[OpenIndiana-discuss] Offtopic question to old SPARC users

[Reginald Beardsley]

FWIW If it is the NVRAM, it's probably not a big problem if you can get the replacement part.  I went through this mid 90's w/o any problems. Don't actually recall what the system was as I had several then, but the 4/110 seems a likely candidate.  I'm pretty sure I was at the "won't boot" stage when I discovered the problem.  

On the other hand, I think the cost of electricity is a pretty compelling argument for system replacement.


--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 11/22/13, James Carlson <carlsonj at workingcode.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [OpenIndiana-discuss] Offtopic question to old SPARC users
 To: openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org
 Date: Friday, November 22, 2013, 6:46 PM
 
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 On 11/22/2013 5:45 PM, Jim Klimov wrote:
 > My hunch would be a dead battery on CMOS, or whatever
 the analog of
 > one would be. Any ideas where it might be located, and
 what model 
 > it is (like CR2032 on Intel-compatibles)? Any more
 ideas?
 
 Ouch.  If it is the NVRAM/clock battery that's going
 bad, you'll soon
 have a brick on your hands.  It won't be long until it
 starts saying
 "the IDPROM contents are invalid" and refuses to boot at
 all.
 
 I would use the remaining time to plan a transition.  I
 know it's not
 what you want to hear.  But there are ETL companies out
 there who
 specialize in understanding old databases and transitioning
 the
 workload onto modern, faster, cheaper, better machines.
 
 Barring that, here's the FAQ about those old NVRAM devices:
 
 http://www.squirrel.com/squirrel/sun-nvram-hostid.faq
 
 I'd suggest trying www.mouser.com, www.jameco.com, or
 www.digikey.com.
 
 Unless you're operating a hardware museum, there's probably
 not a lot
 of call to keep a 16 year old system consuming 1.664KW of
 power.  It's
 time to put the old girl down.  :-/
 
 - -- 
 James Carlson         42.703N
 71.076W         <carlsonj at workingcode.com>
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