[SunHELP] headless booting woes

[Brian Hechinger]

ugh, i can't win.  i moved over the weekend.  it was a giant pain in the ass,
but the benefit, of course, is that i get to change things around with the
computers. one of those things, is i pulled the TurboGX frambuffer out of the
SPARCstation 5 that i am using as a router/firewall for my DSL internet 
connection.  if there is nothing plugged into Serial Port A, then the OS hangs
right before where it sets up the network interfaces.  as soon as i plug my
laptop into the serial port (even without a terminal program running) the SUN
the proceeds to boot.  i can then remove the serial cable and all is happy, 
it's just getting the OS off the ground that is the problem.

i tried the /etc/default/kbd as recommended previously, and while that does
solve the serial cable unplug = break issue, it isn't helping one bit here.

other than what is stated here, i'm stumped.  i don't mind having to plug the
laptop in when i have to reboot, but what if i'm not here?  guess it's time to
plug that modem into the serial port to be remote console.  i _have_ been 
wanting to do that for a while now.  although i'd rather have the "right" 
solution since i have 5 more SUN boxes here at my house, and i don't want to
have to plug stuff into all of them just to get them to boot (assuming i will
have the same problems with them)

also, while i have your attention.  i don't know a single thing about FDDI.
other than it is token based.  that's it.  i picked up three FDDI cards on ebay
for too cheap (meaning i didn't need them, but i couldn't resist at that price)
and i'd love to hook them up just for the sheer joy that fiber optic networks
bring me (there is just something really damn cool about data being carried by
light)

here is what's happening.  remember that sparc5 from the first half of this
mail?  well, i plugged this thing into the sparc5 after i removed the TurboGX
card since, well, uhm, there was a slot open.  :)

the red light on the FDDI card comes on and stays on solid.  that's it.  i don't
have a cable plugged into this thing, since i don't have anything to plug it
into yet (plus, what do i plug this thing into? can i plug in stright into
another FDDI card? what if i want to get all three running? do i need a 
hub/switch/concentrator/token-ring-thinger?)

does it work and is just waiting for a link?  how do i tell if the OS has seen
it and loaded drivers for it?  i don't see anything at all in the boot up
messages.

i've got two, let me grab the other one, and see if maybe this thing isn't
supported by Solaris 8 or not.

hmmm, Network Peripherals is all i can find on it to identify it.  so it's a
Network Peripherals FDDI card, that's all i know.

thanks!!!

-brian