[rescue] Trying to rescue a Sun Ultra 45

[Sean Tedio]

I have acquired a Sun Ultra 45workstation. The Sun part number is
A89-XHZB1-9AF-1GDT. I felt the junk heap was an improper end for such
a fine machine and so I decided to bring it home.

Short Story:
The machine powers on for a few seconds and then turns off. I have a
number of LEDs on the motherboard and I'm wondering if there is any
way to obtain diagnostic information from them.

Long Story:
After taking the box home, I found out why it was in the junk heap...
It powers on for about 5 seconds and then shuts itself off. I inquired
to the IT department as to the reasons for it's disposal and they
cited this behavior. They said they first noticed the machine would
turn off at randomly causing it to be removed from circulation and
then ended in the scenario I just described. I started normal hardware
diagnostics and removed video card/ram/harddrive and tried again with
the same result. I figured the mostly likely candidate was the power
supply. I hooked the power supply up to a powersupply tester and it
found no faults on the default 24pin ATX connector. I tested the
remaining connectors using a voltmeter and confirmed that all voltages
were correct according to their wire color. I then took the power
supply apart and inspected it for bad capacitors, visual or smells of
burning, and found none. I have found a number of power supplies on
ebay, but they are used, and I'm not sure of their condition or if
they will even fix the problem. What I am hoping to find is more
information on the motherboard LEDs and their meanings. I have used
all my google-foo powers and come up with manuals for the system, but
none describe motherboard LEDs only the LED on the front of the
system. It doesn't appear that I can get any support from Oracle (no
surprise there).

So now I have come to you hoping that by some miracle you might know
something about this system that may help me in saving it from the
junk heap.

Thank you in advance,

-Sean