[rescue] Serial console on IBM RS/6000 250?

[Todd Carson]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 08:42:22 -0500 (EST)
"Carl R. Friend" <crfriend at rcn.com> wrote:

> 
>    Do you see anything if you plug a monitor into the framebuffer?
> 

No. I've tried a Sun monitor and a VGA monitor with an adapter, neither display anything. I saw on the list archives that the pinouts are different between Sun and IBM, so I'm assuming that nothing but an IBM monitor, or the right adapter, is going to work.

> 
>    The RS/6000 assigns the console at initial load time, or a
> subsequent reconfiguration.  It won't reassign on the fly.  You'll
> need to put the thing in Service Mode and boot from the installation
> media (or a mksysb backup) to reassign it.

So I'll definitely be needing AIX install media, then? Or are there any floppy images or the like available online that can reset the console?

> 
> > The lock is in the "normal" position, and I don't have the key.
> 
>    Oh, my.  I'm not going to say, "You're done for", but things
> don't look terribly good at this point.  Can you get the lid off
> the thing without completely mangling it?  If so, you should be
> able to jumper around the lockswitch to put the machine into
> service mode.
> 

Yeah, the case is already off. So I guess I'll try to get some AIX media from eBay and try to bypass the lock. Thanks for your help.