I have succeeded in replacing the batt on the nvram/rtc. It now self-tests without any problem but won't boot. I have autoboot configured the way I thought was right:b sd(0,18,0) but the machine will no longer boot from the hard disk. It would before but I had to toggle the power switch rapidly to make that happen. I erased the eeprom somehow and the faq is not getting it done. Remember my Sparcstation 330 has something like a late 3/ series monitor and so does not have the OK monitor which came with the 3/6x machineas and later. I have reprogrammed the nvram via the "q" command and it tries but something is wrong. I must be missing something like telling the machine what buss to initialize a boot from or something. I thought I had what I needed to replace the eeprom and restore the settings.... sigh... please oh sunworshipers help me -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Jeffrey S. Worley Technical Services Bits & Bytes Computer Services Inc. 1979B Hendersonville Road Asheville, NC 28803 828-684-8953 - voice 0900-1700 five days 828-687-9284 - 24hr fax Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk? Technoid(a)Cheta.net -----------------------------------------------------------