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#1 (**permalink**) 02-20-2008, 04:22 PM

Good morning,

Has anyone run into a problem where you powered off/on a 420R and
the
system never produced console messages again nor does it boot to the
Forth OS? We have a system that did that
this morning and we wound up transferring the cards and disks to
another
system to recover. I looked at the service manual and the only thing
of
interest were two batteries in the system, one system board lithium,
the
other a lead-acid battery. Has anyone experienced the same symptoms?

Thanks,

E. Rudolph

#2 (**permalink**) 02-21-2008, 04:12 AM

<erudolph@uxix.com> wrote in message
news:36f257a5-f096-4f98-993f-cc3a7c79dc59@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Good morning,
>
> Has anyone run into a problem where you powered off/on a 420R and
> the
> system never produced console messages again nor does it boot to the
> Forth OS? We have a system that did that
> this morning and we wound up transferring the cards and disks to
> another
> system to recover. I looked at the service manual and the only thing
> of
> interest were two batteries in the system, one system board lithium,
> the
> other a lead-acid battery. Has anyone experienced the same symptoms?
>
> Thanks,
>
> E. Rudolph

Best to start with a NULL modem connection to ttya on the 420R and
disconnect the keyboard.
This will force any output to ttya and should show any problems the machine
is having getting through POST.

The only battery I'm aware of is the one built into the NVRAM.

Trinean

#3 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 06:04 AM

I fired up an old E420R we had in our server cabinet, and we also get no
post messages back on the serial port. I'm sure that the cabling is fine
as when I connect to another E420R we get the post messages on the
serial port. Did you manage to sort out your problem? Do you think it is
a motherboard problem or perhaps we just need to reset the NVRAM?

let me know your thoughts.
Mark

#4 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 06:04 AM

"markcauchi" <markcauchi.369mm2@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:markcauchi.369mm2@no.email.invalid...
>
> I fired up an old E420R we had in our server cabinet, and we also get no
> post messages back on the serial port. I'm sure that the cabling is fine
> as when I connect to another E420R we get the post messages on the
> serial port. Did you manage to sort out your problem? Do you think it is
> a motherboard problem or perhaps we just need to reset the NVRAM?
>
> let me know your thoughts.
> Mark

Take it down to a minimal configuration, i.e. 1 CPU and 1 bank of memory.
Swap different components in until you get a minimal working system.
Then add components back until it stops working to isolate what may be bad.

Who knows! Maybe people were using the one in the cabinet to cannibalize
parts out of for other servers?

Trinean

#5 (**permalink**) 03-20-2008, 12:41 PM

I've taken all the CPU's and memory out from the machine and put those
from a working server, also checked the motherboard jumper settings for
the two serial ports to reflect RS232D. We still have no output from the
serial port.

The machine was a surplus to requirements at the time and simply
powered down - now we powered the thing up again and nothing happens,
Arghhh...

#6 (**permalink**) 03-20-2008, 12:41 PM

"markcauchi" <markcauchi.36f26r@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:markcauchi.36f26r@no.email.invalid...
>
> I've taken all the CPU's and memory out from the machine and put those
> from a working server, also checked the motherboard jumper settings for
> the two serial ports to reflect RS232D. We still have no output from the
> serial port.
>
> The machine was a surplus to requirements at the time and simply
> powered down - now we powered the thing up again and nothing happens,
> Arghhh...

At least you know the memory and CPUs are good since they came from a
working server.
I suppose you could test the memory and CPU from the dead server in the
working one just for grins.

Assuming the machine is getting power, then my guess would be a bad
motherboard.

Trinean

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420R will not boot.