Sun Enterprise 3500 Won't Boot!

[MikeY2K]

I received an Enterprise 3500 (call it a "gift" from another department). When I apply power, three main problems: 1) CDROM inop and light flashes at a fast rate with no disk inside even when signal cable not attached(have to open with paperclip). 2) Cannot get a terminal to work...apparently has a graphics card because there is a Sun monitor plug in back. When I use an adapter to connect regular monitor OR use serial port to go to a terminal, nothing. 3) LED's indicate that system is hung either in the POST/OBP or the OS. I have tried the reset keys on the clock+ board...still nothing.

Should I have someone drop the server on my head???

Thanks for any help.

 

[Apricot]

Hi

Can you check the following:

CPU/Memory+ boards have three LEDs indicating the status of that board, can you give me the status?


example:

POWER-LED: off (or On)
SERVICE-LED: off (or On or Flash)
RUNNING-LED: off (or On or Flash)

regards ph

 

[Apricot]

And I/O Boards, too

 

[MikeY2K]

OK Sorry...maybe wasn't clear on my initial post. LED's, both front panel and back (Clock+, I/O and Memory+) ALL show pattern Power On-Service Off-Running Off which, according to the manual indicates system is hung in POST or OBP. Power Supply/Fan LED's show normal status.

I'd re-load the OS, but can't seem to get the CD-ROM drive to work or a screen to work either (see first post). Should I plug in a Sun monitor to get an output, or will that not do me any good because the system is hung so badly?

Thanks for the help.

 

[hemperor]

Not sure if anyone answered your post yet, but hope this could help.

POSSIBILITIES:

1. If you're using a REGULAR MONITOR and not a SUN monitor, then your regular monitor may not have the right hertz for the particular video adapter in the UE3500. Try using a Sony Trinitron monitor.

2. If you're using a Sun's monitor and it still hangs, then it is possible that your OBP is corrupted and you have to order a new OBP prom chip from Sun to fix the problem.

3. If your're connecting with serial terminal (hopefully Wyse terminal), then you can not have the keyboard plugged in. Try using a HyperTerminal serial com port from a Windoze box to UE3500, but don't plug in the keyboard.


If you exercised 1 & 3 above, then it is reasonable to deduce that your OBP prompt is corrupted, since you can not even get to P.O.S.T. Regardless of what you have to do next on the system, you have to get to the OBP.

Lastly, don't drop it on your head. Drop it on those Windoze peepz.

 

[MikeY2K]

After much work, the problems was...are you ready...bad CPU! Yup. This server has 2 CPU's (0 and 1) and CPU 1 failed. Once I pulled it off the main board, the server came up just fine. We replaced it with a Sun remanufactured CPU for $2100 and all is well. I appreciate everyone's responses, you are all very helpful.

I have a follow-up question: The server has four hard drives. When I re-install Solaris 8, will it format all of the hard drives, or just one, and if only one, does anyone have any recommendations as to what the best way to format and partition things out with the remaining 3 drives?