[rescue] OT: RS/6000 6611

[Steve Sandau]

Thanks... there's a couple promising-sounding things in there.

This particular box is a 6611 router, but appears to have innards very
similar to the 7011-250 that I also have (that also doesn't work...).
There's no video in it anyway and I have been trying a VT100 with a
straight-through cable or a linux laptop and a null modem cable. Do I
need a null modem cable if I use a real VT100? If I try the laptop
instead, I'll see if kermit is any more helpful. I've used minicom to
connect to other linux boxes, Cisco routers, switches and our
house-sixed UPS.

The numbers on the front indicate that the box is healthy. When the key
is set to normal, it ends in a c67 I think. That means that it's
running, but the configuration is different from what it expects. In
service mode it ends up with a c99 which means all tests completed.
(This is all, of course, all newly-aquired knowledge that may or may not
be accurate. ;) )

I'll try pulling the battery and see if that gets it to display
something, *anything* on the terminal.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll keep you "posted."


BSD Bob the old greybeard BSD freak wrote:
> 
> > Anyone have any info/idea on how to get into an IBM 6611 router?
> 
> Not sure on that router, but I run a few toy rs6K boxes, though.
> 
> > I have tried all kinds of things, including serial (null modem and
> > straight-through) connections to a VT100 and to my Linux laptop with
> > minicom. I have tried several odd cables, adapters, a breakout box,
> > different baud rates, all three key switch positions, both serial ports,
> > and so on. I've also tried uncasing it and plugging a keyboard in since
> > I read somewhere that that's supposed to trigger a request for a new
> > console redirection.
> 
> Hit a carriage return at a number of 260 or 262 (forget which, offhand).
> That will cause the serial port 1 to poll you.
> 
> You may have to pull any existing video cards, although some boxes may
> ask you if you want to change to the serial port, and note that in nvram.
> 
> The first time up, you may want to pull the battery plug for an hour and
> let the nvram clear.  Mine work better that way, if I have changed things,
> or am trying to do a complete overwrite install off cd.
> 
> > Everything I have tried yeilds the same output on the attached display:
> > absolutely nothing.
> 
> Hey, been there, done that.....  Remove the display, remove the keyboard
> and mouse, remove the internal video card.  Hook up a 9600/8/n/1 terminal
> on serial port 1 with a null modem cable (e.g., my vt320 uses a DEC mmj
> cable to a 25 pin female dongle that nulls).
> 
> > The box appears to boot. The front panel display cycles through several
> > different numbers before settling on one number (different according to
> > the position of the lock switch on the front) consistent with the
> > manuals I can find.
> 
> What numbers exactly.  If it cycles through the floppy/HD/CD devices
> continuously, then it is stuck waiting for a bootable drive.  Insert
> AIX boot cd into a cdrom and it should boot that, at that point in time.
> Put the keyswitch in service mode first, to boot, and then later it will
> ask you to put it into normal mode.  Usually press 1 to accept the serial
> terminal at that point, then it should come up in a menu asking for which
> device to boot.
> 
> Typical boot cycle numbers are 253/291/260/262 or close to that, cyclically.
> That means it is polling the devices on the scsi bus and the ethernet looking
> for something to boot.
> 
> If it is cycling between boot devices, it can't find anything to boot.
> Find a boot cd and let it boot that to start up and then reinstall or
> run a maintenance mode single user boot to check it out or reset root
> passwd, etc.
> 
> > Any thoughts? Can I add a frame buffer, maybe? Anyone have the magical,
> > mystical, (mythical?) configuration diskette mentioned in the manuals
> > I've found?
> 
> Find an AIX cd and boot that.  Pull any video cards if there are any,
> and then let the nvram clear for an hour and try again.  It should come
> up on a serial terminal (use a real terminal or kermit, everything else
> is problematic in my hands).
> 
> That is all I can think of, offhand.  My cdromdrive was bad, so on
> boot it cycled forever trying to find something.  When I put a good
> cdrom drive on, they came up fine off cd and serial ports.
> 
> Bob
> 
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-- 
Steve Sandau, IS Technician
TMA Bath, Maine
ssandau at bath.tmac.com