[rescue] Installing OpenBSD on a Sparc2

[Jeff Borisch]

Hi Simeon,

Simeon Johnston wrote:

> I am plugged into the *A* DB-25 port and disconnected the KB and mouse.
> Should I pull the video card also?  Didn't think that mattered.
> I'll try pulling the vid card and the extra expansion card (SCSI,
> Ethernet and DB-25 port - that may be causing the problem also) and see
> what happens.

Is there a way for you get in and see what your OpenBoot settings are?
someone might have left the serial ports set to something other than the
standard settings you are using. Do you have a monitor to see what it says
while booting?

FWIW i have had the serial port output start working when I removed the
framebuffer even thought this is not supposed to make any difference. I
don't know why.

Are you certain you have a null modem cable?

I have also had a problem with getting suns to talk to macs over the serial
port. Particularly the IPX.

On the ss2 (like the IPX) there are a pair of jumpers to set the serial port
protocol from rs232 to rs423. this may help. Check the Sun Hardware
Reference for details.

IIRC Geoport compatible serial ports are supposed to be rs232/422
compatible. So, try making sure the jumpers are set to rs232.

On the IPX which has a similar setup, I have tried both jumper settings.
Neither of them worked. The same IPX comes up just fine connected to a PC's
serial port. :-/ 

Other than that I have not had any problems getting an ss2 to output serial
to my mac, a PowerCenter Pro 240.

Good Luck! 

--jeffrey