[rescue] Rescued RS/6000

[Mark T. Valites]

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:

> > I hear I'm fortunate in that the case was unlocked. The machine takes a
> > while to boot, but eventually wakes the monitor. After hitting any key,
> > I'm greeted by a grey screen with 8 empty boxes, an icon of a open lock
> > with a screwdriver, and another of a key with a red x next to it,
> > prompting for a password that I of course don't know.
>
> Sounds like the machine is stuck in "service" mode, and it's asking you
> for a service password.  It hasn't, BTW, booted yet.  RS/6000s take
> -that- -long- to run diagnostics. :)

> > Does anyone have any suggestions for rooting it? What can I expect from
> > the machine - is it half way decent or does it do anything exciting?
>
> You're going to need a key to put it in "Normal" mode, or else it'll
> never automatically boot to the OS.  Since finding the exact key can be
> difficult, you'll probably be best off trying to find a keyswitch/key
> replacement set on eBay.
>
> But, as to getting past the service password?  I have no idea.  IBM is
> -really- anal-retentive security-wise, so I wouldn't be surprised if
> it's written to NVRAM and only clearable by some secret field-engineer
> voodoo.

I got back to playing with the machine for a little. After a combination
of precision "wedging stuff in the lock" and some additional plugging and
unplugging the serial cable in and out repeatidly, the machine suddenly
woke up, skipped the passwd prompting screen, and actually booted the OS!

The command line login (from CDE) tells me I've got version 4 of AIX.
Someone mentioned I can reset the root passwd by booting off install
media...

Does the version of the install cd have to match exactly? (ie. 4.y won't
boot 4.x...)

Can/how can I tell exactly what version I have?

Once I get that far, can anyone hold my hand through making this boot off
a cd & then reseting the passwd?

Thanks in advance,
-Mark

-- 
Mark T. Valites
Unix Systems Analyst
CIT - SUNY Geneseo
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