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#1 (**permalink**) 01-16-2008, 01:44 PM

Just put a new power supply into an ageing Sparcstation 20, and the thing
powers up and makes all the right noises (hard drive whirs up, case LED blinks,
etc) but I get nothing, nada, out of the serial console (I don't have a monitor
or keyboard for it). I know it worked fine a month ago before the power supply
went on the blink.

Funny thing is it seems to be hanging - the HD whirs up, but there's no flurry
of HD activity that I'd expect when the system boots. It just sits there, as if
waiting for me to do something.

Serial setup is a null-modem cable to a PC running Linux, with all the right
settings (8N1 9600 etc).

One thing I'm slightly unsure about is the memory configuration. A colleague of
mine had it go at it last week and succeeded in removing all the memory and
possibly inserting them in the slots the wrong way. Now I'm no Sun expert and
I'm not sure how to tell whether the SIMMs are in the correct configuration (or
even in the slots the right way), or even if this would be causing such an
error.

Any ideas gratefully received. I'd like to get this thing running as a backup DNS
proxy and mail server.

PT

--

#2 (**permalink**) 01-16-2008, 01:44 PM

Firstly, are you using a full serial lead (Ie, not one of the cheap
laplink style three wire ones?) I have had no response out of both a
Ultra 5 and a IPX using a three wire serial lead. As a SS20 comes
between these machines, i assume its the same.

If a SS20 has no RAM (Or faulty ram), it should still do the start of
the check.
It will display the number of processors, and then fail with an error
saying that it cant find and RAM. (I have verified this experimentally)

Can you try the power supply in another machine to check it?

#3 (**permalink**) 01-16-2008, 01:44 PM

Firstly, are you using a full serial lead (Ie, not one of the cheap
laplink style three wire ones?) I have had no response out of both a
Ultra 5 and a IPX using a three wire serial lead. As a SS20 comes
between these machines, i assume its the same.

If a SS20 has no RAM (Or faulty ram), it should still do the start of
the check.
It will display the number of processors, and then fail with an error
saying that it cant find and RAM. (I have verified this experimentally)

Can you try the power supply in another machine to check it?

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SS20 boot