SGI: Hardware

Fuel V10 and V12 Confusion - Page 1

bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 7:42 a.m...
My Fuel originally came with a V10 graphics card. I managed to track down what I *thought* and what I was *told* was a V12 with DCD. I purchased the card and installed it a few weeks ago. I checked the hinv right away to verify it said V12 and it did. I never gave it another look.

Today I was playing around with IRIX and started looking around at some of the utilities and tools and noticed some discrepancies in the way the graphics hardware is reported. On the HINV it clearly shows V12 as the graphics board as you can see below.

What I didnt notice was that in other places, it reports the EEPROM info as "ASTODYV10" (see top of hinv printout).

But, if I run /usr/gfx/gfxinfo -v, it tells me the board is ODYSSEY Graphics which is what the Tezro version of V12 is supposed to report.

Did I end up with some Hybrid V10/V12 or did someone do an EEPROM upgrade on a V10 and flashed a V12 EEPROM?
jan-jaap avatar
jan-jaap
Who joined June 17, 2004, 10:35 a.m.
and authored 3603 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 7:55 a.m...
Late rev. V10 cards shipped with 128MB RAM. The possibility to unlock this and turn it into a V12 was discussed here . AFAIK, it is impossible to rewrite the chips that hold the part# and XIO ID string, (e.g., in your case ASTODYV10 and 030-1826-00x).

In short, it looks to me that someone went ahead with the info in the thread mentioned above and figured out how to turn rev B. V10's into 'fake' V12s and didn't feel the need to share this info with the board. :x If I were you I'd feel scammed, because this is NOT a genuine V12. The part# clearly makes this a V10.

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 8:08 a.m...
Uggh.. Now I need to go back to the vendor and see if he was aware of the fake V12 he was peddling or if it was intentional for him to get lower cost V10 and make them look like V12 to get more money for them.

The board did look physically different to my original V10 when I pulled it out. That, and when I powered it up and it said "V12" under graphics board led me to believe I had the real thing.

The only silver lining I can see here, is maybe, using this unique piece of hardware that I managed to uncover, I might be able to help shed some light on HOW this was done and we can add the information to the board.

I dont mind "taking one for the team", if we get something useful out of it. Maybe some others here can benefit from an upgraded V10 -> V12 if we can use what I have to figure out the process.
recondas avatar
recondas
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Who joined June 6, 2004, 4:55 p.m.
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Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 8:52 a.m...
The whole story of the change-a-V10-into-a-V12 hack is in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16720976

bitcpy, yours is indeed a *very* interesting post.

Like j-j mentions, the topic was left open ended because no one seemed to have the knowledge needed to successfully modify the firmware so that the extra 96MB of memory present on a 030-1826-00x V10 could be used...... or at least no one admitted to having the knowledge.

If someone has figured it out in order to make a few bucks representing $25 V10s as $250 V12s, wonder when they'll get ambitious enough to try floating an 1826 V10 through a rework station to see if they can shoehorn on 256 or 512MB of memory (since later versions of the IRIX kernel already have the hardware definitions for both).

So if someone has figured out the alchemy needed to make V12s out of V10s, I wonder how many more are out there? If you have a semi recently acquired Fuel or V12 for a Fuel, you might want to take a close look at the part number/description in an hinv -vm.

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 8:55 a.m...
I have contacted the vendor that sold me the card and pointed out what I found. I will wait for his reply to see if he was unaware or aware of what he sold me.

If there is anything we could do while I have the card to shed some light on the process mentioned in the thread above, let me know. I would be happy to provide whatever data I can extract.
recondas avatar
recondas
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Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 9 a.m...
bitcpy, could you run "l1cmd eeprom" as root and post the results - details in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16725883

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 9:11 a.m...
I need to get SSHD or some other network connectivity running on my Fuel so I can transfer files back and forth. I will see if I can get SSHD running on it and then post the results.
recondas avatar
recondas
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Who joined June 6, 2004, 4:55 p.m.
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Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 9:32 a.m...
If it'd be less trouble, you can acquire the same info by via serial terminal - just run "eeprom" at an L1 command prompt.

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 12:40 p.m...
Hope this helps...

Code:
NODE (CH)
00 20 01 06 00 00 00 d9
NODE (CIA)
00 02 17 c2 4e 41 c2 4e 41 c1 00 00 00 00 00 84
NODE (BIA)
00 09 00 11 d7 32 c9 53 4f 4c 45 43 54 52 4f 4e
c4 49 50 33 34 c6 4d 4c 41 33 34 39 cc 30 33 30
5f 31 37 30 37 5f 30 30 34 00 c2 5f 43 01 02 c2
30 30 04 00 00 9f b3 04 00 00 00 02 04 00 00 42
e0 c1 00 00 00 00 00 0b
NODE (PIA), no data available (1)
NODE (IUA)
00 03 30 01 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 01 00 0c
0b 45 01 03 00 20 1f 00 01 02 03 4a 00 03 4a 06
50 26 06 3f fc 06 3f b7 06 08 88 06 02 46 06 00
ec 18 00 6b 00 00 00 72
MAC (CH)
00 00 01 03 00 00 00 fc
MAC (CIA)
00 02 17 c2 4e 41 c2 4e 41 c1 00 00 00 00 00 84
MAC (BIA)
00 0b 00 00 00 00 c2 4e 41 cb 4d 41 43 20 41 44
44 52 45 53 53 c6 4e 41 20 20 20 20 cc 4e 41 20
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 c2 4e 41 01 02 c2
4e 41 04 ff ff ff ff 04 ff ff ff ff 04 ff ff ff
ff cc 30 38 30 30 36 39 31 30 36 33 38 46 00 c1
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c1
MAC (PIA), no data available (1)
MAC (IUA), no data available (1)
PIMM (CH)
00 20 00 01 00 00 00 df
PIMM (CIA), no data available (1)
PIMM (BIA)
00 07 00 93 3b 43 c9 53 4f 4c 45 43 54 52 4f 4e
c8 49 50 33 34 50 49 4d 4d c6 4e 45 46 32 32 38
cc 30 33 30 5f 31 39 33 32 5f 30 30 31 00 c2 5f
42 01 02 c2 30 30 c1 6a
PIMM (PIA), no data available (1)
PIMM (IUA)
00 01 60 01 00 01 00 04 00 14 00 2e 00 2e 00 3e
00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a
00 3e 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a 00 4a
00 4a 04 44 01 00 00 00 0f 00 01 01 01 70 00 01
70 00 04 03 01 01 20 07 01 00 46 00 46 00 04 03
01 01 20 07 01 00 33 00 33 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7d
XIO (CH)
00 20 00 01 00 00 00 df
XIO (CIA), no data available (1)
XIO (BIA)
00 09 00 6c a7 46 c9 53 4f 4c 45 43 54 52 4f 4e
c9 41 53 54 4f 44 59 56 31 30 c6 4e 4d 5a 32 38
39 cc 30 33 30 5f 31 38 32 36 5f 30 30 33 00 c2
5f 41 01 02 c2 30 30 04 ff ff ff ff 04 ff ff ff
ff 04 ff ff ff ff c1 a1
XIO (PIA), no data available (1)
XIO (IUA)
00 01 33 01 01 01 01 04 01 06 03 00 09 02 0f 01
13 01 16 01 19 01 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 03 01
01 20 07 01 05 ff 00 ff 04 42 01 01 00 20 03 00
01 02 01 4f 00 01 4f f4
DIMM 0 (JEDEC-SPD)
80 08 07 0d 0b 02 48 00 04 a0 80 02 82 04 04 01
0e 04 0c 01 02 26 00 00 00 00 00 50 3c 50 30 80
b0 b0 60 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 95
ce 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 4d 33 20 34 36 4c 32
38 32 30 44 54 32 2d 43 41 30 20 32 44 03 06 0c
10 0e 00 00 57 4d 43 33 42 30 56 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DIMM 2 (JEDEC-SPD)
80 08 07 0d 0b 02 48 00 04 80 80 02 82 04 04 01
0e 04 0c 01 02 26 00 a0 80 00 00 50 3c 50 32 80
c0 c0 60 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b7
7f 7f fe 00 00 00 00 00 4a 43 4d 32 32 30 31 42
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 32 20 03 06 12
00 10 34 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DIMM 1 (JEDEC-SPD)
80 08 07 0d 0b 02 48 00 04 a0 80 02 82 04 04 01
0e 04 0c 01 02 26 00 00 00 00 00 50 3c 50 30 80
b0 b0 60 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 95
ce 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 4d 33 20 34 36 4c 32
38 32 30 44 54 32 2d 43 41 30 20 32 44 03 08 0c
dc 16 00 00 57 4d 42 32 30 30 38 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DIMM 3 (JEDEC-SPD)
80 08 07 0d 0b 02 48 00 04 80 80 02 82 04 04 01
0e 04 0c 01 02 26 00 a0 80 00 00 50 3c 50 32 80
c0 c0 60 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b7
7f 7f fe 00 00 00 00 00 4a 43 4d 32 32 30 31 42
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 32 20 03 06 12
00 10 1f 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 12:50 p.m...
Very interesting thread. I have to think someone *DID* in fact figure this out because I have living proof in my Fuel right now.

I also just double checked my original V10 card and it has the later part # (1826-003). When I power down my Fuel, I will pull my V10/V12 Hybrid out and compare the 2 boards side-by-side front and back.

I will post some High Res shots of both boards so you hardware gurus can see what is what.

Since I do have a late model V10, I would be willing to guinea pig the V10 and see if we can make that work as a V12 also. Once we confirm that, then we know for sure the process works.

I have a feeling alot of cheap V10 are going to be worth some money real soon.. lol..

Should I be scavenging eBay looking for cheap V10 to buy up??

lastly, if the only difference between V10 and V12 is the firmware changes, the performance would be the same between my V10/V12 hybrid and a factory real V12 wouldnt it?

recondas wrote:
The whole story of the change-a-V10-into-a-V12 hack is in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16720976

bitcpy, yours is indeed a *very* interesting post.

Like j-j mentions, the topic was left open ended because no one seemed to have the knowledge needed to successfully modify the firmware so that the extra 96MB of memory present on a 030-1826-00x V10 could be used...... or at least no one admitted to having the knowledge.

If someone has figured it out in order to make a few bucks representing $25 V10s as $250 V12s, wonder when they'll get ambitious enough to try floating an 1826 V10 through a rework station to see if they can shoehorn on 256 or 512MB of memory (since later versions of the IRIX kernel already have the hardware definitions for both).

So if someone has figured out the alchemy needed to make V12s out of V10s, I wonder how many more are out there? If you have a semi recently acquired Fuel or V12 for a Fuel, you might want to take a close look at the part number/description in an hinv -vm.
bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 12:53 p.m...
One last thought.. Maybe we should merge this new data into the old thread? This way going forward, I can provide whatever input into that original thread and see if we can keep everything in 1 place?
foetz avatar
foetz
Who joined April 14, 2003, 3:34 a.m.
and authored 4683 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 2:22 p.m...
bitcpy wrote:
One last thought.. Maybe we should merge this new data into the old thread? This way going forward, I can provide whatever input into that original thread and see if we can keep everything in 1 place?

definitely and if it should happen this post of mine could be trashed :P

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recondas avatar
recondas
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Who joined June 6, 2004, 4:55 p.m.
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Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 3:02 p.m...
bitcpy wrote:
One last thought.. Maybe we should merge this new data into the old thread? This way going forward, I can provide whatever input into that original thread and see if we can keep everything in 1 place?


Let's wait until you've got something to report from the person you got it from. If he disavows any knowledge about how that particular feat was accomplished there still won't be a resolution to the original thread.

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 3:10 p.m...
Even if that is the case, I believe with the physical card one can reverse engineer what was done to figure out how to modify the next one.

If I pull this "V12" out, and put my V10 back in, and dump the EEPROM again for the stock one, it will show me everything that is different.

The only issue is this "V12" has DCD and my original V10 doesnt.


recondas wrote:
Let's wait until you've got something to report from the person you got it from. If he disavows any knowledge about how that particular feat was accomplished there still won't be a resolution to the original thread.
bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 20, 2013, 3:35 p.m...
I just had a thought..

When I reconfigured my Fuel to upgrade its processor from 600 to 800Mhz and the RAM from 1GB to 4GB, the PROM gave me alot of trouble before it re-initialized and showed the correct info.

When I swapped out the graphics card, I did go into PROM and ran: update, and then init to reconfigure.

Is it possible HINV is still showing parts of the old catalog when the V10 was in there? Its just really strange that my board is showing half V12 and half V10 information and I am wondering if its a simple explanation rather than a hacked V10??

Would just like to rule this out if someone can confirm proper procedure when swapping hardware in the Fuel.

If this is not hte case, I will pull my Fuel apart and yank the V12 out to have a look at it.
hamei
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 4:10 p.m.
and authored 8449 notes
Wrote the following at March 21, 2013, 12:15 a.m...
bitcpy wrote:
Uggh.. Now I need to go back to the vendor and see if he was aware of the fake V12 he was peddling or if it was intentional for him to get lower cost V10 and make them look like V12 to get more money for them.

The board did look physically different to my original V10 when I pulled it out. That, and when I powered it up and it said "V12" under graphics board led me to believe I had the real thing.

The late boards are the same thing, so all you lost was the stickers and the text in hinv. In everything that counts it is a V12. ... but it is interesting.

I would think it could have been a factory screwup, too. The boards are almost identical. If someone grabbed the wrong i.d. chip, or they ran low on the V12-marked bare cards, or if whoever was making those boards ran low on the correct i.d. chip, or the raw pc board got into the wrong stack, well .... sometimes 'stuff happens'.

If the how-to became available to the public, I doubt that you'd see a large rise in the prices of V10's. More likely to see a massive drop in the price of a V12. Many of us would be not displeased by that :D

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diegel
Who joined Nov. 17, 2009, 2:08 a.m.
and authored 153 notes
Wrote the following at March 21, 2013, 3:22 a.m...
Very interesting! Can you send some pictures of this modified V10? I would compare the pictures with my spare V10 boards to find a possible hardware modification.

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recondas avatar
recondas
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Who joined June 6, 2004, 4:55 p.m.
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Wrote the following at March 21, 2013, 1:35 p.m...
bitcpy wrote:
Would just like to rule this out if someone can confirm proper procedure when swapping hardware in the Fuel.
As long as you cleared the POD logs (and the hardware list stored within), you might try rebooting the L1 controller (on the odd chance it wasn't during your recent hardware update).

The L1 is live as long as power is connected to the Fuel. Shut down IRIX and run "reboot_l1" at an L1 Command prompt, or completely disconnect power for a short period. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16726401

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bitcpy
Who joined Dec. 30, 2012, 8:48 a.m.
and authored 74 notes
Wrote the following at March 21, 2013, 5:47 p.m...
These Fuels are very finicky. Geez..

I did what you said and now the machine wont power up at all. Clicking the front button does absolutely nothing.

I put the serial cable back onto the L1 port and I am getting nothing on the console program now.

I tried taking out the mouse, keyboard and Ethernet cable; only power remains plugged in. I pulled the power plug, left it off for 10min and put it back in and still no output on the serial console and the power button on the front does nothing.

Do these machines have battery backups on the board? Can I pull a battery to flush all the contents and reset it back to default?

recondas wrote:
As long as you cleared the POD logs (and the hardware list stored within), you might try rebooting the L1 controller (on the odd chance it wasn't during your recent hardware update).

The L1 is live as long as power is connected to the Fuel. Shut down IRIX and run "reboot_l1" at an L1 Command prompt, or completely disconnect power for a short period. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16726401
hamei
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 4:10 p.m.
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Wrote the following at March 21, 2013, 7:40 p.m...
bitcpy wrote:
These Fuels are very finicky. Geez..

I did what you said and now the machine wont power up at all. Clicking the front button does absolutely nothing.

They certainly can be. Normally I owuld say "Uh-oh, power supply" to this but I once had a graphics card do a very similar thing. Changed out the graphics card and it booted.

When they run, they are great. But when they go goofy, they are exasperating.

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