk" to see if it will boot up. But you definitely have a bad stick of RAM (ECC errors). You could try swapping banks to temporarily circumvent the problem.

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 2:41 p.m...
It doesn't take to the "asr-clear" either:
Code:
ok set-defaults
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
ok asr-clear
asr-clear ?
ok
ok sifting asr
In vocabulary  srassembler
(f001cdcc) rdasr        (f001cac4) wrasr        (f001cab0) rdasr
ok
Hmm, I wonder why?

Also, as long as I only have one bank (4 sticks) of DIMMs I really can't swap anything, can I? I can't run the machine with only two sticks?

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
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Who joined Aug. 31, 2009, 9:11 a.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 2:47 p.m...
That is odd... Maybe its only on the newer sparcs? Did you try to boot yet?

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tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 6, 2010, 2:51 p.m...
Yes, I did try to boot. It still complains that the boot command is disabled.

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Torfinn
tingo
Stranger
Who joined June 26, 2010, 5:40 p.m.
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Wrote the following at July 7, 2010, 11:33 a.m...
FWIW, i tried my RAM in the other bank (bank 1). As expected, it didn't help.
I also tried with only one or two RAM sticks in there, just to find out what will happen. If you try, the system warns you that memory is missing from a bank, then turns itself off. Useful to know. :-)

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Torfinn
zmttoxics avatar
zmttoxics
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Who joined Aug. 31, 2009, 9:11 a.m.
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Wrote the following at July 7, 2010, 11:37 a.m...
Yeah, I think you need to order some ram off of ebay or something before this can continue...

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strandedinnz
Enthusiast
Who joined Feb. 8, 2008, 2:11 p.m.
and authored 254 notes
Wrote the following at July 7, 2010, 8:59 p.m...
I've a very nice condition Qube2 with PSU (I made a new 5A one), 256Mb RAM and SATA to PATA adapter. OS is currently NetBSD .. make me an offer :-)

PS. I'm just over the water in NZ

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