[rescue] Why yes, I AM stupid (long)

Kurt Mosiejczuk kurt at csh.rit.edu
Wed Feb 13 12:34:07 CST 2002


So, I finally was spending quality time with my Ultra 1 last night
(the night before I let Solaris 8 install from the 4x CDROM I have
on it).

I noticed the OpenBoot PROM was pretty darn old (3.11 vs the current
3.25).  So I went to update it.  Following the instructions I noticed
I needed to make sure it was jumpered to allow the write.  So, rather
than try it, fail, and then check, I did what I thought was the
"smart" thing and check the jumper.

Of course, the jumper is underneath the Creator 2D card.  So out that
comes.  And, the jumper is in the right position.  *sigh*  So I start
putting the card back in.  While I'm doing this, my wife decides that
one of the dogs is being especially cute and must tell me this over
the baby monitor we use to listen in on the dogs at night.  And keep
telling me I need to come up.  I tell her I'm arm deep in my Ultra and
I'll try soon.  I tell her twice since while she's speaking, the
monitor doesn't let her listen.  Grr.

So, I try and step it up and manage to get the creator card back in.
Ultra won't work.  No video signal, nothing seems to happen.Fine, I'll
take the break now, although I'm not happy.

After seeing the dog (which part of the reason was she was given allergy
medicine and would be asleep soon, dog is of course still bouncing off the
walls) I go back down and hook up a serial line.  Ultra is reporting
"Memory access is not aligned" and giving an "ok ".  Ugh.  I do some
googling and see it might be memory... somehow I doubt it.

I finally take out the creator card, and suddenly it works okay.  I look
at the card.  I bent a goddamned pin.  I get that sinking feeling that I
fscked myself but good.  I manage (or so I think) to straighten the pin.
I try reinstalling the card.  No dice.  I pull it back out.  Now, that
pin is trapped against the back of the connector.

I slap a TurboGX and get the machine going, but I am PISSED.  Even worse,
I thought of having a drink before starting, but didn't cause I didn't
want to screw anything up.  So no good excuses for me.

*Sigh*

So, unless someone can tell me they're great at fixing up screwed up pins
in a UPA connector, I'm in need of another creator card.  A 2d is all I'm
replacing, but a reasonable priced 3d card wouldn't be turned away.

And yes, I've waited over 12 hours before posting this to let the anger
dissipate, and get over the ensuing embarassment.

--Kurt
  Dumbass



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