Removing OBP/EEPROM passwords (was RE: [rescue] ID this card???)

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

"Loomis, Rip" wrote:


> There may be a simpler way to remove the OBP password...


Cool. Simple is better. It's not so hard to pull the chip, though.
There's some kind of sleeve around it with tabs on the ends. Pulled it
right out with my fingers (thought I'd try hot-plugging the prom - that
didn't work, apparently diag-switch? is set to true and it always goes
to diag mode on boot. It sticks at scroll-lock on when I boot without a
prom).



> Alternative method 1:
> The options for "security-mode" are none, full, and
> command.  If you have a system which is set to "full",
> then it won't boot at all without the password (even
> from the default boot device) and you will need to
> pull the chip.


Can I tell which mode it's in by behavior? I turn it on, get the banner,
"Initializing Memory" with the spinning pipe, then nothing. The cursor
just sits, no ">", or "ok". If I "stop-a" while it's initializing the
memory it drops me to a ">" prompt. If I boot from there it does the
same thing again. If I try to go to new command mode it asks for a
password. Continue does nothing since it hadn't booted yet.



> 5.  Use the command "eeprom security-mode=none" as root
>     to un-require the PROM password.

Ooooh, nice command. I'll have to remember that one.



> Once upon a time, I got a well-loaded SPARC 5 for $40
> because the seller didn't know how to do the above.


Kewl.




> similar system which they *can* boot...just swap the
> hard drive from the accessible system into the one that
> has the PROM password set.


I thought about this. I can't boot the drive from an SS2 in a Classic,
can I?



> If the security-mode is set to "full", though, then
> it's time to pull chips and James L.'s procedure is
> the gospel.


Will that work if diag-switch? is set to true? Or will it always stick
on the bad NVRAM?


Thanks.


---sambo