Archive for the 'Troubleshooting' Category

“Bus Fault” when trying to probe-scsi-all on a Sun Ultra 5

Monday, February 4th, 2008

I had a customer recently call me with a “bus fault” when he was trying to probe-scsi-all from the ok prompt. On separate occasions, I had sold him an Ultra 5 and a Dual Differential SCSI card (part# 375-0006) and he had just recently installed the SCSI Card into the Ultra 5 with the aforementioned […]

My Sun Ultra 5 or Ultra 10 only powers on if I don’t have any cards in the PCI slots.

Monday, February 4th, 2008

This tutorial came about as a result of an order we filled for an AnySystem.com client. The client ordered nine Sun Ultra 5 Desktops. The order called for all the machines to be identically configured, except that seven of them needed a QuadFast Ethernet PCI Card and a PGX32 Video Card and the other two […]

Is there an OpenBoot PROM cheat sheet or reference sheet?

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

A: Ask and you shall receive. Use this handy-dandy OpenBoot PROM or OBP Reference Guide courtesy of Sun Microsystems as a refresher. I didn’t write it, but it’s about as thorough and useful as it would be if I did.

When I start up my machine, I get a message that says: ‘mfg-options’ environment variable invalid How do I fix this?

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

A: From the OK prompt (a.k.a. OBP or OpenBoot PROM) you need to setenv mfg-options to the right value.

I’m trying to use vi, but instead of clearing the screen and allowing me to view my file, it jumbles the file and none of the commands react as expected; or in more general terms, “In console (command line) mode, I’m trying to use any application that requires use of the full screen (SunVTS, vi, etc) and when I launch it, it doesn’t correctly show the entire screen. It looks like a garbled version of the application I’m trying to use.”

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

A: If you are using CDE, Gnome or another GUI, you should not be experiencing this problem. If you are, I’m not quite sure what the problem is, but this solution probably won’t help you. Still, you’re free to try. This solution is only needed by those either consoled into a machine via a null […]

How can I establish a serial connection (aka tip hardwire session) from one Sun machine to another?

Friday, July 13th, 2007

A: Depending on which Sun machines you are connecting, you will need a certain type of null modem cable suited to that machine. Most older Sun machines (UltraSPARC II and some III) will require a DB25 male connector on the end. Newer ones (some UltraSPARC III and IV) will need RJ-45 serial connections.

How can I establish a serial connection from my Windows PC to my Sun Solaris machine?

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

A: Depending on which Sun machine you are connecting to, you will need a specific type of null modem cable suited to that machine. Most Sun UltraSparc II-class machines will require a DB25 male connector on the Sun end. Sun’s UltraSPARC III-class and higher machines have a healthy mix of DB25 and RJ-45 connectors. Plus […]