[SPARCbook] Help!

[Robert Schaefer]

----- Original Message -----
From: <glb at xenon22.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <sparcbook at sunhelp.org>
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 03:37 AM
Subject: Re: [SPARCbook] Help!


> I have managed to boot into a single user mode by doing 3 0 vmunix -sw.  I
then ran the date >program from /usr/5bin.  This only seemed to have a 2
digit year field, I could set it to >December 31st 1999, and watch it tick
over to 2000, but the the Sparcbook would not boot >again.  So now I've set
it to some year in the 80's and it boots up fine, apart from now
>complaining about a "preposterous date in the filesystem".  Looks like it's
not going to >accept the current date.

I've just been running with whatever date the dead nvram returns.  It
shouldn't be too hard to tweak the tools to add some specified number to the
two-digit year to make usrland happy, and still let the firmware keep it's
numbers in bounds.  I saw some patches to IIRC 4.1.3 that may offer some
inspiration.  But that's about last on the Big List Of Things To Do.

BTW, due to a lucky (sarcasm!) meeting between a box containing my other
SB2, the USPS, and the ground, I noticed something interesting.  There is a
set of solder pads on the bottom of the CPU board that are a good match for
the 32 meg soldered to the top of it.  I don't know enough about the board
to be able to tell for certain that it'll hold another 32 meg, nor do I have
the facilities to solder SMD parts, but it interests me none the less.
Perhaps a look at the prom will give some clues.

>
> Geoff

Bob

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Nicewonger" <twmaster at twmaster.com>
> To: <sparcbook at sunhelp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 03:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [SPARCbook] Help!
>
>
> > on 4/17/02 4:33 AM, glb at xenon22.freeserve.co.uk at
> > glb at xenon22.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> >
> > > I recently received a Tadpole Sparcbook 2, with some version of
Solaris
> > > installed on it.  It no longer boots up, stopping with a message along
> the
> > > lines of "TOD clock not initialized check time/date".  I was wondering
> if it's
> > > possible to re-install it and what operating systems are compatible
with
> a
> > > Sparcbook 2.
> > >
> > The problem you are having is not software but hardware. The TOD or
NVRAM
> > chip has died. Reinstalling the software will not fix this.
>
> Is the "TOD clock not initialized check time/date" due to the dead TOD, or
> is the the non-booting?  My SB2 gives the same error, but boots.  I
managed
> to get it to apparently hang immediately after giving the above error by
> trying to set the date to the current date, but then I got it to start
> booting again by following the directions to recover from a faulty
> suspend-to-disk.
>
> I do have a spare TOD clock, I'll try swapping that in to see what
happens.
> My SB2 doesn't remember the default boot file across reboots either.
>
> >
> > Mike N
>
> Bob
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