[rescue] Sparcstation 10 woes during boot

[Zoltan HERPAI]

Hi,

On 05/23/2021 17:00, Malte Dehling wrote:
> On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 10:09:14AM -0400, Mouse wrote:
>>> I've got an SS10 with a 501-2352 (50MHz) MBUS module, 4x16Mb memory,
>>> which fails to boot.  [...]
>>> Mapping RAM
>>> Mapping ROM
>>>
>>> ---- CUT HERE ----
>> How long did you wait?  On my SS20s, if the TOD clock is stopped, it
>> freezes at one point during POST for long enough that, if I weren't
>> accustomed to it, I would think it had wedged.  (I forget how long.
>> Thirty seconds?  A minute?)  I don't recall whether the SS10 is the
>> same; it's been a while since I used a 10.
> The SS10 also hangs a while when booting with a failed nvram.  The
> output on mine looks pretty similar:
>
> [...]
> Available Memory 0x1f000000
> Allocating SRMMU Context Table
> Context Table allocated, Available Memory 0x1efc0000
> Setting SRMMU Context Register
> Context Table allocated, Available Memory 0x1efc0000
> Setting SRMMU Context Table Pointer Register
> RAMsize allocated, Available Memory 0x1efb0000
> Allocating SRMMU Level 1 Table
> Level 1 Table allocated, Available Memory 0x1efafc00
> Mapping RAM @ 0xffef0000
> RAM mapped, Available Memory 0x1efafa00
> Mapping ROM @ 0xffd00000
> ROM mapped, Available Memory 0x1efaf800
> Mapping ROM @ 0x00000000
> ROM mapped, Available Memory 0x1efaf000
> ttya initialized
> Cpu #0 TI,TMS390Z50
> Cpu #1 Nothing there
> Cpu #2 TI,TMS390Z50
> Cpu #3 Nothing there
> [...]
>
>> Also, are you familiar enough with the SS10 to recognize a cg14 if
>> present?  That could give the machine a framebuffer without it looking
>> like it if all you know to look at is the sbus.  (I _think_ the SS10
>> supported the cg14.  The 20 does, but I don't have a 10 to check closer
>> than my off-site storage unit.  The cg14 takes the form of a so-called
>> VSIMM, something like a stick of memory (it occupies a RAM slot with an
>> extension that connects to an additional socket in-line with the RAM
>> socket).
> Most SS10s do not have the builtin CG14, only the (rare) SS10SX does.
Thanks all for the tips, in the end it was the first slot memory module 
not behaving - although I've re-seated all memory modules before writing 
the mail, that didn't fix it. What fixed it was swapping the modules in 
slot 1 and slot 7, after it the box booted fine. (It's stuck at PROM 
password, but that'll be fixed with grabbing a keyboard and doing a STOP+N).

Speaking of PROM, if I want to upgrade from the current 2.14.7, it's 
still the usual process of UV-clearing the PROM chip and rewriting it 
with the latest 2.25 image, correct?

This one is a standard SS10, not an SS10SX with the onboard framebuffer 
- frankly, I've never seen an SS10SX, not even in the ebay heydays when 
SSes were cheap... :)

Thanks again,
Zoltan H