Archive-name: sun-hdwr-ref/part2
Posting-Frequency: as revised
Version: $Id: part2,v 1.12 1995/11/24 02:11:17 jwbirdsa Exp $
THE SUN HARDWARE REFERENCE
compiled by James W. Birdsall
(jwbirdsa@picarefy.com)
PART II
=======
FAQ
FAQ
===
ROM Monitors
------------
Sun-2's sported a rather primitive monitor; with each succeeding
model line, it has become more powerful. In all models, the machine
enters the ROM monitor upon power up. The monitor tries to boot from a
default device, which may be determined by a simple priority-ordered
search for boot devices (Sun-2) and/or by EEPROM settings (Sun-3 and
later). If it cannot find a boot device or the boot device is offline,
it enters command-line mode. Command-line mode may be manually invoked
at any time, including while the OS is running, by holding down L1 and
then pressing A on a Sun console, or sending BREAK if you are using a
terminal as the console. On all models, the "c" (continue) command
resumes execution at the point where the monitor was entered, so you can
recover from accidentally halting the OS. Note that if you are using a
terminal as the console, turning it off or disconnecting it is usually
interpreted as BREAK and halts the machine.
Note that the ROM monitor in a machine may or may not know about any
particular color framebuffer, depending on the revision of the ROM and
the age of the framebuffer standard. If the ROM does not know how to
detect and display on the particular color framebuffer you have
installed, it will be unable to display the normal ROM boot messages.
This does not affect OS support for the framebuffer; if you are willing
to boot blind, SunOS should find the framebuffer and start displaying on
it normally. The alternative is to get a more recent ROM or a different
framebuffer.
SUN-1
No information. The 100U used a Sun-2 CPU (the same one used in early
2/120 units), so it had a Sun-2 ROM monitor.
SUN-2
The ROM monitor in at least the 2/120 and 2/170 (and probably all
other Sun-2 models) is capable of booting and performing some memory and
register operations, but not much more. There is no online help or
diagnostics.
The boot command is of the form "b dd(x,y,z) args" where "dd" is a
device string, "x" is the controller number, "y" is the unit number (?),
"z" is the partition number, and "args" are optional arguments to the
kernel. "dd" may be sd (SCSI disk), st (SCSI tape), xy (Xylogics SMD
controller), ie (Sun Ethernet board), or ec (3Com Ethernet board), and
probably others (mt?). For example, to boot from the first partition on
the first SCSI disk on the first SCSI controller (a common
configuration), the command would be "b sd(0,0,0)". To boot from the
first partition on the second SMD disk on the first SMD controller (a
configuration I have), the command would be "b xy(0,1,0)". To boot from
the fourth file on the first SCSI tape drive on the first SCSI
controller (booting from the n'th file may be required during OS
installation), the command would be "b st(0,0,3)".
Note that the ROM monitor makes certain assumptions about SCSI IDs --
the tape drive is actually at SCSI ID 4, but is referred to as tape unit
0. By default ("b"), the ROM monitor tries to boot from (0,0,0) on the
highest-priority bootable device that it can find in the machine's
slots; the priority order is xy, sd, and ie/ec (don't know which has
priority over the other). It never boots from tape by default. There may
be other bootable devices, but I have never seen them.
Also note that for at least some versions of SunOS, "args" is not
actually passed to the kernel. The "b" command reads a tiny bootstrap
from the indicated device. The bootstrap then automatically continues
the boot from the same device, ignoring "args". The only way I have
found to actually pass arguments such as the single-user flag (-s) to
the kernel is to use the bootstrap program on the OS tapes, which gives
a prompt rather than continuing automatically. At that prompt, entering
the device information followed by the arguments (e.g. "xy(0,1,0) -s")
will actually get the arguments passed to the kernel.
SUN-3
The Sun-3 ROM monitor is much more sophisticated. Entering "?" will
produce a list of commands with brief explanations and syntax. The ROM
contains diagnostics sufficient for a preliminary checkout of a machine
for which you do not have a boot device. Syntax of the boot command is
largely the same as for Sun-2's, with a few differences: the hardware
search for a boot device may be overridden by EEPROM settings which
direct the machine to always boot from a particular device; on machines
with a Lance Ethernet chip rather than Intel, the Ethernet device is le
rather than ie; and "args" is passed to the kernel correctly (actually,
this appears to be a difference between SunOS 3.x and SunOS 4.x rather
than a ROM difference).
Sun-3 boot ROM versions 3.x are actually a step backward in some
ways. They can boot from more devices (QIC-150 tapes, possibly CD-ROMs)
but the online help and most of the diagnostic tests were removed,
probably because the ROM space was needed for new boot code.
SUN-386i
No information.
SUN-4
The Sun-4 ROM monitor is vastly more sophisticated than even the
Sun-3 version. It has two different command-line modes. The old mode, in
the style of earlier monitors, can do exactly three things: boot (using
the old-style syntax), continue execution, or switch to new command-line
mode.
New mode uses "ok" for a prompt. Help may be obtained by typing
"help". It has a built-in command-line editor, and (at least in newer
versions) a Forth interpreter (I haven't seen any sign of one on my SLC
but I wouldn't know how to look, either). You can boot either using
the old-style syntax or by specifying a type of device ("boot disk",
"boot tape", etc.). EEPROM configuration is through "printenv" and
"setenv", which use names rather than addresses. Good help is available
for most commands, and there are a lot of commands, encompassing all the
functionality available in earlier monitors and adding helpful new
features, such as "probe-scsi", which searches the SCSI bus and prints
out the ID, LUN, device type, and identification string for anything it
finds.
EEPROM/NVRAM Parameters
-----------------------
Every Sun-3, Sun386i, and Sun-4/SPARCstation has EEPROM or NVRAM on
the CPU board which retains settings for various things the ROM monitor
needs to know to boot and function properly. Most of these locations are
standard across all three model lines; where this is not true, it is
noted in the list below. All numeric values are in hexadecimal unless
otherwise noted.
0x14 Installed memory
Megabytes of memory installed
0x15 Tested memory
Megabytes of memory tested during power-on self test (POST)
0x16 Monitor screen size
0x00 1152 x 900 (standard resolution)
0x12 1024 x 1024 (1Kx1K)
0x13 1600 x 1280 (high resolution, see locations 0x50 and 0x51)
0x14 1440 x 1440
0x15 1024 x 768 (low resolution)
0x17 Watchdog reset action
0x00 invoke ROM monitor
0x12 imitate power-on reset (default)
0x18 Operating system boot device
0x00 poll (default)
0x12 boot from EEPROM/NVRAM specified boot device
0x19-0x1A SunOS boot device name (in ASCII)
0x78 0x79 (xy) Xylogics 450/451 SMD controller
0x78 0x64 (xd) Xylogics 7053 SMD controller
0x73 0x64 (sd) SCSI disk
0x69 0x65 (ie) Ethernet (Intel-based controller)
0x69 0x64 (id) IPI disk
0x67 0x6E (gn) ???
0x6C 0x65 (le) Ethernet (Lance-based controller)
0x1B-0x1D SunOS boot device controller, unit, partition numbers
0x00 0x00 0x00 (0,0,0) (default)
0x1F Primary terminal
0x00 monochrome framebuffer
0x10 serial port A
0x11 serial port B
0x12 VMEbus and 3/60-P4 color frame buffers (configure
locations 0x60C-0x613 when VX and MVX graphics options
are installed)
0x20 non-3/60-P4-color frame buffer
0x20 Power-up banner
0x00 Sun logo display
0x12 custom banner stored in 0x68-0xB7
0x21 Keyboard click
0x00 OFF
0x12 ON (default)
0x22-0x23 Diagnostic boot device name (in ASCII)
Used when NORM/DIAG switch in DIAG position. As 0x19-0x1A, or
0x00 0x00 to invoke ROM monitor.
0x24-0x26 Diagnotic boot device controller, unit, partition numbers
Used when NORM/DIAG switch in DIAG position. As 0x1B-0x1D.
0x28-0x4F Diagnostic boot path
Used when NORM/DIAG switch in DIAG position. ASCII codes for
path and filename(?) to boot, or all zeroes to invoke ROM
monitor.
0x50 High resolution number of columns
0x51 High resolution number of rows
0x58 Serial port A default baud rate
0x00 9600 baud
0x12 use rate stored at 0x59-0x5A
0x59-0x5A Serial port A baud rate
The baud rate as a 16-bit number, MSB first (e.g. 0x04 0xB0
for 1200, 0x12 0xC0 for 4800, 0x25 0x80 for 9600).
0x5B Serial port A DTR/RTS
0x00 assert DTR and RTS signals
0x12 do not assert DTR and RTS signals
0x60 Serial port B default baud rate
0x00 9600 baud
0x12 use rate stored at 0x61-0x62
Note that when the NORM/DIAG switch is in the DIAG position,
port B runs at 1200 baud and the settings of locations
0x60-0x62 are ignored.
0x61-0x62 Serial port B baud rate
The baud rate as a 16-bit number, MSB first (e.g. 0x04 0xB0
for 1200, 0x12 0xC0 for 4800, 0x25 0x80 for 9600).
0x63 Serial port B DTR/RTS
0x00 assert DTR and RTS signals
0x12 do not assert DTR and RTS signals
0x68-0xB7 Custom banner
ASCII codes for desired banner, padded with spaces and ending
with 0x0D, 0x0A in locations 0xB6 and 0xB7
0x111 Sun386i CPU revision level
0x01 P1.5 CPU (should not be in the field)
0x02 501-1241/1324-xx
0x03 501-1413/1414-xx
0x112 Sun386i CPU revision level
0x00 P1.5 CPU (should not be in the field) ([0x111] = 0x01)
0x00 <= 501-1241-02 Rev 15 ([0x111] = 0x02)
<= 501-1324-02 Rev 15
0x02 >= 501-1241-02 Rev 16 ([0x111] = 0x02)
>= 501-1324-02 Rev 16
0x00 501-1413/1414-xx ([0x111] = 0x03)
0x154 Sun386i SCSI spin-up delay (boot ROM >= 4.5 only)
0x00 no delay (default)
0xnn delay nn seconds
0x162 Sun386i password mode select (boot ROM >= 4.5 only)
0x01 command secure mode
0x5E fully secure mode
other non-secure mode
0x163-0x16A Sun386i password
Eight bytes of password in ASCII.
0x18F Logo type
0x00 normal Sun logo
0x06 3D logo for cgsix framebuffers
0x12 custom logo
0x492 Sun386i power-on mode
0x02 bypass mode
0x06 diagnostic boot
0x07 normal boot
Sun-3 and Sun-4 password mode select (boot ROM >= 2.7.1 only)
0x01 command secure mode
0x5E fully secure mode
other non-secure mode
0x493-0x49A Sun-3 and Sun-4 password (boot ROM >= 2.7.1 only)
Eight bytes of password in ASCII. If the ROM is 2.8, enter a
'@' character before each letter of the password. Enter one
letter per location, followed by . If the password is
less than eight letters, enter 0x00 in the remaining
locations. The hexadecimal values of the letters can also be
used to enter the password.
0x494 Sun386i autoconfig message flag
0x00 no messages
0x01 Sun-3 (UNIX expert type messages)
0x02 verbose messages
0x60C-0x60F VX and MVX options boot code
0x31 0x40 0x00 0x00 use the VX/MVX as the system console
0x610-0x61e VX and MVX options bus type
0xFC 0x00 0x00 0x00 use the VX/MVX as the system console
0x70B 3/80 power-on mode (boot ROM >= 2.3 only)
0x06 normal boot
0x12 diagnostic mode
other full diagnostic boot
HOSTID and IDPROM/NVRAM
-----------------------
For more information, check out the files listed in Q&A #3-4, but
here is a fast list of HOSTIDs and chip locations.
The IDPROM or NVRAM contains a variety of important information,
including a machine-type code and the machine serial number. Note that
because of the machine-type code, IDPROMs and NVRAMs can only be swapped
between machines with the same CPU board type. (For example, swapping
between a 3/75 and a 3/180 should work because they both use the
"Carrera" 3004 CPU, but it wouldn't work in a 3/60, which uses a
different CPU.)
On Sun-3's, 386i's, and early Sun-4's, the IDPROM has a printed label
which indicates the machine type and the serial number as well.
system hostid label type P/N location
------ ------ ----- ---- --- --------
3/60 1700xxxx 0 xxxx IDPROM 520-1559 U224
3/50 1200xxxx 4 xxxx IDPROM 520-1295 U0204
3/80 4200xxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1031 U0205
3/110 1400xxxx 6 xxxx IDPROM 520-1412 U1409
3004 (3/75/ 1100xxxx 3 xxxx IDPROM 520-1221 U1409
140/150/
160/180)
3/2xx 1300xxxx 5 xxxx IDPROM 520-1322 U1907
3/4xx 4100xxxx D xxxx IDPROM 525-1083 U1701
3/E 1800xxxx 9 xxxx IDPROM 520-8049 U224
386i 31xxxxxx xxxx IDPROM 520-1811 U601
- - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 100-1628 U603
4/10 80xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 525-1343 U0707
4/15 80xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 525-1203 U0707
4/20 54xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 520-2749 U1011
4/25 56xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1188 U0813
4/30 80xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 525-1203 U0707
4/40 52xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1084 U0901
4/50 57xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1180 U0512
4/60 51xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1032 U089
4/65 53xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1109 U098
4/75 55xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 525-1112 U0512
4/1xx 2200xxxx B xxxx IDPROM 520-1638 U805
4/2xx 2100xxxx A xxxx IDPROM 520-1532 U1901
4/3xx 23xxxxxx C xxxx IDPROM 523-2136 U2202
NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 100-1628 U2200
4/4xx 24xxxxxx - IDPROM 525-1100 U1404
NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 100-1628 U3505
4/6xx 71xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 525-1181 U2701
4/E 61xxxxxx - NVRAM 2Kx8 CMOS 523-8151 U1101
SS10 72xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 525-1184 U1004
SServ1000 80xxxxxx - EEPROM 2Kx8 100-2922 U0209
80xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 100-3528 U1007
SCtr2000 80xxxxxx - EEPROM 2Kx8 100-2922 U0203
80xxxxxx - NVRAM 8Kx8 CMOS 100-2822 U1205
Note that many of the later models (4/10/15/30, SPARCserver 1000,
SPARCcenter 2000) use the same machine-type code.
Note that the EEPROM for the SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 is
soldered to the "Control Board".
Using a Terminal as Console
---------------------------
Every Sun model has the ability to use a serial terminal as a
console, instead of a Sun framebuffer and keyboard. In general, machines
which have a removeable framebuffer (on a separate board rather than
built into the CPU board/motherboard) require that the framebuffer be
removed; the ROM monitor notes the absence of a framebuffer and sends
output to the first serial port on the CPU board (usually labelled
serial port A and known to the operation system as /dev/ttya), and the
OS does the same when booted. Machines which do not have a removeable
framebuffer may switch to terminal mode when the keyboard is not
connected, or may require that the console designator in the EEPROM be
changed. For the latter, those which have NORM/DIAG switches can be
temporarily forced to use a terminal by powering up with the switch in
the DIAG position. From there, you can break out of the diagnostics and
use the ROM monitor command line to change the console designator in the
EEPROM.
The Sun 2/120 and 2/170 have an unusual configuration: the keyboard
and mouse connect to the framebuffer board rather than the CPU. If the
framebuffer board is removed, all input and output goes to ttya, as
might be expected. If a framebuffer is present but no keyboard is
connected, output goes to the framebuffer, but input comes from ttya.
Terminals should be set for 9600 bps, 8 data bits, one stop bit, and
no parity. The Sun 3/260 and 3/280 support the usual connection on ttya,
but can also support a console terminal at 1200 bps on the second serial
port on the CPU board, ttyb.
The equivalent of L1-A (halt machine, drop to ROM monitor) from a
terminal console is BREAK. Unfortunately, turning off the terminal or
disconnecting it is usually interpreted as a BREAK and halts the
machine. Thus, it is not easily possible to turn off the terminal when
the console is not in use, or to use one terminal with many machines via
a switchbox. Suggested solutions include a special cable (on a 4/2xx
CPU, a 4.7K resistor between pins 3 and 25 may work) or modifying the
SunOS serial driver (zs) to ignore breaks.
Memory Display On Startup
-------------------------
One of the points which causes much confusion is the startup display
of how much memory is installed versus how much is being tested.
As with most subjects, little is known about what the Sun-1's
displayed, except the 100U which used a Sun-2 CPU.
The Sun 2/120, 2/170, and probably all other Sun-2 models simply
display the amount of memory installed. If the ROM monitor sees the
memory, SunOS should see it as well, and if the ROM monitor does not see
it, SunOS is most unlikely to see it either. All memory is tested, but
there are no displays to that effect unless an error is found. (Note
that installing memory boards set to overlapping address ranges causes
errors.)
With the Sun-3's, the ability to set how much memory would be tested
on startup was added; it is stored in the EEPROM along with a variety of
other settings. The total amount of memory installed is displayed, on
one of the first lines printed (in the same area as ROM revision, serial
number, etc.), but the line stating how much memory is being tested is
much more conspicuous. The amount of memory tested is not automatically
increased when more memory is installed, which frequently leads to dismay
by the installer when the machine apparently does not recognize the
memory just installed. Sun-4's behave the same way.
SunOS does not care how much memory was tested. It will use however
much is installed. As with the Sun-2's, if the ROM monitor sees the
memory, SunOS should see it as well, and if the ROM monitor does not see
it, SunOS is most unlikely to see it either.
Miscellaneous Questions and Answers
-----------------------------------
1) I can't get anything out of the onboard SX video port on my
SPARCstation 20.
2) Why doesn't my old SBus card fit the slot in my newer machine, or
vice versa?
3) My IDPROM/NVRAM just died. What can I do?
4) Where can I get information about the IDPROM/NVRAM?
5) Why doesn't my new monochrome monitor work with older monochrome
framebuffers (especially the GX), or vice versa?
5a) My machine won't boot with the monochrome monitor connected. What?
6) There is a battery on my VME SCSI host adapter board. What's it for?
7) Can I run my old, slow SCSI drives on a new machine with fast SCSI?
8) Can I use a type-4 keyboard on a Sun-3 that normally takes a type-3
keyboard?
9) I have a VME-based CPU but not the matching chassis. Can I put it in
some other Sun VME chassis?
10) What's the situation with the 4/6xx and Solaris 1.x/2.x?
10a)Compatiblity chart for SPARCstation 10 Mbus modules and Solaris.
11) Can I use a non-Sun CD-ROM drive? Will I be able to boot from it?
12) Can I use a Sun CD-ROM drive on some other computer?
13) What's the maximum DVMA burst size for various SBus machines?
14) I occasionally get strange SCSI errors and other disk flakiness with
the internal drives on my 3/80.
15) Can I put 4M SIMMs in my 3/80?
16) Can I put two 36MHz Mbus modules in my SPARCstation 10/30?
16a)What are the limitations on mixing Mbus modules in a single machine?
17) My Sun doesn't like 3-chip SIMMs.
18) My SPARCstation 1+ says "The SCSI bus is hung. Perhaps an external
device is turned off." when I try to boot, or it locks up completely
after displaying the banner. What do I do?
19) My SPARCstation IPC chokes with "panic: mmp_getpmg" when booting.
What do I do?
20) I have some old SMD drives and controllers and/or a 9-track tape
drive. Can I still use them with newer machines and OS versions?
21) My Sun-3 won't boot from a SCSI disk, but when I hook the disk up
to another machine or boot from another disk, it works fine. What?
21a)My Sun-4 won't boot from a SCSI disk, but...
22) I'm getting "timeout" and "disk not responding to selection" errors
with a brand-new SCSI disk.
23) I have a SunOS CD-ROM with sun3 and/or sun3x versions of the OS on
it. Can I boot my Sun-3 from this CD-ROM?
24) I have a SunPC Accelerator card with an Intel 486DX on it. Can I use
one of the DX2/DX4 replacement chips?
25) Can I set the stock serial ports to rates higher than 38400?
26) Can I get an ergonomic keyboard for my Sun? A trackball?
27) What's this 80-pin SCSI connector?
28) My SPARCstation 10 says "Data Access Error" and chokes when
cold-booting, but typing "boot" at the ROM monitor prompt works.
What?
29) Why can't I get my Fast Ethernet SBus card from Sun to work?
30) I have a disk for which there is no entry in format.dat. Does
anybody have an entry I can use?
31) I just added some SIMMs, and now I'm getting odd DMA errors and/or
Ethernet problems. What?
32) Should internal SCSI drives be terminated?
1) I can't get anything out of the onboard SX video port on my
SPARCstation 20.
To use the onboard SX video, you need a VSIMM. This is an
extra-long SIMM that sits in one of the two dual-ported memory
slots. If you do not have a VSIMM, the onboard SX video will not
work. If you did not buy the machine in an SX configuration, it
did not come with a VSIMM. You can order one separately to
enable the onboard SX video.
2) Why doesn't my old SBus card fit the slot in my newer machine, or
vice versa?
From Chuck Narad:
In SBus rev A, the cards were designed to snap into place in the
SS1 enclosure. Later, before the spec went big time (before the
IEEE standard), we decided to make SBus fit into other
environments such as VME card spacing (as was done on the
600MP). For reasons of card pitch and RFI compliance the
backplate needed to be shorter, since the originators of the
spec hadn't thought about how to do this; for SS1/SS2
compatibility the snap-in 'ears' needed to be maintained. We
ended up with a 2-piece backplate where the 'ears' were a
removable part, and the screw-holes could be used to mount the
card in systems that did not use the ears.
This decision took over a year and cost thousands of lives :-)
This two-piece backplate was finalized quite a while ago, and
made it into SBus rev B.0. Unfortunately many third-party
vendors continued to make older, rev-A backplates for a couple
years after the change was announced and broadcast in such
places as the SBus spec, the SBus bulletin, newsgroups, etc.
Also unfortunately, there was a significant number of old-style
cards shipped by Sun by that time; the hope was that few
customers actually moved cards from one system to another, and
the volumes of new cards swamped the volumes of old cards
quickly. The theory was that all bus standards go through a
'shake-down cruise' in their first incarnations, and repairs to
early decisions sometimes leave incompatibilities with older
parts (examples include VME, SCSI, Multibus... you get the
picture). SBus ended up being used in a much wider range of
machines than it was originally intended for.
Later, the mechanical team on the SS10 decided to take advantage
of the removable ears for various reasons, so in that enclosure
also the older cards won't fit.
Now the good news; as long as you don't care about minor RFI
leakeage, you can just cut off the ears on the old card with a
pair of diagonal cutters, and the card will fit into the slot
fine, you just can't use screws to secure it.
3) My IDPROM/NVRAM just died. What can I do?
4) Where can I get information about the IDPROM/NVRAM?
There is some information in the HOSTID and IDPROM/NVRAM section
above. For more, get eeprom-nvram.faq and nvram.faq from
ftp.netcom.com, in directory /pub/he/henderso.
5) Why doesn't my new monochrome monitor work with older monochrome
framebuffers (especially the GX), or vice versa?
5a) My machine won't boot with the monochrome monitor connected. What?
Older monochrome framebuffers and monitors used a 66Hz vertical
refresh rate. Newer units use a 76Hz vertical refresh rate. The
GX framebuffers straddle the two: the dual-slot version does not
support 76Hz vertical refresh, but the single-slot version does
(except possibly for very early versions). The most common
problem is that the machine won't boot with the monitor
connected, but boots and displays properly if the monitor is
connected about sixty seconds after power-up.
An additional gotcha is that older monochrome monitors (up
through about the SPARCstation 1) used a digital signal with ECL
levels and a DB9 connector. Since then, monochrome
configurations have usually been grayscale monitors connected to
a monochrome framebuffer with analog outputs and a 13W3
connector.
6) There is a battery on my VME SCSI host adapter board. What's it for?
It powers a time-of-day clock chip which is not used by Sun-3's.
Supposedly some of the VME-based Sun-2's did not have a realtime
clock.
7) Can I run my old, slow SCSI drives on a new machine with fast SCSI?
Yes. You may get a lot of SCSI errors. While the SCSI controller
is compatible with the older drives, the cables and termination
are frequently a problem. Cables should be short and of high
quality, and the termination active. Olders Sun external
enclosures don't have suitable cabling and termination.
8) Can I use a type-4 or type-5 keyboard on a Sun-3 that normally takes
a type-3 keyboard?
Yes. The cable/adapter is sold by Sun (P/N 530-1478 or
530-1479), Sun refurbisher Apex, and possibly others; Sun-3's
manufactured toward the end came new with type-4 keyboards and
the appropriate adapter.
9) I have a VME-based CPU but not the matching chassis. Can I put it in
some other Sun VME chassis?
In general, yes. CPU boards which have onboard memory can be put
in just about any chassis, including the 3/50 and 3/60 chassis,
which don't have a full set of VME connectors -- they only have
the power connector! CPU boards which require external memory
boards (such as the 3/2xx) obviously require a chassis with at
least two slots and a full set of VME connectors.
With some chassis, there may be problems with lacking voltages.
One individual reports that a 4/3xx CPU works in a 3/60 chassis,
except the lack of -12VDC means "we can't use a console on it."
It is also possible to make multiple CPUs share a VME chassis.
This is trickier. It requires isolating sections of the bus, and
being sure not to stomp on specialized slots used for memory or
SCSI boards.
Since 3/50 and 3/60 motherboards only use the VME bus for power
they can share a VME chassis with anything, in any slot.
10) What's the situation with the 4/6xx and Solaris 1.x/2.x?
From Greg Elkinbard:
SuperSPARC Rev 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 require patches:
Solaris 1.1 - 101508, 101509
Solaris 1.1.1_U1 - 101726, 101408
Solaris 2.3 - 101318, 101406
If you have Rev 3.5 or Rev 5.x then you should disable 101509,
101408, 101406
Rev 3.5 is compatible with Solaris 1.1, 1.1.1B, 2.3 do not use
it with 1.1.1A (4.1.3_U1)
Rev 5.x is compatible with Solaris 1.1, 1.1.1A, 1.1.1B, 2.3
Galaxy (4/6xx) compatible processors and rev:
SM41 - 501-2258, 501-2270, 501-2359 - Rev 2.x
SM51 - 501-2352, 501-2360, 501-2361, 501-2387 - rev 3.x
SM51 - 501-2607, 501-2562-01, 501-2562-02, - rev 3.5
SM51 - 501-2617, 501-2707 - rev 5.x
SM520 - 501-2444 - rev 3.x
SM521 - 501-2445 - rev 3.x
Field service manual states that minimum OS for SM520 and SM521
is 2.3, this leads me to believe that 1.x will not support
Viking MP reliably (i.e use it at your own risk)
From the FE manual:
module minimum Solaris(SunOS) version
------ ------------------------------
SM100 *1 or 2 1.0.1 (4.1.2)
SM41 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM41 *2 2.1 (5.1)
SM51 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM51 *2 2.1 (5.1)
SM52x *1 or 2 2.3 (5.3)
Boot PROM 2.8v2 or greater is required for SM41.
Boot PROM 2.10 or greater is required for SM51.
10a)Compatiblity chart for SPARCstation 10 Mbus modules and Solaris.
module minimum Solaris(SunOS) version
------ ------------------------------
SM20 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM30 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM40 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM40 *2 2.2 (5.2)
SM41 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM41 *2 2.1 (5.1)
SM51 *1 1.1 (4.1.3)
SM51 *2 2.1 (5.1)
SM52x *1 or 2 2.3 (5.3)
11) Can I use a non-Sun CD-ROM drive? Will I be able to boot from it?
12) Can I use a Sun CD-ROM drive on some other computer?
The "CD-ROMs on Sun Hardware FAQ" was maintained by Kyle Downey.
You should still be able to get it from
ftp://student_96kfd.williams.edu/pub/faq/sun-info/sun-cd-faq. In
general, the answer is "maybe, and possibly only after modifying
the drive or the kernel."
13) What's the maximum DVMA burst size for various SBus machines?
This is a very complicated question. The SBus controller is
probably capable of handling any burst size; the limiting factor is
usually the slave interface to main memory. The SPARCstation 2
and microSPARC-based machines were supposedly limited to 16-byte
bursts (one individual reports that, using an SBus card with
programmable burst sizes, he was able to successfully use
64-byte bursts to main memory). MicroSPARC II-based machines and
Mbus machines supposedly could do 32-byte bursts, and the
SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 supposedly can do full
64-byte bursts. The SPARCstation 20 models with 64-bit SBuses
can do 128-byte bursts, although there are not many 64-bit SBus
cards to take advantage of it yet.
14) I occasionally get strange SCSI errors and other disk flakiness with
the internal drives on my 3/80.
The SCSI bus is routed internally to three locations (two disk
connectors and the external connector), which sometimes causes
problems. According to one report, a Sun "in-line" SCSI
terminator on one of the internal disk connectors will solve the
problem.
15) Can I put 4M SIMMs in my 3/80?
If you have version 3.0.2 or better of the boot ROMs, yes. The
version is displayed in the startup messages immediately after
powering the machine on. You can install up to 40M of memory by
putting 4M 80ns SIMMs in banks 0 and 1 or 2 (sorry, not clear
which it should be), and filling the remaining two banks with 1M
80ns SIMMs.
Note that ROM version 3.0.2 has known problems with booting from
QIC-150 tape drives.
16) Can I put two 36MHz Mbus modules in my SPARCstation 10/30?
16a)What are the limitations on mixing Mbus modules in a single machine?
From John DiMarco:
There is no intrinsic technical reason why a 36MHz Mbus can't
support two modules. While it is true that you cannot normally
configure a system to support two M30 modules, the reason for
this is that early revisions of the SuperSPARC processor
contained bugs that prevented MP configurations from working
properly without the 1M external cache. Most if not all M20
(33MHz) and M30 (36MHz) modules, and many M40 (40MHz) modules
had this problem.
In general, if you want to mix and match modules (which is
unsupported but probably works for a number of configurations),
you'll need to make sure that the interface speeds of all
modules are matched.
The modules without SuperCACHE run at the Mbus speed (or the
Mbus runs at their speed?), so modules without SuperCACHE cannot
be mixed. Nor can they be mixed with modules with SuperCACHE.
Modules with SuperCACHE can be mixed, but this may not be
advisable. The 41 and 51 modules both require a 40MHz Mbus (SS10
or SS20 switched to slow board speed), but the 61 can use a
50MHz Mbus as well. Mixing a 61 with slower modules may slow
down the 61 as well.
Another consideration is that slower modules are usually older
SuperSPARC steppings that may require more drastic workarounds
and hence slow down newer, faster processors -- assuming it
works at all.
17) My Sun doesn't like 3-chip SIMMs.
From John O'Connor:
3-chip SIMMs have two 4Mbit chips (organised as 1M * 4bits) plus
one 1Mbit chip as opposed to the nine 1Mbit chips on the 9-chip
SIMMS. The difference arises from the fact that the 4Mbit chips
require more addresses to be read in the refresh cycles, so you
get unreliable operation of 3-chip SIMMs in systems that don't
provide enough refresh cycles.
18) My SPARCstation 1/1+ says "The SCSI bus is hung. Perhaps an external
device is turned off." when I try to boot, or it locks up completely
after displaying the banner. What do I do?
Check the SCSI termination fuse, located on the motherboard near
the external SCSI connector. The fuse looks like a small
cylinder that is usually clear or totally black with a black top
and white writing. It is in a socket and is easy to remove. If
adding an external device that powers its own terminator makes
the machine work, the problem is definitely the termination
fuse.
It may also be necessary to change the settings on the disk
drive, to spin up on command only and not by default. Also, the
FE manual notes that for SPARCstation 1's with motherboards
501-1382-10 or lower, or 501-1629-10 or lower, one should power
on the system before turning on external disk drives.
19) My SPARCstation IPC chokes with "panic: mmp_getpmg" when booting.
What do I do?
This may have to do with mixed 1M and 4M SIMMs. Make sure the 4M
SIMMs are in the first memory bank. This problem was supposed to
be solved after SunOS 4.1.1.
Alain Brossard reports that a few very old IPC's experience the
this failure when booting over the network, and the following
incantation at the ROM monitor prompt fixed the problem:
ok 7f fff0.0000 smap!
ok boot net
20) I have some old SMD drives and controllers and/or a 9-track tape
drive. Can I still use them with newer machines and OS versions?
SMD support is limited to VME-based machines, of which the 4/6xx
is the most recent. Stock SunOS and Solaris support these
devices on the sun4 architecture (all VME-based sun-4's except
the 4/6xx) but not on the sun4m architecture (the 4/6xx). It is
available for the 4/6xx as a special package, however.
21) My Sun-3 won't boot from a SCSI disk, but when I hook the disk up
to another machine or boot from another disk, it works fine. What?
21a)My Sun-4 won't boot from a SCSI disk, but...
SunOS can use SCSI disks with SCSI parity turned on, but in
general Sun-3's can't boot from them, although there are reports
that certain model/boot ROM versions can (3/60 with > 2.9).
Sun-4's apparently can boot from disks with parity turned on.
Check the jumpers on the drive or the SCSI converter card
(Emulex MD-21, Adaptec ACB4000, etc.).
For a Sun-4, the problem may also be that the drive is
initiating synchronous negotiation. The boot ROMs can't cope
with this; they expect the kernel to initiate synchronous
negotiation after booting. Check the jumpers on the drive.
22) I'm getting "timeout" and "disk not responding to selection" errors
with a brand-new SCSI disk.
Check the temperature in the disk enclosure! Many newer SCSI
drives (especially Seagate, apparently) have the ability to spin
down and otherwise quiesce when the drive gets too hot. When the
drive it accessed, it will spin up again, but this takes some
time and the Sun usually complains before the disk can respond.
23) I have a SunOS CD-ROM with sun3 and/or sun3x versions of the OS on
it. Can I boot my Sun-3 from this CD-ROM?
Supposedly ROM versions 3.0.1 and above can boot from a CD-ROM.
Make sure that you're trying to boot from the correct partition
(these CD-ROMs usually have bootable partitions for a variety of
architectures). Try booting from "sd(0,30,x)" where 'x' is a
partition number.
24) I have a SunPC Accelerator card with an Intel 486DX on it. Can I use
one of the DX2/DX4 replacement chips?
Only 5V chips can be used. The SBus provides sufficient power,
but cooling may be a problem. Adding a heat sink and microfan to
the new chip will probably solve that problem, but may interfere
with the next SBus slot.
25) Can I set the stock serial ports to rates higher than 38400?
Yes, but you have to hack the kernel in order to do it.
Furthermore, the standard ZS hardware is not capable of
supporting the normal bit rates (57600 and 115200) unless you
can supply an external clock and run them in synchronous mode.
The only higher internally-generated rates are 51200 (pretty
useless) and 76800, which a few modems can be set to handle.
Also, the 76800 rate will result in frequent overruns unless it
is being used for pure output, such as to a printer.
26) Can I get an ergonomic keyboard for my Sun? A trackball?
Ren Tescher (ren@rap.ucar.EDU) maintains an unofficial trackball
FAQ. See also the "Alternatives" sections under KEYBOARDS and
MICE in this reference. And check:
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/grad/dwallach/tifaq/keyboards.html
27) What's this 80-pin SCSI connector?
It is an SCA connector, as defined by the Small Form Factor
Committee, which provides a wide single-ended SCSI connection
and power (+12V, +5V). The standard number is SFF8015 23A.
28) My SPARCstation 10 says "Data Access Error" and chokes when
cold-booting, but typing "boot" at the ROM monitor prompt works.
What?
Paul J. Grillo reports that this usually means that the boot ROM
can't find the boot block on the disk, possibly because there
has not been enough time for the disk to spin up yet (and by the
time the user does a manual boot, the disk is up and running, so
the machine boots normally).
29) Why can't I get my Fast Ethernet SBus card from Sun to work?
With SunOS 4.1.3 or higher, the boot ROM revision must be 2.3 or
higher, the network must not use trailers, the card cannot be in
an SBus expansion chassis, and it is only supported in
sun4m-architecture machines.
These cards are also supported by Solaris 2.3 Hardware 5/94 and
later Solaris revisions. The same restrictions apply, but
support has been added for the SPARCstation 2, IPX, SPARCserver
1000, and SPARCcenter 2000.
30) I have a disk for which there is no entry in format.dat. Does
anybody have an entry I can use?
There is an extended format.dat available at:
ftp://ftp.cdf.toronto.edu/pub/sun-managers/format.dat.
31) I just added some SIMMs, and now I'm getting odd DMA errors and/or
Ethernet problems. What?
Evidently there are some SIMMs out there now which do not
actually store parity bits, but rather calculate them on the
fly. It is, I guess, cheaper, but obviously not much use for
error detection, and causes major problems for systems which use
those extra bits for things other than parity, as apparently
some Sun systems do. The problem arises when these
"logic-parity" SIMMs are sold as ordinary parity SIMMs...
From Vaughan Pratt:
I had bought 1x36's from NCA before that worked fine in a batch
of 7 SLCs [...] Satisfied that NCA's SIMMs worked in SLCs, I
bought some more. The second batch of 1x36's caused occasional
DMA and ethernet problems, which were hard to diagnose. A disk
had previously been giving trouble, and I wasted a lot of time
thinking that the disk was the problem before getting suspicious
about an ethernet slowdown and finally tracking the problem down
to the RAM.
The attitude at NCA Palo Alto was that the two chip types were
both 1x36 and were interchangeable. They seem completely
oblivious to the fact that one type is only 1x32 plus faked or
logic parity.
32) Should internal SCSI drives be terminated?
It depends. For older systems (Sun-2's and Sun-3's except the
3/80, non-desktop SPARCs), the only difference between internal
drives and external drives is which way the cables go. They
should be terminated as normal for SCSI.
For the 3/80 and desktop SPARCs (SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2, 4, 5,
10, 20, IPC, IPX, etc.), there is some confusion. In some cases,
SCSI terminating resistors are present on the motherboard
itself, and internal drives are regarded as being close enough
to that terminator not to need their own terminators. In other
cases, there may be a terminating feedthrough connector in-line
with a drive. Or none of the above may be present.
Facts in Search of a Home
-------------------------
+ Sun 3/50's and 3/60's often used the Matsushita ETX-593C101M power
supply, capable of supplying 100W (15A @ 5V, 2A @ -5V, and 1.3A @
12V). The 3/75 had a 150W power supply. See pinouts below.
+ The Sun 2/50 power supply is rated at 22A @ 5V, 1.5A @ 12V, and 0.5A @
-12V.
+ Mbus modules for the SPARCstation 10/514 (two 50MHz CPUs and
corresponding 1M caches) are physically so large that they each cover
two SBus slots. The SBus slots are not actually used, just
inaccessible.
+ The Adaptec 5500 card was "similar in function to the 4000", which was
a SCSI-MFM converter used for disks, mostly in Sun-2's. It had a
number of jumpers:
A-B hard reset
SCSI bus reset initiates hard reset of card when jumped.
C-D reserved
E-F hard-sectored drive on LUN0
G-H hard-sectored drive on LUN1
J-K reserved
DIAG diagnostics
Continuously repeat selftest when jumped.
Par SCSI parity
Enable SCSI bus parity checking when jumped. Parity is always
generated.
A4 SCSI ID MSB
A2 SCSI ID
A1 SCSI ID LSB
+ The Sun HSI/S interface board (501-1725) has four high-speed
synchronous serial ports with an aggregate bandwidth of 4-5Mbits per
second. If only two ports are used, full T1 speeds can be used on
both. SunExpress says it supports X.25, SNA, Frame Relay, PPP, T1, and
CEPT.
+ The Adaptec ACB4000 MFM-SCSI adapter board and the Emulex MD21
ESDI-SCSI adapter board may not coexist well on the same SCSI bus. One
individual reports getting SCSI disconnect errors from the MD21 when
attempting to run both on the SCSI bus of a 3/60 running SunOS 3.5.
+ The last version of the boot ROM for the 3/60 was 3.0.1. It supports
cg6 color framebuffers, and is supposed to support cg8 color
framebuffers as well.
Miscellaneous Pinouts
---------------------
+ DB9 serial ports on 3/80, 4/3xx, others?
1 DCD 4 DTR 7 RTS
2 RxD 5 GND 8 CTS
3 TxD 6 DSR 9 unused
+ parallel port on 3/80
1 STBN 9 D7 17 SLCN
2 D0 (data 0) 10 ACK 18 GND
3 D1 11 BUSY 19 GND
4 D2 12 PAPE 20 GND
5 D3 13 SLCT 21 GND
6 D4 14 AFXN 22 GND
7 D5 15 ERRN 23 GND
8 D6 16 ININ 24 GND
25 GND
+ DIN-8 serial port on SPARCstation IPC, others?
-------
/ === \
/ \
/ 6 7 8 \
| |
| 3 4 5 |
\ /
\ 1 2 /
\_______/
1 DTR 4 GND 7 DCD
2 CTS 5 RxD 8 RxC (receive clock)
3 TxD 6 RTS
+ DIN-8 audio port on SPARCstation IPX, others?
-------
/ === \
/ \
/ 6 7 8 \
| |
| 3 4 5 |
\ /
\ 1 2 /
\_______/
1 not connected 4 not connected 7 GND
2 not connected 5 not connected 8 audio out
3 audio in - 6 audio in +
+ DB25 A/B serial ports on SPARCstation SLC, ELC, others?
1 unused 9 unused 17 A-RxC (receive clock)
2 A-TxD 10 unused 18 unused
3 A-RxD 11 unused 19 B-RTS
4 A-RTS 12 B-DCD 20 A-DTR
5 A-CTS 13 B-CTS 21 unused
6 A-DSR 14 B-TxD 22 unused
7 A&B-GND 15 A-TxC in (?) 23 unused
8 A-DCD 16 B-RxD 24 A-TxC out (transmit clock out)
25 unused
Note that only port A has full modem control.
+ DB25 A/B serial ports on SPARCstation LX, SPARCclassic, and
SPARCstation 10, others?
As for the SLC/ELC, but with additional signals for the B port:
11 B-DTR 18 B-TxC in 25 B-TxC out
+ 50-pin motherboard card-edge test connector on sun4c's
1 eject 18 direction 35 unused
2 unused 19 GND 36 VCC (+5V)
3 GND 20 step 37 ledout-
4 unused 21 GND 38 VCC (+5V)
5 GND 22 wrdata 39 unused
6 unused 23 GND 40 VCC (+5V)
7 GND 24 wrgate 41 por-
8 index 25 GND 42 VCC (+5V)
9 GND 26 trk00 43 VDD (+12V)
10 ds0 27 GND 44 VCC (+5V)
11 GND 28 wrprot 45 VBB (-12V)
12 unused 29 GND 46 VCC (+5V)
13 GND 30 rddata 47 unused
14 unused 31 GND 48 VCC (+5V)
15 GND 32 hdsel 49 VCC (+5V)
16 motor_on 33 GND 50 VCC (+5V)
17 GND 34 unused
Pins 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, and 48-50 (VCC, +5V) are the same as
pins 1, 2, 7, and 8 on the power connector.
Pin 37 (ledout-) is the same as pin 2 on the speaker connector.
Pin 41 (por-) is Power-On Reset, like the Power Good signal on PC
power supplies, and the same as pin 6 on the power connector.
Pin 43 (VDD, +12V) is the same as pins 5 and 11 on the power
connector.
Pin 45 (VBB, -12V) is the same as pin 12 on the power connector.
+ Power supply connector on (PS?) chassis for 3/50, 3/60, 3/75
1 -5V white 7 GND black
2 Pwr OK brown 8 GND black
3 +12V blue 9 +5V red
4 GND black 10 +5V red
5 GND black 11 +5V red
6 GND black 12 +5V red
SIMM Compatibility Chart
------------------------
These charts mostly come from the 12/15/93 Field Engineer manual. An
'x' means that the indicated SIMM was available from Sun installed or as an
option for the machine shown. An 's' means that the SIMM was tested and
supported by Sun in the machine shown.
The 'B' column is bits, 'P' is pins, and 'S' is speed, in
nanoseconds. Part numbers marked with '*' mean that that SIMM is also
present in other model tables.
SIZE B P S P/N MACHINES
---- -- -- --- -------- -----------------------------------------
Sun-3 and Sun 386i:
3/60 3/60LE 3/80 386i/150 386i/250
256K 501-1349 x
1M 9 30 100 501-1239 x
1M 501-1346 x
1M 501-1375 x
1M 9 30 100 501-1408* x
1M 501-1424 x x
1M 501-1510 x
Sun-4 (sun4 and sun4c architectures)
SLC ELC IPC IPX 1 1+ 2
4/20 4/25 4/40 4/50 4/60 4/65 4/75 4/1xx 4/3xx
256K 9 30 501-1314 x
1M 9 30 100 501-1408* x x x
1M 9 30 501-1466* x s
1M 9 30 501-1544 x
1M 9 30 501-1565* x
1M 9 30 80 501-1697 x x x
4M 9 30 80 501-1625 x x x
4M 33 72 501-1676 x
4M 9 30 501-1682* x!
4M 33 72 501-1698 x s
4M 9 30 80 501-1739* x x x x x
4M 33 72 501-1812 x x
16M 33 72 501-1822 x x
16M 33 72 501-1915 x
! 4M SIMMs are not supported on the 4/330 CPU.
Sun-4 (sun4m architecture)
clsX classic LX/ZX
4/10 4/15 4/30 SS10 4/6xx
1M 9 30 501-1466* s!
1M 9 30 501-1565* s!
1M 60 501-2289 x
2M 60 501-2433 x
4M 9 30 501-1682* s!
4M 9 30 80 501-1739* x
4M 60 501-1991 x x x
4M 9 30 501-2460 x
16M 70 501-1785 x
16M 60 501-2059 x x x
16M 9 30 80 501-2060 x
16M 70 501-2273 x
64M 70 501-1930 x
! Only supported on 4/6xx expansion memory boards, not on the
4/6xx CPU.
Sun-4 (sun4d architecture)
SPARCserver 1000 SPARCcenter 2000
8M 70 501-1817 x x
32M 70 501-2196 x x
Additional notes:
+ SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2, and IPC
1M x 9 30-pin 9-chip IBM-compatible SIMMs. 100ns or faster for the 1,
1+, and IPC; 80ns or faster for the 2. The 2 and IPC can also take 4M
SIMMs.
+ SPARCstation 10, 20
SS10: 16M or 64M 70ns SIMMs. Can also use SIMMs of appropriate sizes
from SS20.
SS20: 16M, 32M, or 64M 60ns SIMMs. The 16M and 64M SIMMs can also be
used in SS10s, but not the 32M SIMMs.
+ SPARCstation 5
8M or 32M SIMMs.
END OF PART II OF THE SUN HARDWARE REFERENCE