rwright@novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) (07/14/90)
I just received two 3B2's on loan. They (or at least one) is a 2 megabyte with a 30 megabyte hard drive. In bringing up one it fails the diagnostic. Swapping the hard drive out to the working machine makes the diagnostic fail. Thus, I appear to have a dead/sick drive. Now the question...what is this drive? It says Western Electric. Can something more generally available be replaced? My experience with ATT repair is that their rates are designed to make the warranty costs look inexpensive. Oh one other question now that I have your attention, how do you boot this thing from floppy? I cannot find that in my set of the fm's. Perhaps I do not have them all. -- R. K. Wright MD JD | office: uunet!medex2!medexam!rkw Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County | nova: novavax!rwright Associate Professor Pathology | home: uunet!medex2!love1!rkw University of Miami School of Medicine | fax: 305 765 5193
dart@cat33.cs.wisc.edu (UPL stuff) (07/18/90)
In article <1953@novavax.UUCP> rwright@novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) writes: [ Description of various hardware failures ] > >Oh one other question now that I have your attention, how do you boot >this thing from floppy? I cannot find that in my set of the fm's. >Perhaps I do not have them all. >-- >R. K. Wright MD JD | office: uunet!medex2!medexam!rkw >Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County | nova: novavax!rwright >Associate Professor Pathology | home: uunet!medex2!love1!rkw >University of Miami School of Medicine | fax: 305 765 5193 Could someone please post an answer to this seemingly easy question. We have here a couple of sick 3b2/310s. Evidently, /etc/getty got trashed. The system boots normally, but init complains "/etc/getty respawning too rapidly ...". Evidently, all that needs to be done is install a sane /etc/getty and/or /etc/gettydefs. But how does one do this? We have the original core pack disks, which are presumably bootable. The fine manual describes how to boot the system from firmware mode. However, it does not describe how to get into firmware mode from a dead start. I've tried typing the firmware password at all possible times, including after pressing the reset button in back, but no response. I have disconnected the battery to make sure that no-one changed the firmware password while I wasn't looking. Greg Thain dart@garfield.cs.wisc.edu {backbone}!uwvax!garfield!dart
night@pawl.rpi.edu (Trip Martin) (07/18/90)
dart@cat33.cs.wisc.edu (UPL stuff) writes: >In article <1953@novavax.UUCP> rwright@novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) writes: > [ Description of various hardware failures ] >> >>Oh one other question now that I have your attention, how do you boot >>this thing from floppy? I cannot find that in my set of the fm's. >>Perhaps I do not have them all. >>-- >>R. K. Wright MD JD | office: uunet!medex2!medexam!rkw >>Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County | nova: novavax!rwright >>Associate Professor Pathology | home: uunet!medex2!love1!rkw >>University of Miami School of Medicine | fax: 305 765 5193 > Could someone please post an answer to this seemingly easy question. >We have here a couple of sick 3b2/310s. Evidently, /etc/getty got trashed. >The system boots normally, but init complains "/etc/getty respawning too >rapidly ...". Evidently, all that needs to be done is install a sane >/etc/getty and/or /etc/gettydefs. But how does one do this? We >have the original core pack disks, which are presumably bootable. The >fine manual describes how to boot the system from firmware mode. >However, it does not describe how to get into firmware mode from a dead >start. I've tried typing the firmware password at all possible times, >including after pressing the reset button in back, but no response. I >have disconnected the battery to make sure that no-one changed the firmware >password while I wasn't looking. First start up the machine with the red switch. Wait until you get the message "DIAGNOSTICS", and hit the reset switch on the back. In a couple seconds, it should print "SELF-CHECK" again, and then "FIRMWARE MODE". Type in "mcp" (assuming the firmware password hasn't been changed). You'll then be prompted for a file to boot. The default should be "/unix", which is what you want. And then choose the floppy for the boot device. After a couple minutes, you'll then get a menu of options which include full restore, partial restore, and upgrade. Now comes the fun part. Type in "magic mode", and the system will respond with "Poof!". The prompt will then be printed with an additional option "shell". Type that in and you will now have a root shell running strictly off floppy. The programs available are very limited. As an example, there is no "ls". You have to use "echo *" to get a directory. There's also no "mount", but you can use "fsys -m" for the same purpose. BTW, does anyone know where the documentation is for "fsys"? I can't find it at all. -- -- Trip Martin night@pawl.rpi.edu
gentry@kcdev.UUCP (Art Gentry) (07/18/90)
In article <4986@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> dart@cat33.cs.wisc.edu (UPL stuff) writes: >In article <1953@novavax.UUCP> rwright@novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) writes: > [ Description of various hardware failures ] >> >>Oh one other question now that I have your attention, how do you boot >>this thing from floppy? I cannot find that in my set of the fm's. >>Perhaps I do not have them all. >>-- > Could someone please post an answer to this seemingly easy question. >We have here a couple of sick 3b2/310s. Evidently, /etc/getty got trashed. >The system boots normally, but init complains "/etc/getty respawning too >rapidly ...". Evidently, all that needs to be done is install a sane >/etc/getty and/or /etc/gettydefs. But how does one do this? We >have the original core pack disks, which are presumably bootable. The >fine manual describes how to boot the system from firmware mode. >However, it does not describe how to get into firmware mode from a dead >start. I've tried typing the firmware password at all possible times, >including after pressing the reset button in back, but no response. I >have disconnected the battery to make sure that no-one changed the firmware >password while I wasn't looking. What I suspect you really have is a port(s) that is connected to something that is winking DTR and/or CD leads. What the "respawing too rapidly" is telling you, is getty is setting up on the port, the device is dropping, getty is setting up on the port, the device is dropping, ad nauseum..... To answer your other question, to get to firmware from a dead start, there are two meathods, depending on what your current operational state is. 1) If you are up and running, then log on as root, change to root's home directory (/) and enter /etc/shutdown -i5 -g0 -y This will cause the machine to do an orderly shutdown and then restart, coming up in firmware mode. 2) If you are not running, but can get the machine to powerup, ie. go into self diagnostic mode, when the SELF CHECK prompt shows up, reach around back of the machine and hit the RESET button. This will also cause the machine to drop into firmware mode. Once in firmware, to re-load your ESSENTIAL UTILITIES, put DISK 1 in the diskette drive, enter your MCP password, at the "program to run" prompt enter 'unix', and at the device prompt enter the number for the floppy drive. The bare-bones unix system from the floppy will then boot and give you options for doing a full install, partial install, dual disk upgrade or release upgrade. Choice the option as appropriate. However, before I'd go thru all that pain, I'd edit /etc/inittab and 'off' the port that is having the respawn problem (change 'respawn' to 'off' for the appropriate port), then at your shell prompt enter 'init Q', this will force init to re-read the inittab file and act upon any changes. I'm willing to bet that will fix your respawn problem. Then you need to go find out what is wrong with that particular terminal/modem/whatever. -- | R. Arthur Gentry Gentry and Associates Excelsior Springs, MO 64024 | | Email: gentry@genco.uucp Voice: 816-637-2443 | | The UNIX BBS: 816-221-0475 The Bedroom BBS: 816-637-4183 | | $include {std_disclaimer.h} "I will make a guess" - Spock - STIV |