SUMMARY: Ultra-1 hanging after initializing the RAM....

From: D.Srinivasa Rao (sduddupu@cvimail.cv.com)
Date: Wed Apr 22 1998 - 09:43:56 CDT


Hi,

Most of the people suggested that the probelm is with the Memory, which is not
in my case. I had tested the memory before posting the problem to the list, to be
double sure I tested again and found the memory is OK. I have tried to see the
POST messages by connecting the ttyA to a working machine serial port using
tip , but the POST doesn't show any errors. The m/c hangs after completing the
RAM test. It doesn't show any error. Finally I have come to a conclusion that
the Motherboard has gone BAD :((. Needs replacement. My case seems to be
same as Davidson's case.

I have tried the following also, but no use.

1. setenv auto-boot? false
2. test-all -- doesn't show any errors
3. As a routine check tried replacing the Powersupply unit.
4. Press StopA before the memory test and give 'boot net' -- just to try to boot from network
5. Press StopA before the memory test and give ' boot disk0'

If someone have any suggestions, please pass on to me. I still want to know why the
hell it's hanging without giving any error message.

Thanks to the following people for their suggestions . Sorry If I have missed out somebody.

 1. William Teo
         Aaron Lineberger
         Greszt.Arie
         Chris Marble
          Jonathan Loh
          Ravi Reddy

Suggested to replace the RAM and try.

2. Brent Parish:

I just had this with a brand new Ultra 60. The Sun tech replaced the mother board before
realizing it was the RAM. Its flakey - the banner would show 256 MB (the proper amount), but it
would not get to ok prompt (if auto-boot? = true). If you can limp on less ram, try pulling
chipsets until it does boot (isolate bad chipsets) - be aware of pulling, whether it needs to be
in pairs or fours (Ultra 1 I think is pairs, Ultra 2 in fours).
Brent Parish
Unix/Network Systems Administrator
PFN, Inc.
26 Landsdowne Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 679-0269
bparish@pfn.com

3. "Davidson, T. (CIV)" <davidsot@scolan.centaf.af.mil>:

I have had 3 Ultra 1's with openboot ver 3.0 go bad. I had to swap the
mother boards out with new ones under warranty. I believe the problem is
that the information in the openboot prom gets corrupted. The openboot
prom is soldered on the mother board, starting with the Ultras. The lower
models you could swap out the NVRAM and the OpenBoot prom. I Know the
Information in the soldered on openboot proms can be reloaded but I
haven't tried it yet. I need to find out exactly how to do this since we
have 30 of these ultras. Sorry I couldn't help much but thats my
experience with these ultra 1's. If someone sends you the info please let
me know. Thanks.
      Thomas Davidson

4. Sandeep@airmail.hobl.lucent.com:

I don't know if you have already tried this,

You said it hangs at memory test. Is it memory problem ? try running test mem
at OK prompt. or remove all memory and try with only one module and then
gradualy add other modules after confirming that there is no problem with
Memory and test goes thru.

How about checking probe-scsi ? does system recognise the disk ?

If no, then either disk is bad or motherboard has some problem.

If yes,then try specifying boot disk, as boot disk3 or boot disk0 etc, or if
the system has CDROM, try booting from CD. If this is a new system, I guess
you have jumpstart setup, try doing a boot net on the system, that will
confirm the motherboard and memory working.

hope this helps, If not then you got a serious problem.

Good luck ...Sandeep

5. Robert T. Clift" <rclift@nswc.navy.mil>:

Try setting the OBP setting selftest-#megs to all the ram in your system and
let it check every memory simm upon boot. Later,

6. robin.landis@exim.gov and Janet Hoo suggested:

Have you tried doing a "tip hardwire" from a good machine (attach a null
modem cable to serial port A of the broken machine and serial port B of the
good machine and no keyboard attached to the bad machine - make sure bad
machine is powered down when you take it's keyboard away)? That way you
can see the PowerOnSelfTest (POST) run. There's lots of information
available there about the hardware....Robin

7. bismark@banana2.jpl.nasa.gov (Bismark Espinoza):

Put it in diagnostic mode and perform all tests.

8. Jacques Rall <rall@trema.com>:

What about running the 'test*' commands at the OK prompt?
Maybe it will pick up something obscure.

9. Ade E Oyeyemi:

boot -as ====>> This should interactively take you to single user mode
, reply as appropriate to all prompts, mostly the default will suffice

Let me know how you get on.

-ade

My problem posting:

> Two of our Ultra-1's ( Ultra-1@143Mhz, Openboot Ver 3.0 ) are hanging immdiately
> after initializing the RAM. It doesn't even come to the OK prompt.
>
> Problem Symptoms: After the banner message and memory initialisation the machine
> hangs without coming to the OK prompt. After that, it stops responding.
> If we abort the memory initialisation with stop A , it comes to the OK prompt. At this
> stage i can run the forth commands. If i give boot, again it simply hangs.
>
> The problem is not with the EPROM . I have replaced the EPROM and tried. Could any
> of you suggest where the problem is ? ( Without replacing the Mother board :-) )
>
> -Srinivas
>
> email: sduddupu@cvimail.cv.com


attached mail follows:


Hi,

Two of our Ultra-1's ( Ultra-1@143Mhz, Openboot Ver 3.0 ) are hanging immdiately
after initializing the RAM. It doesn't even come to the OK prompt.

Problem Symptoms: After the banner message and memory initialisation the machine
hangs without coming to the OK prompt. After that, it stops responding.
If we abort the memory initialisation with stop A , it comes to the OK prompt. At this
stage i can run the forth commands. If i give boot, again it simply hangs.

The problem is not with the EPROM . I have replaced the EPROM and tried. Could any
of you suggest where the problem is ? ( Without replacing the Mother board :-) )

-Srinivas

email: sduddupu@cvimail.cv.com



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