Ultra 10 won't start anymore
Hello,
I have an Ultra 10 box with an extra video card inside. Everything was working fine, and then I got curious and decided to open it up to see what's inside. Now it won't start anymore. I turn the computer on, the fans start spinning, but nothing gets displayed on screen. I can hear the hard disk turning too, and the CD drive is powered, but I don't think anything is going on.
The only thing I touched when I opened it was the extra graphics card, but I was very careful and I am pretty sure I did not fry it. I get nothing displayed on screen when I plug the monitor in the original video card either.
Is there anything I can do to find out what the problem is? Is there some special switch inside the box that I may have turned off without noticing?
Thanks for the help...
# 1
Hello,
remove the extra video card and attach the monitor to the integrated video port. The system detects that the card is missing and defaults to the integrated video.
Have you properly attached the keyboard (no pins bent) ? Otherwise output is directed to the serial (console) port.
You can diagnose the problem if you remove the keyboard and attach with a null-modem cable to the console port (25pin serial A).
Michael
# 2
Hi,
Ok, I removed the video card and plugged my monitor to the other integrated video port, but I'm still getting weird behavior. I turn the machine on, and then there is nothing on screen for about 1-2 minutes, and finally the screen gets a signal and turns on. That signal is just noise though, it's just static on the screen. It stays there for a second, then the screen turns off again, and then there's nothing else on the display anymore. I tried with 2 different monitors, same behavior.
A few things I noticed:
1) When I turn the machine on, it beeps.
2) There's some weird looking port on the back of the machine with a monitor icon under it. It has 2 round holes on one side, 2 rows of 5 small pins in the middle, and another round hole on the other side. Is that some other monitor port? I have been using the VGA ports so far, I don't know what that other thing is.
And finally, what do you mean by "attach with a null-modem cable to the console port (25pin serial A)"? I'm sorry but I'm new to all this and I don't quite get it. What am I attaching to that port, another display?
Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!
# 3
Hello,
when you removed the ATI Radeon (XVR-100) and powered-on, the long card (Creator3D or Elite3D) with the weird connector (13W3) became the default output device. It takes precedence over the integrated video.
Remove the long card (if you don't own a 13W3-HD15 adapter or monitor with 13W3 connector) and insert the XVR-100 (attach the monitor to the integrated video). If you power-on the integrated video becomes the default. You should see the output on the monitor.
Enter show-displays at the ok-prompt. If only a single entry is displayed, power-down and check if the card is properly seated.
Otherwise press the letter of the entry that doesn't contain /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2.
This a sample output of an Ultra 10 with Creator3D as add-in board.
ok show-displays
a) /SUNW,ffb@1e,0
b) /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2
q) NO SELECTION
Enter Selection, q to quit: b
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2 has been selected.
Type ^Y ( Control-Y ) to insert it in the command line.
e.g. ok nvalias mydev ^Y
for creating devalias mydev for
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2
nvalias mydev ^Y
The above sets the output-device to the integrated video even if a Creator3D is installed.
Then enter setenv output-device mydev (if you used this name) and reset-all. Attach the monitor to the XVR-100.
Michael
# 4
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the help, I think I'm almost there!
I followed your instructions and removed the long video card and was able to get some output from the VGA ports. However, when I plugged the monitor in the integrated video (like you advised me to do), I would get the same behavior as before: no output for 1-2 minutes, then a screen filled with static, and then no more output. When I plugged the monitor in the ATI Radeon video card, I was able to get output from boot, and followed your instructions to set the ATI card as the main video card.
But now that this is done, I have another problem. Whenever I boot the machine, I get no output until the Solaris login screen comes on. Also, if I try to get to the ok-prompt, I lose control of the monitor plugged into the ATI and I cannot do anything anymore. My guess is that the login output and the ok-prompt output is redirected to a different video port, but the long card is unplugged and the other integrated video port seems to be unfunctional (static).
What can I do to fix this? How can I direct all output to the ATI video card? If the solution is to format and re-install Solaris, this is fine, that is what I am trying to do in the first place!
Thanks again,
Elie
# 5
Actually, I think I just totally screwed up.
I read on another forum post that I could use 'set-defaults' and 'setenv output-device screen' to fix the display output for the ok-prompt, so I tried that and now I have absolutely no output at all.
Did I just ruin everything or is this fixable?
Thanks...
# 6
So... does anyone have a clue what's going on here? Any insight at all will be appreciated. I just want to get anything on the display, then I'm sure I could work from there...Thanks.
# 7
Hello,
with set-defaults the setting of auto-boot? was changed as well.
The system now automatically boots.
I would strongly recommend that you get the Ultra 10 Service Manual and read the chapter about trouble-shooting.
Get a null-modem cable and connect to the serial port A (console port) of the Ultra 10. Recommended terminal emulation is TeraTerm Pro for Windows. Follow the procedure (from my previous post) to change the default display to the XVR-100.
Without a console cable you have to enter a few commands without actually seeing anything.
Power-on the system, wait a few seconds and press STOP and A simultaneously. This gets you to the ok-prompt (which you can see at the moment), enter
setenv auto-boot? false
setenv diag-switch? false
reset
Then follow the procedure show-displays ...
Michael
# 8
Hi Michael,
Well, it's finally fixed! I actually followed your first advice and read the service manual. I found out about pressing Stop+N before booting and that's what I did. I finally got my display again and was able to work from there. I was able to enter the setenv output-device ... command at the ok-prompt and everything went fine, no need for a terminal.
Thank you very much for your help!
# 9
First calm down,have a cup of Java,smoke a cigarette,then open the box-gingerly,ground yourself from free static agents(a wrist or ankle band or bare wire leading to a water pipe or ground strip) take in hand a small bright flashlight and look around the inside and ask yourself al all the wires and cables firmly socketed in place,is there any type of conductor possibly crossing an electrical bus,blow tings out to make sure,if all cables are firmly seated in their sockets and nothing is a short threat do a voltage test at the video output socket (maybe the board is askew from its socket) or maybe a jumper is out of place.Fervently try to read the manual a pdf is available.Maybe its wore out.
I got a similar problem,I bought a SunBlade off lease,passes POST or at least the simple form-beep codes and all that,but it appears to have a jumper out of place instead of pins 1-8 it is jumped 1-7 which may or may not have damage fragile systems internal structures(cleaning BIOS clock so to speak) with an improper read write to control I/O of the system calls and links to other hardware,its basically the ID of the artificial intelligence,the glue for the works.
