[rescue] Couple of questions from a SPARC newbie

[George Adkins]

> > hardware reference by James B. is THE resource for these machines.
> Not sure if I have seen this hw ref or not.  Have a link by chance?
STFW.  (Search the fantastic web)  : )

> >> 2.	Is there somewhere cheap I can order a new NVRAM?  Is it hard to
> >> install?
> > Mouser used to have them.  I just soldered a new battery onto the dead
> > ones that I have.
> I have a feeling I will start out just buying one from Mouser.  $12.80
> is good since my soldering iron has gotten lost sometime in the last few
> years.  I may experiment with adding a battery to the old dead one when
> I remove it.
>
Okay, a couple of things here...

The manufacturer has changed their product recently, meaningg that the new 
NVRAMS now make older Sun4C boxes barf, even when the IDPROM checksum is set 
correctly.

The following instructions will get them working properly, I have several 
machines using these, and they all work fine with a little tweak.  Once you 
have programmed all the information into the PROM as the NVRAM FAQ instructs 
you to, you reset the machine, and it tries to come up, and barfs with an 
IDPROM Checksum Invalid.  Next, use the following lines to program the 
NVRAMRC like this:

nvedit <enter>
probe-all <enter>
install-console <enter>
banner <enter>
boot <enter>
<ctrl-c>
nvstore
setenv use-nvramrc? true

Then reset.  It should work just fine now.  If you goof up the NVRAMRC, you 
can set-default nvramrc (IIRC) to clear it.  This string of commands walks 
the machine through what is effectively a soft-reset so that it comes up 
correctly.

> One thing the NVRAM FAQ didn't say or I didn't see (now that I have
> found it) is what to do if you don't have any info as the NVRAM was dead
> before I got it.  I know I could fake a host id and mac address but is
> there any other way to know what the system was set as?
>
look again, something about 8:0:20:c0:ff:ee....

> >> 1.	Is there anywhere that has PDF hardware manuals for the IPX?  I
> >> looked at Sun, but have yet to find any, but I love to dig into to all
> >> the info I can get on my hardware.
> >
I have an original boxed set in DTF (Dead tree format - paper).  They *might* 
be photocopyable for paper & postage costs, or available for sale if the 
offer is high enough.