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Hi all,
I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
The problem is that the machine doesn't boot and it even doesn not
print anything at all: monitor is blank.
Moreover monitor's led initially becomes green then it starts
blinking... as if just no signal reaches the monitor.
I thought that video board is not working. Am i right or wrong?
I tried to remove Ram, and reinsert every module step by step, to check
for damaged banks, but nothing changed.

Now, as you surely know, video board is itegrated in the mainboard. So
I wanted to understand firt of all if it's possible that this problem
is causated from the video board, or if there can be another cause.
Then If it's only a video problem, I'd like to know if there's a way to
solve it.
I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
slots... or... i don't know...

any help will be appreciated.
thanks a lot in advance

Lele

HI,

EKP wrote:
> Hi all,
> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
> The problem is that the machine doesn't boot and it even doesn not
> print anything at all: monitor is blank.
> Moreover monitor's led initially becomes green then it starts
> blinking... as if just no signal reaches the monitor.
> I thought that video board is not working. Am i right or wrong?
> I tried to remove Ram, and reinsert every module step by step, to check
> for damaged banks, but nothing changed.
>
> Now, as you surely know, video board is itegrated in the mainboard. So
> I wanted to understand firt of all if it's possible that this problem
> is causated from the video board, or if there can be another cause.
> Then If it's only a video problem, I'd like to know if there's a way to
> solve it.
> I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
> slots... or... i don't know...
>
> any help will be appreciated.
> thanks a lot in advance
>
> Lele
>

Try and connect a terminal program to the serial port A on the IPX and
unplug the keyboard.

A guess is the NVRAM(CMOS battery backedup) memory is faulty, I have a
bunch of IPC/IPX and and the all have been in a need for a new memory.

/michael

EKP wrote:
> Hi all,
> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.


I hate to say it, but I think the best action is to throw it. It is very
old and I doubt you will find it too pleasant to use.

I am not one of those people that has to have the latest and greatest.
Main main box is only 4 x 450 MHz and I have other machines with
processors from 195 to 400 MHz. But I think the IPC is just a bit too
old to bother with.

I suspect you could find a newer machine for nothing, or perhaps a few
$/$'s or whatever your local currency is.

I'm sure others will disagree with me however.

--
Dave K

http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually. The month is
always written in 3 letters (e.g. Jan, not January etc)

Dave (from the UK) wrote:
> But I think the IPC is just a bit too
> old to bother with.

OK, its an IPX, but I think the same comment is still valid.

--
Dave K

http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually. The month is
always written in 3 letters (e.g. Jan, not January etc)

EKP wrote:

> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.

Check out docs.sun.com - there may be something there still on the IPX.
Also look at www.sunshack.org. He has links that might be appropriate
for you.

> The problem is that the machine doesn't boot and it even doesn not
> print anything at all: monitor is blank.

You have to wait quite a few minutes for ANYTHING to appear on screen.
Also, that screen must support 80x34 text mode. Sun monitors do...
Even with graphics up dont expect much. 1152x900 but only 256 colors.
Better to run X remotely on one of these.

> Moreover monitor's led initially becomes green then it starts
> blinking... as if just no signal reaches the monitor.
> I thought that video board is not working. Am i right or wrong?

Its probably OK. If not a CG6 card can be eBayed for next to 0 Euros.

> I tried to remove Ram, and reinsert every module step by step, to check
> for damaged banks, but nothing changed.
> Now, as you surely know, video board is itegrated in the mainboard. So
> I wanted to understand firt of all if it's possible that this problem
> is causated from the video board, or if there can be another cause.
> Then If it's only a video problem, I'd like to know if there's a way to
> solve it.
> I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
> slots... or... i don't know...

Someone mentioned serial cable usage which is a good suggestion.
Plug a null modem cable into serial port A. Monitor the output with
TeraTerm or even HyperTerm. Cabling? An old "high speed" Mac
cable works perfectly if you can find one.

> any help will be appreciated.
> thanks a lot in advance

I dont agree that this machine is worthless. Such a box can still do
useful work, more the most recent Wintel XP "Pro" box if you cut it
down to
same amount of RAM (64 MB or less) I suspect.
Solaris 7 runs on it which aint too bad if you keep the box firewalled.

> EKP wrote:
>
>
>>I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
>>I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.

I'm running a Classic (next model on) as a single database web-server
with Debian 3.1, Apache 1.3, MySQL4 and PHP4 - it's slow but for the
occasional queries it serves it's robust and sits unnoticed in a corner!

I agree there's a certain satisfaction to be had from keeping these
retro things going, and show me a Windows box or even a Mac of that age
that can hack it with (almost) the latest software and still do
something useful...

RAM was the critical issue to get anything useful running. Mine has 72Mb
out of a possible 96, I think 64 should be seen as a minimum for
anything like my configuration.

Now if anyone has some 16Mb SIMMs lying around... ???

I think the IPX/IPC will be similar and if I'm not mistaken I think I
read somewhere that there's a potential cpu upgrade for these older
machines (Weitek???) that takes them past the Classic/LX spec machines.
But it'll still be slow!!!

John

I wouldn't chuck it, but then I like old stuff. This is the deciding
factor, really: are you wanting to use it for fun, because it's an old
computer, or do you just want a computer to use? I had a Commodore 32
which was great fun to use, but ultimately I ran out of space and gave
it to a guy who collects old computers. It depends on your interests.

I had the same problem with a SPARCstation 4 a year or two ago. It
turned out that one of the three RAM modules was bad, but you say
you've already checked that? When I got my Ultra 2 I gave the
SPARCstation 4 to a guy who employed it as some kind of server. It was
only 110 MHz but he was still using it last year.

Best wishes,

Chris

According to EKP <palazzinaro@gmail.com>:
> Hi all,
> I am retrocomputers lover, and I recently got a Sun IPX.
> I don't know very much about Sun's hardware.
> The problem is that the machine doesn't boot and it even doesn not
> print anything at all: monitor is blank.
> Moreover monitor's led initially becomes green then it starts
> blinking... as if just no signal reaches the monitor.
> I thought that video board is not working. Am i right or wrong?

You don't mention lights blinking on the keyboard, so I'm going
to presume that you don't have a Sun keyboard connected to it. In that
case, the behavior you have observed is normal. It initializes the
monitor (when the LED turns green), and then shuts it back down when it
discovers that there is no keyboard, and shifts all input and output to
the TTYA serial port. (IIRC, on that box, the two serial ports share a
single DB-25 connector, with TTYA being on the normal pins, and a
special connector needed to access TTYB.

Hook up some other computer or terminal to it with a null-modem
cable (connect pin 7 straight across to both, pin 2 on one to pin 3 on
the other and vice versa. I *think* that you may need the CTS or DSR
terminals pulled true by default as well.

And -- the monitor which you use (once you add a Sun keyboard)
needs to be able to display 1152x900 resolution, as that is the default
of the video card.

> I tried to remove Ram, and reinsert every module step by step, to check
> for damaged banks, but nothing changed.
>
> Now, as you surely know, video board is itegrated in the mainboard. So
> I wanted to understand firt of all if it's possible that this problem
> is causated from the video board, or if there can be another cause.
> Then If it's only a video problem, I'd like to know if there's a way to
> solve it.
> I mean... if another video board is pluggable to the expansion's
> slots... or... i don't know...

Yes -- you can install an alternative framebuffer (the Sun term
for graphics cards) and use it by default. But I suspect that the primary
problem is that you don't have a Sun keyboard attached, so it is
switching over to talk to the serial ports instead.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Really thanks to everyone answered my questions in a so short time!
I'll try to do everything you suggested.
I'm going to get a mouse and keyboard very soon, and I'll try to get
the null-modem serial cable in the meanwhile.
Thanks again.

...and of course if you have other advices i'll be grateful!

Thanks again.

Bye, Lele

DoN. Nichols <dnichols@d-and-d.com> wrote:
> Hook up some other computer or terminal to it with a null-modem
> cable (connect pin 7 straight across to both, pin 2 on one to pin 3 on
> the other and vice versa. I *think* that you may need the CTS or DSR
> terminals pulled true by default as well.

Usually unnecessary. I've done a lot of work with "3 wire" cables (only
TX, RX, and GND).

--
Darren Dunham ddunham@taos.com
Senior Technical Consultant TAOS http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper? San Francisco, CA bay area
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