[SPARCbook] S3GX bootup

[Mat Maessen]

> > Remains on 001 in the LCD status for 15-30 seconds before the screen comes
> > up. Is this normal? It seems an awful long time, and I hear of peoples
> > systems failing at 001 as the screen NEVER comes up!!
> That's definitely not normal, my S3GX stays at 007 for 2-3 sec, then 001
> for 5 sec or so, then the SPARCbook logo appears...

I'm pretty sure that the "001" refers to a memory test.
If you've got 128 megs in the machine and the NVRAM variable selftest-#megs is
set to test all of it,
it'll easily take a minute or more to check the memory. Let it go through POST,
Pause-A as the box starts booting, and type "printenv" to see the values of all
of your NVRAM variables.
If the machine is in diag mode (the diag-switch variable will be true) it will
take a while to do POST.
If it's checking a lot of memory, it will also take a while to come up.

> > My NVRAM seems also to have failed (corrupted checksum error on boot)
> > although my hostid, mac and model seem to have been retained ok!
> > I can't do any setenv. Has my nvram really failed? If so why does it retain
> > the above info!

Sounds like you need to run diagnostics:

1. Find a serial cable for your Sparcbook. I have a couple of old Macintosh
serial cables laying around that work with varying degrees of effectiveness. 
2. Find a terminal/computer with a terminal emulation program. Connect this up
to the serial cable through a null modem and the correct gender benders. Connect
the other end of the serial cable to serial A on the Sparcbook. Set your
terminal for 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
3. Power on the Sparcbook, hit Pause-A as it starts to boot, then type "setenv
diag-switch true" on the Sparcbook keyboard and hit return.
4. Type "reset" on the Sparcbook keyboard, hit return, and watch for output on
your terminal as the machine resets and does POST. It will take a while to do
POST, but you should see the output of all the checks it's doing. If you see no
output, check your serial connections.

Hope this helps...

-Mat