[rescue] Rescued RS/6000

[vance at neurotica.com]

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003, Mark T. Valites wrote:

> > > Does anyone have any suggestions for rooting it? What can I expect
> > > from the machine - is it half way decent or does it do anything
> > > exciting?
> >
> > You're going to need a key to put it in "Normal" mode, or else it'll
> > never automatically boot to the OS.  Since finding the exact key can
> > be difficult, you'll probably be best off trying to find a
> > keyswitch/key replacement set on eBay.
> >
> > But, as to getting past the service password?  I have no idea.  IBM is
> > -really- anal-retentive security-wise, so I wouldn't be surprised if
> > it's written to NVRAM and only clearable by some secret field-engineer
> > voodoo.
>
> I got back to playing with the machine for a little. After a combination
> of precision "wedging stuff in the lock" and some additional plugging
> and unplugging the serial cable in and out repeatidly, the machine
> suddenly woke up, skipped the passwd prompting screen, and actually
> booted the OS!

Excellent!  Although sending break from terminal probably would have
worked just as easily.

> The command line login (from CDE) tells me I've got version 4 of AIX.
> Someone mentioned I can reset the root passwd by booting off install
> media...

Yeah.  That was me.

> Does the version of the install cd have to match exactly? (ie. 4.y won't
> boot 4.x...)

You know, I've never tried it.  You might have trouble with disparate
versions of JFS.

> Can/how can I tell exactly what version I have?

It's easy once you're inside, I don't know how otherwise.

> Once I get that far, can anyone hold my hand through making this boot
> off a cd & then reseting the passwd?

The first step is to put the CD in with the key in service position.
It'll boot off the CD all by itself.

Peace...  Sridhar