[SPARCbook] Resurrecting sparcbook 2 ... how?

[Stuart Duncan]

> I was given a second SparcBook 2, that does not have a battery, but it does
> have two internal hard disks.  IT SEEMS to be stuck on booting, in that
Lucky you.  ;)  I wish someone would give me another SPARCbook 2.  :P

> it is calling from some maintenance password or response code.  Anyone have
> any idea what that is, and if it will require a new nvram chip (I hope not)?
No, it won't need a new nvram chip (well, it's probably got a flat
battery.. but, whooptydoo)

You will, however, need to contact Tadpole UK, and be very nice about it
too, cos SB2's aren't supported anymore, and they'd be allowed to tell
you to nick off.  :P
You'll need to supply the serial number (appears on the boot monitor
screen) and the maintenance code in order for them to generate a key.

> It seems like it senses the second drive was added (friend who gave it to
> me said he put the second drive in but could not get it to work).  Possibly
> all it needs is setting the nvram correctly?
There's the reason you're getting locked out and asked for a maintenance
code.  ;)
Rip the second hard disk out and the machine should start correctly.

It's a security feature - if you want to use a hard disk in the machine
that didn't come with it, you'll need a working NVRAM and you'll need to
apply for a maintenance code.

> 
> I did load up an IPX so I could netboot it, if necessary.  What needs to
> be loaded off the cdrom onto the IPX to set it up?  I loaded up the
> SPARCbook2.OS tree, but I think it also needs the bundled tree, but am
> not sure.

You need to do a 'standalone restore' wich will rebuild the minifs... 
Once you reboot into the minifs, using kernel munix, it'll start an
install program and copy the stuff from the CD it'self.

The minifs image is in /SPARCbook2.OS/stand/minifs


Find me a keyboard ;)

Cheers,
Stuart Duncan