IRIX and Software

Hi !
Question from an IRIX newbie.
I installed IRIX only one time before: it was an Indigo² and installing 6.5 was (almost) a breeze...
Now I got an Indy (IP22 R4400 175MHz, 64Mb).
There was a Debian (I think) which won't boot, leading to
Exception: <vector=XUT>
...
Panic

Diagnostic tests (about two hours) showed no errors.

I tried to install IRIX 5.3 (I have only 6.5 and 5.3, but 64Mb are too few).

boot -f dksc(0,6,8)sahsARCS dksc(0,6,7)stand/fx.ARCS --x
did a)uto, then r, ro)ot , l)abel sy)nc, /exit

I choose "Install system software": tools were loaded on the disk, then
Exception: <vector=UTLB>
...
Panic

What's goin' on ?
5.3 is too old ?
I'm wrong somewhere, somehow ?

Thanks !

supervinx wrote: 5.3 is too old ?

There's at least half a dozen different releases of IRIX 5.3: http://www.sgistuff.net/software/irixhi ... x.html#5.3

You probably have the wrong disc. You need the "IRIX 5.3 for Indy R4400 175MHz" from 02/95 or one of the later releases. The original IRIX 5.3 disc (812-0119-006) does *not* work on this Indy.

I think you're right ... the 175MHz R4400 Indy is treated as a separate beast...
Let's search another IRIX version

jan-jaap wrote:

supervinx wrote: 5.3 is too old ?

There's at least half a dozen different releases of IRIX 5.3: http://www.sgistuff.net/software/irixhi ... x.html#5.3

You probably have the wrong disc. You need the "IRIX 5.3 for Indy R4400 175MHz" from 02/95 or one of the later releases. The original IRIX 5.3 disc (812-0119-006) does *not* work on this Indy.

although that doesn't always mean a thing, I also installed stock IRIX 5.3 on my Indigo² 200MHz R4400 1MB, although it only supports 100 MHz R4000SC or 150 MHz R4400SC (according to sgistuff )
and the 250MHz 2MB CPU is not supported by IRIX 5.3, but good old 4.0.5H runs fine on it

oreissig wrote: although that doesn't always mean a thing, I also installed stock IRIX 5.3 on my Indigo² 200MHz R4400 1MB, although it only supports 100 MHz R4000SC or 150 MHz R4400SC (according to sgistuff )
and the 250MHz 2MB CPU is not supported by IRIX 5.3, but good old 4.0.5H runs fine on it :D

It is a different story with the 2MB SC processor, first 5.3 release definitely does not work.
And 250MHz R4400 Indigo2 is indeed supported by IRIX 5.3 with appropriate patches. (SG0951,956,1003,1015).

To the OP: J.J. identified the reason for your problem, but I would add that [A]uto, or INITIALIZE command to fx is not recommended on IRIX 5.3, because due to a bug it performs a low-level format. This was fixed for IRIX 6.2 fx.

I'm a bit upset
The 5.3 I tried, should be the right version, for Indy R4400/175 IP22, but it failed to boot.
Same thing happened with 6.2,
Exception: <vector=UTLB>, while the 6.5 gives <vector=XUT>
Could it be an hardware related issue ?
And if so, why diagnostics state that everything is OK ?

Maybe the Debian disk label or some remains on the disk are confusing IRIX? You could try to wipe the disk with 'fx': option 'exe'rcise > 'seq'uential > 'wr-only' > [select whole range] > go (or about, this is from memory)

The create a new disk label and try again.

I did a complete formatting, repartitioning and relabeling of the disk, with 5.3 a)uto.
It took over two hours ...
I removed the graphic adapter and tried the serial console.
IRIX 5.3 for Indy R4400/175, 6.2, 6.2 patched, 6.5.
Always panic, exception: <vector=UTLB>, only 6.5 <vector=XUT>
Since I'm starting to have headache, I'll try two things
1) complete cleaning of the boards
2) swapping HD

Tried everything, none ...
Then I remembered to check the MAC address.
I didn't think about it because PROM settings were retained ...

It wasn't ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, but some bits were corrupted and the starting values weren't
08:00:69.

dump -w -x 0xbfbe04ec confirmed it

So I did
setenv -f eaddr 08:00:69:08:e2:0a (random values were chosen, no MAC address sticker)
was successfull.

Or
fill -w -v 0x08 0xbfbe04e8
fill -w -v 0x00 0xbfbe04ec
fill -w -v 0x69 0xbfbe04f0
fill -w -v 0x08 0xbfbe04f4
fill -w -v 0xe2 0xbfbe04f8
fill -w -v 0x0a 0xbfbe04fc


printenv now shows the mac address

The installation process now starts

Nice work! Might be worth figuring a place to put this into the wiki section on IRIX installation, if it's not already there.

Guys, I'm actually wondering, if there is any correlation between serial number and a mac address (at least stepping order),
say if supervinx doesn't have his MAC but has the serial number he might be able to find someone with relatively "close" serial number and somehow derive the original MAC he should have - not that it matters much, but you never know, the world is small, his Indy might end up next to another Indy with the same (originally) MAC and not work

I think we all here have enough of hardware to come up with some schema for that, any suggestions or comments ?

Cheers

josehill wrote: Nice work! Might be worth figuring a place to put this into the wiki section on IRIX installation, if it's not already there.

http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/IRIX_for_I ... _addresses

R.

kubatyszko wrote: Guys, I'm actually wondering, if there is any correlation between serial number and a mac address (at least stepping order),
say if supervinx doesn't have his MAC but has the serial number he might be able to find someone with relatively "close" serial number and somehow derive the original MAC he should have - not that it matters much, but you never know, the world is small, his Indy might end up next to another Indy with the same (originally) MAC and not work

I think we all here have enough of hardware to come up with some schema for that, any suggestions or comments ?

Cheers

Yep, there is. The SGI serial number is the MAC on desktop machines - on Indigo2 and Octane it's the full MAC, including the 0800, on Indy it might be just the end part, though I think it is still the whole number. Look for a yellow or white sticker on the back. Indy and Indigo2 stickers are long and narrow.

If you have a ASD machine (CHALLENGE, Origin or the like) you're not so lucky. For those (and Sun boxes) I like to copy down the MACs as soon as possible somewhere on the physical box - though do keep in mind that all SGIs with the exception of Indy/Challenge S don't suffer from the "MAC stored only in NVRAM" problem of Suns so it is more of a convenience than a necessity.

robespierre wrote: And 250MHz R4400 Indigo2 is indeed supported by IRIX 5.3 with appropriate patches. (SG0951, 956,1003,1015 ).

Could anyone please provide me with those patches? I've been looking around but wasn't able to find them. The popular 5.3 patchsets only contain 951, but not the others, and the kernel in the included sa file doesn't include 250MHz fixes unfortunately.

EDIT: Which patches are needed for 5.3 XFS?

These patches were superseded by others.

patchSG0003236 replaces patchSG0000956
patchSG0002605 replaces patchSG0001003
patchSG0001826 replaces patchSG0001015

Those are (were ?) available from Supportfolio

EDIT:

Which patches are needed for 5.3 XFS?

I assume the recommended/required patch set for IRIX 5.3 w./ XFS. There were two of them: 5.3xfs_Challenge_Onyx.tardist . and 5.3xfs_Indigo_Indigo2_Indy_ChallengeS.tardist .

PS: Yeah, that's my FTP server. Those patch sets used to be widely mirrored on anonymous FTP but they seem to have disappeared so this is my service to the public.