[rescue] Octane woes

[Shawn Wallbridge]

An eBay seller named thermite445 has tons of octane parts (bastard looks
to be stipping at least 5 octanes).

shawn


> Yeah.. that's what mine did (does?)
>
> If you connect to the serial port, you'll get a bit of "junk" out of it
> when you power the system up.   "DejaNews"ing around will eventually
> turn up a article that has the bits in it, as the "junk" is fairly
> consistant.
>
> That article is what I ended up doing, and now am kinda keeping an eye
> out for a new IP30.
>
> Anyone know specifically which rev's had the problem, and perhaps more
> importantly, wanna sell a newer one? :-)
>
> David
>
>
> Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 6 Mar 2003, Curtis H. Wilbar Jr. wrote:
>>
>>
>>>One thing I did do... is on the XIO (I think that is what it is) where
>>> the graphics card is... I touched the funky connector... the one your
>>> not supposed to touch.... doubt that could cause this...
>>>
>>
>> No, really, that -can- kill the board, just like the documentation
>> says. You should still get some activity, though.  I forget what the
>> guys at SGI said to clean those connectors with.  I think a horsehair
>> brush was their recommendation.  Forced air (even "computer grade"
>> canned air) is right out.
>>
>>
>>>XIO boards and powering up... the light never comes on the front... so
>>> it acts more like the cpu board is either not getting power, or has
>>> gone dead....
>>>
>>
>> Is the CPU-board fully-seated?  What revision IP30 do you have?  At
>> least one revision has a fatal flaw in the "Heart" chip (the chip
>> under the big heat sink in the center of the board) that causes the
>> system to appear dead.  If my suggestion in the last paragraph doesn't
>> work try this:
>>
>>   1) Pull the IP30.  Place it on a flat, sturdy surface that supports
>>      the -board-, not the cage it's in (like a book or something of
>> similar size).
>>   2) Use your thumbs to apply even pressure to the heatsink in the
>> middle
>>      of the board.  You want about 20 to 30 pounds of pressure, which
>> is why you want to support the -board- and not the frame.
>>   3) Try reinserting the IP30.  If the system boots, you have one of
>>      those defective boards.
>>
>> I posted about this particular problem in comp.sys.sgi.hardware about
>> 18 months ago.  Here's a link:
>>
>> http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=3BF7E01B.184F05E4%40celestrion.theobvious.net
>>
>> And when I got it (briefly) working:
>>
>> http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=3BF92AC9.232F148B%40celestrion.theobvious.net
>>
>> I ended up replacing that board.
>>
>>
>>>Are those funky connectors touchy....  they don't give me the warn and
>>> fuzzy fealings of something reliable and trustworthy.... but I have no
>>> experience and am going by physical impressions... not electrical
>>> characteristics....
>>>
>>
>> They're very reliable, so long as they stay -CLEAN-.  Sun uses them
>> for attaching processors in their Exx00 series systems.  The most
>> obvious benefit is the sheer number of "pins" you can have in such a
>> small space.
>>
>>
>>>I hope this thing isn't dead now... <sigh>...
>>>
>>
>> Try yanking the video card.  Pull it out just so it's disconnected
>> from the frontplane, but so that there's still enough of the cardcage
>> inside to maintain air pressure.  Power on the system.  You should get
>> a blinking red lightbar.  If you do, you know what's dead.
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