[SunRescue] Converting Classic Xs to Classics

[Harry Regan]

Temporary insanity?  Short attention span?  Too much red meat?  I replaced the
"four bytes" on the not-converted Classic X, rebooted and Bingo! It's a
Classic.  (Previously, I had been issuing a "reset", not a "boot").  

It turns out that the machine ID for a Classic X and a Classic are the same
(the FAQ only lists it for the Classic), so my fiddling with the machine ID
was really a waste of time.  I killed the machine powered it off, restared it,
changed the four bytes back to the Classic X config, rebooted and -- Bango!--
it's a Classic X.  I killed it again, set the four bytes to Classic mode,
rebooted and-- KaZang!-- it's a Classic again.   

My only explanation for for the earlier problems are (1) perhaps there is a
memory restore function in "reset" that does not operate in "boot" from the
PROM. (2) Maybe late hours and gallons of coffee do not make one optimized for
working on computers.

Now, as for the Xterminal1, I haven't found any FAQs or messages about
converting that to operate as a server-- but it sure looks like a Sparc 4 or
5...  Any ideas?

> Hmmm. There is light at the end of the tunnel... Last night I was poking
> around in the PROM and NVRAM areas. I repeated the conversion process--
> but this time doing the "four bytes" first and then patching the
> machine ID-- the reverse order of how I had done it before. It worked!
> I booted it from a Solaris CD and it all came up good. I installed a 
> small SCSI disk and now it boots, telling the world it's a Classic! 
>
> To test the "sequence" theory, I patched the NVRAM values in the other
> Classic X in the four bytes first, then machine ID order- and it 
> failed... So apparently the "poking" I was doing set some memory 
> context or page value that is important to the process. Oh well, more 
> fiddling...
>
> Once we crack this code, we'll take a look at the Xterminal1...




___________________________________________________________________ 
---- Harry J. Regan
---- Phone: 202.310.2719 ---- FAX: 212.202.3923
---- harry.regan at usa.net ---- hregan at lepus.com


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