[rescue] Picked up an IBM / Tadpole RS6000/N40, xinit hangs system.

Ian Finder ian.finder at gmail.com
Mon Sep 8 18:12:34 CDT 2014 

Thank you very much to everyone who responded!

I now have media for Tadpole AIX, so I'm gonna fresh install to a
different hard drive to see if X works on a stock install. With this,
onto the next hurdle: This thing doesn't want to boot off any of the
SCSI CDROM drives I've tried-- which is quite a few. They show up as
"UNKNOWN CDROM" in the rom menu, but it doesn't seem to try and access
any of them after the scsi bus is reset at boot time.

Any tricks?

Also the LCD in this has seen better days-- I think it's the same as
in the SparcBook 3 (640x480) but not the 3GXes I have on hand
(800x600) so if anyone has a broken SparcBook 3 to sell, or would
consider trading a 3GX for a 3 so that I may keep a compatible
replacement LCD on hand, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks again to Andy, Gaz, and Michael for the extensive amount of
resources on this otherwise poorly documented piece of esoteria!

- Ian



On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com> wrote:
> When you run X manually, does it show up in the process list on when you
> telnet into the box?
>
>> On Sep 7, 2014, at 7:57 PM, Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hmm. The xserver never starts despite the HFT hanging, so that's not
>> it. (ps -e on my remote console shows no X process).
>>
>> The xinitrcs are all sane.
>>
>> ---
>>
>> The output of xinit is simply "1356-824  xinit: Unable to start the X
> server"
>>
>> There is no difference in the process list from before I run xinit and
>> after the hft terminal hangs.
>>
>> Weird stuff.
>>
>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 4:46 PM, Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com> wrote:
>>> Does control-alt-backspace work? By default, it will kill the X server.
>>> Check /usr/lpp/X11/defaults/xinitrc to see if it is starting mwm and
> aixterm.
>>> /usr/lpp/X11/xinit should also be checked.
>>>
>>> Lastly, see if if $HOME/.xinitrc is OK.
>>>
>>>> On Sep 7, 2014, at 7:35 PM, Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Thanks Gaz & Andy for all for the help!
>>>>
>>>> The drivers appear to be installed-- diag for wgs0 passes, and the
>>>> fbconfigurations file is sane. Same symptom persists.
>>>>
>>>> Tried bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice and it still doesn't work. I tried #
>>>> X > /tmplog ; and cat tmplog from my remote console.
>>>>
>>>> Doesn't seem to produce any errors or output.
>>>>
>>>> Any other ideas on how to potentially tell what is failing? X does not
>>>> appear to be running after running I run xinit.
>>>>
>>>> - Ian
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 3:36 PM, Gaz God <gaz.god at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> One of the files i'm emailing is a fbconfigurations.N40.
>>>>>
>>>>> But my ADSL is running at super slow!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Expect an email soonish Ian.
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 11:34 PM, Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com>
> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It looks like the N40 originally ran a special version of AIX 3.2.5. I
>>> was
>>>>>> thinking about the other RS/6000 laptop which had the AIX 4.2.1 special
>>>>>> version. I do apologize for the confusion.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I did find this tidbit that could be useful.
>>>>>> http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/7007/7007-n40.html
>>>>>> "When you bring up NCE Display panel, no display types listed.
>>>>>> Cause:  The /etc/fbconfigurations file can get zero'd out when written
>>>>>> back to
>>>>>> disk from memory. Get fbconfigurations.N40 then make a copy just in
>>> case."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Good luck.
>>>>>> -Andy Wallis
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sep 7, 2014, at 6:23 PM, Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If wgs0 comes back as available, then you might need to run the diag
>>>>>> command
>>>>>>> to run the tests for it.
>>>>>>> Barring that, try running bosboot -ad as a sanity check.
>>>>>>> -Andy Wallis
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Sep 7, 2014, at 6:17 PM, Gaz God <gaz.god at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have a copy of P2.upg.tar.Z which has a the drivers in it for the
> N40
>>>>>>>> here, if that is any help it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Gaz
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 10:53 PM, Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I'm running 3.3. NCE is installed so I thought it would be
>>>>>>>>> tadpole-friendly. I have hft0, and wgs0 - "Standard colour graphics
>>>>>>>>> adapter"
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So I guess that means I have no drivers...
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> :(
>>>>>>>>> ;_;
>>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 2:44 PM, Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Try the following
>>>>>>>>>> cfgmgr to initialize the installed device drivers.
>>>>>>>>>> lsdev -C and see if the graphics card and lft/hft are Available. If
>>> it
>>>>>> is
>>>>>>>>>> defined, the driver isn't loaded and just has an ODM entry(there be
>>>>>>>>> dragons).
>>>>>>>>>> Are you running AIX 4.2.1 with the special Tadpole drivers or is it
>>>>>> 4.3?
>>>>>>>>> 4.3
>>>>>>>>>> dropped support for the Tadpole and you cannot run X due to that.
>>>>>>>>>> -Andy Wallis
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Sep 7, 2014, at 5:01 PM, Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Ok... I can only run xinit from the local console- and when I do
> so,
>>>>>>>>>>> it hangs but my remote console still responds. Being an AIX noob,
>>>>>>>>>>> where are the logs I should be looking at.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 1:38 PM, Barry Callahan <
>>>>>> barryc at rjlsystems.com>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> Start by hanging a serial console off the thing, so when the
>>> console
>>>>>>>>> locks
>>>>>>>>>>>> up you can still interact with the machine and investigate?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Or put the thing on your network?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> #/*****************************\
>>>>>>>>>>>> #* Barry Callahan
>>>>>>>>>>>> #* Technologist
>>>>>>>>>>>> #* RJL Systems
>>>>>>>>>>>> #* phone: 1 586 790 - 0200 x112
>>>>>>>>>>>> #*        1 800 528 - 4513 x112
>>>>>>>>>>>> #* fax:   1 586 790 - 0205
>>>>>>>>>>>> #\*****************************/
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 9/7/2014 4:33 PM, Ian Finder wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Recently picked this up, but running X or startx or xinit causes
>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>>>> system console to hang / freeze completely.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any good ideas on how to diagnose/fix?
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not an AIX guy :(
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> - Ian
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>>> Ian Finder
>>>>>>>>>>> (206) 395-MIPS
>>>>>>>>>>> ian.finder at gmail.com
>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>> Ian Finder
>>>>>>>>> (206) 395-MIPS
>>>>>>>>> ian.finder at gmail.com
>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>  Ian Finder
>>>>  (206) 395-MIPS
>>>>  ian.finder at gmail.com
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>   Ian Finder
>>   (206) 395-MIPS
>>   ian.finder at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue



-- 
   Ian Finder
   (206) 395-MIPS
   ian.finder at gmail.com

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