15 Sep
2006
15 Sep
'06
7:08 p.m.
I recently picked up an SGI Personal Iris 4D/35 and I'm struggling to
get IRIX installed and working (with emphasis on "working").
I currently have at my disposal a copy of IRIX 4.0.5 and a copy of IRIX
5.3. I've tried installing both, and the installation succeeds in both
cases, but neither installation works after install.
The symptoms are:
IRIX 4.0.5 installs. On reboot I get the typical chatter in the console
window (UNIX banners, fsck, "The system is coming up," etc.) after which
the screen goes black and stays that way forever and ever. Nothing I do
causes any response from the machine.
IRIX 5.3 installs. On reboot I get the same chatter as above, after
which the screen goes black, except with a red SGI-shaped mouse cursor
which I can move around with the mouse. After about 5 seconds the
screen turns light blue (the same light blue as the console screen at
power-on). At this point I can hit esc to bring up the console, and
the characters I type on the keyboard are echoed to it but nothing I do
has any effect.
Any suggestions?
I'm also looking for earlier versions of IRIX to run on this machine --
any good places to find them?
Thanks!
Josh
16 Sep
16 Sep
11:17 a.m.
On Sep 15, 2006, at 7:08 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
Any suggestions?
I'm also looking for earlier versions of IRIX to run on this
machine -- any good places to find them?
Josh;
This suggests to me a hardware problem with the graphics display
hardware. I suggest trying to start the system single user so you can
poke at the console miniport, initializing the network and connecting
in via telnet before letting the system continue to multi-user. You
will _probably_ discover that the system is running but the graphics
display is not working. If this is the case there will be some
information of greater or lesser use in the system logs. I suggest
trying this with 5.3 as it's a unified release you can be certain
includes support for the 4D/35.
The 4D/35 was introduced during the 3.3.2 days, but you will not have
much success installing 3.3 and then the 3.3.2 maintenance. You need
the 3.3.2 release which includes support for 4D/35 (known as 3.3.2
+1.0 4D/35). Otherwise you are looking at a 4.0.x release prior to
4.0.5, for which there isn't much to recommend.
ok
bear
17 Sep
17 Sep
1:40 a.m.
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:17:19 -0700
"r.stricklin" <bear at typewritten.org> wrote:
This suggests to me a hardware problem with the
graphics display
hardware.
Seconded. Sometimes it helps this old hardware to be
"kreidlered". I.e.
disassemble the whole machine, reaseat all PCBs and connectors and try
again. (Sometimes connectors get a litle bit of corrosion etc. that is
cleand out by un- and repluging the connector.)
I suggest trying to start the system single user so
you can
poke at the console miniport,
My knowledge on those old SGI stiff is limited. At
least 6.5 had
diagnostics that you can run to fsck the hardware...
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
18 Sep
18 Sep
12:33 a.m.
Thanks for the tips. This morning the machine actually booted to the
IRIX login screen but crashed to a black screen as soon as I tried to do
anything graphics-intensive, so it looks like your assessments are
correct, it's definitely a sporadic hardware failure.
I went through and cleaned out the machine before I powered it on the
first time (it was quite dirty); and I reseated everything that was
socketed. I'll try running diagnostics on it sometime this week and see
if it tells me anything.
Thanks!
Josh
Jochen Kunz wrote:
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:17:19 -0700
"r.stricklin" <bear at typewritten.org> wrote:
This suggests to me a hardware problem with the
graphics display
hardware.
Seconded. Sometimes it helps this old hardware to be "kreidlered".
I.e.
disassemble the whole machine, reaseat all PCBs and connectors and try
again. (Sometimes connectors get a litle bit of corrosion etc. that is
cleand out by un- and repluging the connector.)
I suggest trying to start the system single user
so you can
poke at the console miniport,
My knowledge on those old SGI stiff is limited. At least 6.5 had
diagnostics that you can run to fsck the hardware...
7:23 a.m.
Josh Dersch wrote:
Thanks for the tips. This morning the machine
actually booted to the
IRIX login screen but crashed to a black screen as soon as I tried to do
anything graphics-intensive, so it looks like your assessments are
correct, it's definitely a sporadic hardware failure.
Is this a 4D/35? (I've gone and deleted the original email now!)
If so...
ISTR that the ones with the better graphics options had a small fan over one
of the chips, and some info on the web suggested that this was prone to
failure. Worth a check.
I'd got the impression that lots of them had the graphics upgraded after
purchase, but they weren't also treated to the better chassis fan that the
factory machines had - resulting in the machine slowly cooking itself :(
Hopefully that's not the case with yours...
cheers
Jules
19 Sep
19 Sep
11:32 a.m.
Hello Josh,
Monday, September 18, 2006, 9:33:11 AM, you wrote:
Thanks for the tips. This morning the machine
actually booted to the
IRIX login screen but crashed to a black screen as soon as I tried to do
anything graphics-intensive, so it looks like your assessments are
correct, it's definitely a sporadic hardware failure.
that sounds like a step forward from your last description.
I went through and cleaned out the machine before I
powered it on the
first time (it was quite dirty); and I reseated everything that was
socketed. I'll try running diagnostics on it sometime this week and see
if it tells me anything.
Probably the key is *not* reseating *everything*. Most of my 10-20
year old machines (esp. the SGIs) are plugged in the way they are
(after taking care of transportation "bugs"). Sometimes I come to
think that after 10 years the dirt is part of the "whole" and has
grown to some kind of function. ;-)
Seeing that it works in general you should probably try reseat-magic
with the bare minimum of hardware and see if the thing can stay stable
at PROM level and proceed from that point on. And remember... if it is
really a 4D/35 cooling is a BIG issiue... do NOT run the system
without a working "cardcage" fan for the CPU and without the whole
cage installed into the larger chassis. Did I mention cooling is
essential on these systems?
--
Best regards,
Gerhard mailto:mail at g-lenerz.de
Old SGI Stuff http://sgistuff.g-lenerz.de/
20 Sep
20 Sep
1 a.m.
Gerhard Lenerz wrote:
Hello Josh,
Monday, September 18, 2006, 9:33:11 AM, you wrote:
So... is proper cooling important on these systems, or what?
Per yours (and others') suggestions, I've run the system without the
Turbo expansion and it runs without issue; with the Turbo installed it
crashes as soon as something graphic-intensive happens. The PROM
monitor and single user works fine. So, I think I've found the culprit.
Thanks,
Josh
Thanks for the tips. This morning the machine
actually booted to the
IRIX login screen but crashed to a black screen as soon as I tried to do
anything graphics-intensive, so it looks like your assessments are
correct, it's definitely a sporadic hardware failure.
that sounds like a step forward from your last description.
I went through and cleaned out the machine before
I powered it on the
first time (it was quite dirty); and I reseated everything that was
socketed. I'll try running diagnostics on it sometime this week and see
if it tells me anything.
Probably the key is *not* reseating *everything*. Most of my 10-20
year old machines (esp. the SGIs) are plugged in the way they are
(after taking care of transportation "bugs"). Sometimes I come to
think that after 10 years the dirt is part of the "whole" and has
grown to some kind of function. ;-)
Seeing that it works in general you should probably try reseat-magic
with the bare minimum of hardware and see if the thing can stay stable
at PROM level and proceed from that point on. And remember... if it is
really a 4D/35 cooling is a BIG issiue... do NOT run the system
without a working "cardcage" fan for the CPU and without the whole
cage installed into the larger chassis. Did I mention cooling is
essential on these systems?
6669
days inactive
6673
days old
6 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
bear＠typewritten.org -
derschjo＠msu.edu -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
mail＠g-lenerz.de