[rescue] OT: IRIX 6.5 installation on a Indigo2 R10k Impact

[r.stricklin]

On Thursday, July 3, 2003, at 08:17  AM, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:

> It's either your monitor or your cable.  If you get video at the PROM,
> video works.

That's not necessarily true.

Part of starting the 4dwm environment involves downloading GE microcode 
to the graphics hardware. I had an I2 with a damaged flexcable on the 
Max Impact that would run normally until it was time to start X. It 
would reliably crash and reboot without starting X, and I could see the 
entire graphical boot including the 'generating diagnostic report' 
dialogs.

The termport ran fine. X did not. The boot graphics use only a tiny 
part of the video card, and the boot diags only check that part. When X 
starts, the rest of the graphics capabilities come into play.

The flexcable was not visibly damaged, but after a lot of hair-pulling 
and shouting of obscenities I finally did track down the problem to it.

Eventually I could cause all sorts of different, interesting problems 
with the graphics by poking the cable in certain ways. Those connectors 
are terribly fragile. I wasn't impressed. It's certainly not impossible 
that a similar problem could exist with the system in question.

So the question is, did the system pass 'diags' by booting all the way 
into 4dwm? The next question is, was it on the bench with the top and 
cardcage covers off? That's how my flaky impact system passed the 
reseller's diags. With the cardcage cover in place, it would push on 
that flexcable ever so slightly, and shazam. Crash.

ok
bear