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Hi,

my SPARCstation IPX is complaining about its POST not succeeding and tells
me to check the TOD or replace the NVRAM. Scroll-lock is also lit during
POST, so I changed the NVRAM and coded a new MAC-adress and hostid using
the guide found on obsolyte.com.
Furthermore it only scans 1 MB out of a total 16 MB (it won't recognize
the 8 MB SIMM's I've installed, but I already thought that might happen).

I've been following this guide to try to get the clock up and running, but
somehow I manage to not get it running.
http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun...faq.html#QUICK

Does anybody know what I might have done wrong?

/Thomas

In article <pan.2003.09.28.12.21.44.216622@sofagang.dk>,
Thomas Skyt <thomas@sofagang.dk> writes:
> Hi,
>
> my SPARCstation IPX is complaining about its POST not succeeding and tells
> me to check the TOD or replace the NVRAM. Scroll-lock is also lit during
> POST, so I changed the NVRAM and coded a new MAC-adress and hostid using
> the guide found on obsolyte.com.
> Furthermore it only scans 1 MB out of a total 16 MB (it won't recognize
> the 8 MB SIMM's I've installed, but I already thought that might happen).
>
> I've been following this guide to try to get the clock up and running, but
> somehow I manage to not get it running.
> http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun...faq.html#QUICK
>
> Does anybody know what I might have done wrong?

Its hard to tell what your question is - are you saying that you are getting
POST not succeeding and tells me to check the TOD or replace the NVRAM
after putting the new NVRAM in? I guess. You arent doing anything wrong.

Unless you have EXACTLY the same replacement NVRAM as the original you
are stuck with the error. I get it too. These parts arent made anymore
and the substitutes dont have the exact same internal timings hence the
error.

As for the "only scans 1 MB" well put the right RAM in.

Use xntpd to set your time, and if you cant live with that annoying
message disect the original NVRAM and solder a battery on it. See:

http://www.bhargavaz.net/nvram/nvram.html

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:01:25 +0000, gerry wrote:

> In article <pan.2003.09.28.12.21.44.216622@sofagang.dk>,
> Thomas Skyt <thomas@sofagang.dk> writes:
>> my SPARCstation IPX is complaining about its POST not succeeding and tells
>> me to check the TOD or replace the NVRAM. Scroll-lock is also lit during
>> POST, so I changed the NVRAM and coded a new MAC-adress and hostid using
>> the guide found on obsolyte.com.
>>
>> I've been following this guide to try to get the clock up and running, but
>> somehow I manage to not get it running.
>> http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun...faq.html#QUICK
>
> Its hard to tell what your question is - are you saying that you are getting
> POST not succeeding and tells me to check the TOD or replace the NVRAM
> after putting the new NVRAM in? I guess. You arent doing anything wrong.

Yup - I replaced the NVRAM but am still getting that error, which is
bugging me, so I thought that somebody out there might have encountered
the same problem.

> Unless you have EXACTLY the same replacement NVRAM as the original you
> are stuck with the error. I get it too. These parts arent made anymore
> and the substitutes dont have the exact same internal timings hence the
> error.

No, I use a DS1742, it should be the same, but judging from some webpages
and mailinglists, it seems that this chip does not support "kickstarting"
it's clock and clock-memory.
How I'm supposed to have it remember the time, I don't know, but I'll
probably end up wiring a small lithium-battery to the old NVRAM.

/Thomas

Thomas Skyt <thomas@sofagang.dk> writes:

>Yup - I replaced the NVRAM but am still getting that error, which is
>bugging me, so I thought that somebody out there might have encountered
>the same problem.

Did you set the IDPROM checksum correctly? The forth command to calculate
and store the IDPROM checksum value is:

0 f 0 do i idprom@ xor loop f mkp

If the checksum isn't correct you'll see error messages at power-on

>No, I use a DS1742, it should be the same, but judging from some webpages
>and mailinglists, it seems that this chip does not support "kickstarting"
>it's clock and clock-memory.
>How I'm supposed to have it remember the time, I don't know, but I'll
>probably end up wiring a small lithium-battery to the old NVRAM.

You should avoid using the Dallas parts because they are
'almost-but-not-quite' compatible with the Mostek/ST parts. I've heard of
people using DS1642's in some systems with limited success. Obtain a genuine
ST-Microelectronics 48T02 NVRAM and you should overcome all the problems.

On the rare occasion where the RTC won't start in one of the ST parts,
Solaris and most other OS's supporting Sun hardware have code to work around
the problem and make the RTC's oscillator work properly. If the Dallas parts
don't support kickstarting the RTC, then you'll still be able to use them,
but of course the RTC function will be unavailable so your system will have
no operating system tic capacity.

Regards,

Craig.
--
SUN RIPENED KERNELS - Surplus Sun Microsystems Equipment, Parts + Accessories
Waterfall, NSW, Australia - Operated by Craig Dewick - Founded in 1996
Main site: www.sunrk.com.au - Ebay Shop: www.ebayshops.com.au/sunripenedkernels
Ph: +612-9520-2547 - Fax: +612-9520-2557 - Mobile: 04-2163-0547 (int. +614)

Kralizec Craig wrote:

> Thomas Skyt <thomas@sofagang.dk> writes:
>
>>Yup - I replaced the NVRAM but am still getting that error, which is
>>bugging me, so I thought that somebody out there might have encountered
>>the same problem.
>
> Did you set the IDPROM checksum correctly? The forth command to calculate
> and store the IDPROM checksum value is:
>
> 0 f 0 do i idprom@ xor loop f mkp
>
> If the checksum isn't correct you'll see error messages at power-on

Not necessarily. If you google, You'll see that there are problems
concerning replacement chips. It seems that around 2000-2001 there was a
slight change (they now adhere exactly to specs or something like that -
they didn't before) in the nvram chip. It's reported throughout that
replacement chips

Like this:
In June, 2000 ST Microelectronics changed the operation of the
M48T02/MT48T12 "Timekeeper" NVRAM chip that older Sun boxes use. The new
version requires strict adherence to the chip specification, the older
version does not. Sun PROM apparently does not initialize the chip
properly, per the spec so newer chips will report an error on startup:

FAILURE: TOD (f20007fa) Bit Failure, Exp =3D 000000ff, Obs =3D 0000007=

>>No, I use a DS1742, it should be the same, but judging from some webpages
>>and mailinglists, it seems that this chip does not support "kickstarting"
>>it's clock and clock-memory.
>>How I'm supposed to have it remember the time, I don't know, but I'll
>>probably end up wiring a small lithium-battery to the old NVRAM.
>
> You should avoid using the Dallas parts because they are
> 'almost-but-not-quite' compatible with the Mostek/ST parts. I've heard of
> people using DS1642's in some systems with limited success. Obtain a
> genuine ST-Microelectronics 48T02 NVRAM and you should overcome all the
> problems.
>
> On the rare occasion where the RTC won't start in one of the ST parts,
> Solaris and most other OS's supporting Sun hardware have code to work
> around the problem and make the RTC's oscillator work properly. If the
> Dallas parts don't support kickstarting the RTC, then you'll still be able
> to use them, but of course the RTC function will be unavailable so your
> system will have no operating system tic capacity.

Well, there might be a trick: I have a M48t02-70 in my PIX, with
aforementioned FAILURE: TOD (f20007fa) Bit Failure, Exp =3D 000000ff, Obs
=3D 0000007.

Yet with some nvramrc tricking it is possible depite that error message to
get the Pix to auto-boot. Is that yout problem - getting it to auto-boot?

Roel



> Regards,
>
> Craig.
> --
> SUN RIPENED KERNELS - Surplus Sun Microsystems Equipment, Parts +
> Accessories
> Waterfall, NSW, Australia - Operated by Craig Dewick - Founded in 1996
> Main site: www.sunrk.com.au - Ebay Shop:
> www.ebayshops.com.au/sunripenedkernels
> Ph: +612-9520-2547 - Fax: +612-9520-2557 - Mobile: 04-2163-0547 (int.
> +614)