SGI: Hardware

hello,
so heres the story: I just got an O2, which had linux loaded on it. I wanted to change to irix, so I set about formatting the hard drive. so i did the normal format, using the sashARCS and stand/fx.ARCS commands to bring up the formatter, formatted completely. now, Ive tried irix 6.5.1 and 6.5.15, each time, ill load the CD, it will "install installation tools", then when the bar gets to 100%, the screen goes black and goes into energy saver mode, and the power button and such fail to respond, requiring me to unplug it. my printenv seems clean, what else could it be?

Did you zero out the disk as well ?

Maybe there is some left over Linux fluff in the areas where IRIX boots from ?

First try an 'resetenv' in the PROM. This will set the PROM environment to its default values, so you are certain there is no Linux cruft left there.

Yep, first try Dexter's nvram resetenv advice, as it is very quick and easy to do, and it will either work or not, no harm done if it doesn't. After doing that, run hinv in the prom, and make sure that the boot variables match the actual hardware in the machine, i.e. that the disk IDs match the location of the boot disk listed in nvram.

If resetting the nvram environment variables doesn't work, then double check the disk partitioning and volume header information. For example, you'll want to have sgilabel and the appropriate version of sash in the volume header.

If they are missing, you can load them from a boot cd using dvhtool. If all else fails, follow strandedinnz's advice to "zero out" the disk by repartitioning, adding sash to the volume header, and then creating a new filesystem on the disk. See http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/6.5inst.html or search for info at http://techpubs.sgi.com .

ok, well that didnt work. each time i try to reinstall, the bar goes up to 100, the mouse freezes, then the screen goes black and the monitor goes out. im gonna try removing the sound/video inpu card and see if that is the failure

found it, something in the motherboard that I don't know, it didn't work when i swapped ram so its not the ram, but once I swapped the motherboard it worked.

well, finally solved. I spent the better half of the day swapping parts between two O2 boards, with trial, error, and success. my problem and solution go as follows:
1. the board in o2 x was a 1997 board with what I found to be a 300mhz "2000 sgi" processor
2.the board in o2 y was a 1997 board and 200mhz "1997 cube-bug" processor
both had 4.14 PROM versions

so I switched processor y into board x , installed 6.5, upgraded overlay to 6.5.22, which upgraded the PROM to 4.18. upon swapping the x processor back into the x board, it all works!

so as it seems, PROM version seems to dictate what processor version works in what board...

Interesting. Thanks for the followup.

compuman86 wrote: well, finally solved. I spent the better half of the day swapping parts between two O2 boards, with trial, error, and success. my problem and solution go as follows:
1. the board in o2 x was a 1997 board with what I found to be a 300mhz "2000 sgi" processor
2.the board in o2 y was a 1997 board and 200mhz "1997 cube-bug" processor
both had 4.14 PROM versions

so I switched processor y into board x , installed 6.5, upgraded overlay to 6.5.22, which upgraded the PROM to 4.18. upon swapping the x processor back into the x board, it all works!

so as it seems, PROM version seems to dictate what processor version works in what board...

Might be wiki material ...? In the O2 topic maybe..?

PymbleSoftware wrote: Might be wiki material ...? In the O2 topic maybe..?

I'm pretty sure this is the reason why SGI emphasized the importance of updating IRIX to 6.5.4 or higher before doing certain CPU upgrades, and you're right, it probably should work it's way into the wiki somehow.

compuman86 - can you tell us if the 300 MHz cpu is an R10k?

no, the processor is an r5200. I agree on the wiki, it took me some time of reading random threads on here regarding the o2 to figure out.

where are those kool sgi icons and how do you use them?

tia
peter

I updated the wiki. I just cut and pasted the above and reworded it slightly.
If you don't like how I have written it, change it.

plener wrote: where are those kool sgi icons and how do you use them?

tia
peter

@peter
pm sent with a link to the "signature line icons" topic in the nekochan net forum.