The collected works of aristides

Hi all,

Managed to upgrade an Origin 2000 along with throwing in an ESI+TRAM from Octane. hinv -vm and /usr/gfx/gfxinfo posted below this although a few problems are evident.

Using a serial null cable, installed 6.5.18 although after installation, receiving errors revolving around not enabling all memory banks (you'll notice that with one of the banks, only half of RAM appears - physically all banks full). Under PROM, went through ENABLEALL, UPDATE, RESET. Additionally the monitor screen seems to flicker. From line command, can't seem to initiate the x-server. Have I gone through the right sequence of commands? After viewing the hinv output, am I missing any drivers or are all drivers up to date? Is my hardware such as the IO6G correctly defined?

Firstly the errors:




Secondly the hinv -vm echo:



Thirdly /usr/gfx/gfxinfo/usr/gfx/gfxinfo




Your advise would be embraced.

Thanks to all.

recondas wrote:
Enter POD mode from the PROM command line by entering "pod", then:
"go cac"
"clearalllogs"
"initalllogs"
"flush"
"reset" <the system will reset>

When it restarts, go back into the PROM monitor and try "enableall", "update". and "reset" again.

If that doesn't work, I have one other possiblity you can try <though I'll warn you ahead of time that it's
a long shot *and* I haven't tried it with disabled RAM>......

......So:

If the system is able, boot into IRIX.
Warm reboot the system, it should skip power on diagnostics when it restarts.
Stop in the PROM monitor, enter POD mode and repeat the process to clear and re initialize the logs.
If you're *real lucky*, when the system restarts from the POD reset it won't disable the memory.
Since we <tried to> trick the system, closely monitor the running system for memory errors.

Going backwards and forward with this option sorry to say Recondas. Sometimes there is slightly more RAM available, sometimes less. What seems to remain constant is that in Module 1/Slot 2 - 2GB doesn't seem to be seen by the system.

aristides wrote: Memory at Module 1/Slot 2: 2048 MB (enabled)
Bank 0 contains 512 MB (Premium) DIMMS (enabled)
Bank 1 contains 512 MB (Premium) DIMMS (enabled)
Bank 2 contains 512 MB (Standard) DIMMS (enabled)
Bank 3 contains 512 MB (Standard) DIMMS (enabled)
Memory at Module 1/Slot 3: 3584 MB (enabled)
Bank 0 contains 512 MB (Premium) DIMMS (enabled)

The Keeper wrote: I see the word "directory" in one of the error messages. You might want to consider yanking the directory RAM to see if that helps.

Thanks for the note Chris. Unfortunately pulling out the separate directory RAM cards from all 4 nodes did not help. Same message wrt 'directory' error. Now without the physical directory cards, I believe the system is drawing on the 'on-board' main RAM units.

maxsleg wrote: sometimes you see that a DIMM slot has got filled with crap and dust if it has been in a system with empty banks and then been upgraded.
Whan I have had this issue in the past I strip the board down and clean all the DIMM sockets with a good contact cleaner and wipe the DIMM contacts clean as well.

Thanks for that advise. I'll go through and clear the dust with a mini compressed air hose. Any suggestions on which contact cleaner to use?

maxsleg wrote: Did you load the graphics drivers for Irix after you added the ESI?

No.. not manually. A bit green from my end regarding this. Doesn't the installtion procedure cater for this? or does it need to be done manually?

maxsleg wrote: DON'T use compressed air, all you will do is blow crap deeper into things!

Take the board to a ESD work bench and gently brush out the dust.

OK will do. Thsi may turn into a long term project. Refurbishment is low priority at the moment although will take it step by step.

maxsleg wrote: I would suggest the following as you are a newbie.
Get a fresh HDD & irix install set and do a complete fresh install - then you can config things as you like it and learn a bit on the way.

Here is what I started with... a new 126GB disk and fresh install. Obviously initially connected a null serial from PC to Origin and commenced installing. During initial install, I had a second external scsi cd device and video cable connected. Aside the problems with RAM recognition (advise addressed above), I initially noticed the monitor working (although flickering) while having both serial cable and video cable connected. In order to alleviate the problem, I re-ran the installation using the serial cable only. Fully installed system was then rebooted although could not get a signal to the monitor (this was the same case with previous install as I rebooted and then could not lock in the signal to the monitor. I know the monitor should work as is a GDM17SE Sony and have tested this on an Octane. I'll go back and clean the RAM points although will probably experience the same video issue. I did notice some errors in terminal mode towards the end of the installation process - didn't get a record of what they were (my mistake here).

So any further advise from the Nekochan community would be very welcomed

recondas wrote: Try stripping the O2k until you get a minimum configuration that boots without error.

Remove:
Directory RAM
All standard RAM except the pair in Bank 0 on each node <your hinv indicates all Bank 0s were working>
The Graphics module
The IO6G <if you still have the IO6 to replace it with>
The MENET and FC boards
The HD that contains the failed IRIX install
The external CD
If necessary, all but one the nodeboard
<from this point make and test each change/reconfiguration *one* step at a time - it'll take more time, but it will also enable you to make more sense of any errors>

Recondas... your stepwise advise is the essence of support

This will take some time for me to implement as will tend to work on this when I will have some 'free time' under my belt. I'll report back in a stepwise manner while following your advise.

Thank you again and I can hopefully commence this process very soon.

recondas wrote: Connect a serial terminal <enable a *large* scroll back buffer on the terminal program and save each session>.

Boot to the PROM monitor and issue "resetenv"
Go into POD mode and reinitialize the POD logs
Reset the system, stop in the PROM and enableall/update <repeat this 3 step process after *every* hardware error>

Reboot - are there any error messages?

If so - what are they? <stop and report back>

This seemed to work well. Here comes the output:

recondas wrote: If not, install the IO6G and graphics board <but *nothing* else yet and do not connect kb, m, or monitor>
Boot to the PROM monitor, and "update" the PROM hardware invertory
Boot again - if errors appear report back

Done. Reinstalled IO6G. I did though shutdown the system prior to removing original IO6. Hope this was correct. No errors after startup.

recondas wrote: If no errors appear during the boot to PROM
Pwer down, re-install the boot drive,
restart the system,
clear/prep the drive and install IRIX <what revision is your install set, btw?>

If there are install errors <stop and report back>

Yes it was this site that was used as reference previously. Brilliant notes! IRIX 6.5.18 installed. No instalkl errors. Standard conflicts at start regarding java plugins. Here is the hinv -vm info so far:

recondas wrote: If not, connect a kb, mouse and monitor, <leave the serial terminal connected for now> and attempt to boot IRIX

If booting IRIX is unsuccessful what errors appeared?

Now seems that IRIX did properly install.... but here's the rub.... I seem to rely on the serial connection to initiate the xserver [./gfxstop then ./gfxstart]. Then I see the monitor light up and startup screen showing - without console, I can't seem to get the monitor to work. When the monitor is showing, it has a terrible flicker. Can't seem to shake it off (excuse the pun). While flickering, managed to log in (via the gui) as root and go over to system/display attributes to change size/hz to no avail.

So nearly there and not yet. Once I get this out of the way, I still have to test the RAM and reinstall the MENET and FC boards.

So over to recondas and the Team.