sgi-o2 problem [solved]

mattie01 · n00b Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 33

Ok I know this isnt a specific gentoo problem so i'll apologise for that now, but i was running the mips gentoo guide and made what appears a rather silly mistake...

When in the prom i changed the setenv console to >> setenv console d1

Now when the o2 boots I get nothing shown on the monitor and the power light on the monitor just flashes like it isnt getting a signal, I think this is because I changed the setenv above,

Now my question is, is there a way of setting the prom back to the defaults? Or is there a way of getting the output back so it displays on a monitor? I think I remember someone mentioning about using a serial converter cable to plug a monitor in? But I could be wrong?

and i'd also like to mention that i'm not blaming anyone else for this but myself but any ideas help or suggestions are much appreciated

Many thanks

mattm

Redhatter · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:45 pm Post subject:

Grab a null modem cable, plug one end into Serial Port 1 (or 0... I've never seen the back of an O2 myself), and the other into the serial port of another box. Fire up a terminal emulator on the other box (HyperTerminal, minicom, seyon, screen...etc), and set it to use 9600 baud, 8-bits, no parity, one stop bit.

When you fire up the O2, you should see the PROM init via serial console. Hit ESC when prompted, then go into the console (option 5) and enter setenv console g to set it back to using the monitor. Finish by typing init, and you should see the monitor spring to life.
_________________
Stuart Longland (a.k.a Redhatter, VK4MSL)
I haven't lost my mind - it's backed up on a tape somewhere...

Gentoo/MIPS Cobalt developer, Mozilla herd member.

mattie01 · n00b Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 33

many thanks it worked a treat

even got my other sgi box working, so i now have 2 just need a hdd and tray for the second one,

thanks again mate

Redhatter · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:18 pm Post subject:

Actually, if you were daring, you can do without the HDD and just netboot the other SGI box ... and use NFS for the root ... just add the stage 3 files.

There's guides on how to set up an NFS root ... basically the stage 3 tarball should have everything you need. On the O2 side of things, set in the PROM, diskless = 1. It should netboot from there -- failing that, running bootp(): in the usual manner should work.
_________________
Stuart Longland (a.k.a Redhatter, VK4MSL)
I haven't lost my mind - it's backed up on a tape somewhere...

Gentoo/MIPS Cobalt developer, Mozilla herd member.