patel@cvlsun1.ece.drexel.edu (Patel Maqbool 387-1784) (05/26/90)
We just got our SunOS 4.1 release. The release manual says that the prom revison on the Sun 4/260 and the Sun 4/110 has to be at least 2.x. However we have rev 1.3 on our Sun 4/260 and 1.8 on our Sun 4/110. Can we still load 4.1? If not, why? Related question : 1) What does the PROM have in it apart from the SUN Logo and boot device information? 2) Why does this need to be revised? 3) Since it is EPROM, why hasn't SUN come up with a program which will write in to the EPROM and revise it as neccessary? (May be a stupid question) Thanks Patel Maqbool patel@cvlsun1.ece.drexel.edu
hafner@ordin.cs.wisc.edu (Brian J. Hafner) (05/29/90)
In article <8215@brazos.Rice.edu> patel@cvlsun1.ece.drexel.edu (Patel Maqbool 387-1784) writes: > >We just got our SunOS 4.1 release. The release manual says that the prom >revison on the Sun 4/260 and the Sun 4/110 has to be at least 2.x. However >we have rev 1.3 on our Sun 4/260 and 1.8 on our Sun 4/110. Can we still >load 4.1? If not, why? I recently upgraded a 4/110 to SunOS 4.1. The machine had boot PROM rev 1.8. Although the manuals indicated that boot PROM 2.8 was required, I had NO troubles booting the tape with the older PROM. I also called SUN, and the engineer I talked to was surprised that I was able to boot off of the 4.1 release tape. Later, I ordered the boot PROM rev 3.0 upgrade. Brian J. Hafner Computer Sciences Department University of Wisconsin - Madison hafner@cs.wisc.edu
fuat@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Fuat C. Baran) (05/31/90)
In article <8215@brazos.Rice.edu> patel@cvlsun1.ece.drexel.edu (Patel Maqbool 387-1784) writes: >We just got our SunOS 4.1 release. The release manual says that the prom >revison on the Sun 4/260 and the Sun 4/110 has to be at least 2.x. However >we have rev 1.3 on our Sun 4/260 and 1.8 on our Sun 4/110. Can we still >load 4.1? If not, why? Apparently the manual is incorrect. It only applies to Sun-3/xxx systems (I can dig up the exact list if necessary -- Sun faxed me a copy and I don't think there are any redistribution restrictions on it). Sun field offices received a correction sheet for the manual, where they point out the error in the manual. We had two Sun-4/280's at PROM rev 1.7 and they were able to boot (once we had the xylogics tape controller properly configured). >1) What does the PROM have in it apart from the SUN Logo and boot device > information? Support for the various boot devices seems to be the biggest thing. --Fuat P.S. Since upgrading to SunOS 4.1 we have had several problems. Mainly on two of the four systems upgraded, /etc/dump, when run with the system multi-user has crashed the machine with a panic: writeback error. The system then hangs and a reset from the CPU board is needed to regain control. We are still working with Sun to try and figure out what is going on. Prior to the upgrade things were fine. Along the way we have also received new CPU boards with rev 3.0 PROMS. We are also having problems that seem to be related to the pseudo-tty support. scripts failing, people getting each others sessions, etc. We are also looking into those problems. Internet: fuat@columbia.edu U.S. MAIL: Columbia University BITNET: fuat@cunixf Center for Computing Activities UUCP: ...!rutgers!columbia!cunixf!fuat 712 Watson Labs, 612 W115th St. Phone: (212) 854-5128 Fax: (212) 662-6442 New York, NY 10025