O2 constantly ejects cdrom

[glennklockwood]

Hello

I have an SGI O2 that has a problem where it constantly wants to eject
the cdrom. This makes it very difficult to install IRIX, seeing as
how it won't keep the CD tray in for more than a few seconds.

I initially thought it might be a defective CD drive with perhaps
something jammed in it, so I replaced it with another drive which
definitely worked in the server from which it was pulled.
Unfortunately, I had the same problem with the second drive...it just
indignantly spits out the cd tray regardless of if there's a cd in or
not.

I googled around and can't find anything like this. Does anyone have
any ideas as to what the problem might be and how I can solve it? I
do not really have the resources to do a network install of IRIX to
get this O2 up and running, and I don't want to have to go out and buy
an external SCSI cdrom drive.

Thanks much.

Glenn K. Lockwood

[Atro Tossavainen]

Post by glennklockwood
I have an SGI O2 that has a problem where it constantly wants to eject
the cdrom. This makes it very difficult to install IRIX,

Set up a network installation server. Saves you from having to switch
CDs every so often. It's a drag to have to do that anyway.

Post by glennklockwood
I do not really have the resources to do a network install of IRIX to
get this O2 up and running,

Don't know about you, but I think it's the way of least pain.

[glennklockwood]

I suppose I expected as much. Although this is a hardware newsgroup,
I'll give my followup question a shot:

I don't have any other SGI boxes which I had assumed I would need to
do a net install. I do, however, have lots of Suns and a few PCs
lying around (running Solaris and GNU/Linux). Will it still be
possible to install IRIX?

Post by Atro Tossavainen

Post by glennklockwood
I have an SGI O2 that has a problem where it constantly wants to eject
the cdrom. This makes it very difficult to install IRIX,

Set up a network installation server. Saves you from having to switch
CDs every so often. It's a drag to have to do that anyway.

Post by glennklockwood
I do not really have the resources to do a network install of IRIX to
get this O2 up and running,

Don't know about you, but I think it's the way of least pain.
--
Atro Tossavainen (Mr.) / The Institute of Biotechnology at
Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish & / the University of Helsinki, Finland,
[phone] UNIX Dinosaur / employs me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / > NO FILE ATTACHMENTS

[legalize+ (Richard)]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Post by glennklockwood
I don't have any other SGI boxes which I had assumed I would need to
do a net install. I do, however, have lots of Suns and a few PCs
lying around (running Solaris and GNU/Linux). Will it still be
possible to install IRIX?

Yes, it should be possible. Search on nekochan.net for network boot
and I'm pretty sure you will find something. I believe there is even
a linux vmware image already setup for netbooting an SGI machine.

[josehill]

Yes, there is a VMware appliance that provides a NetBSD-based IRIX
boot server. It was built with an aim to make installations of IRIX
via network simpler. See http://forums.nekochan.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16718687
or http://zachrisson.net/DINA/

Yes, it should be possible.  Search on nekochan.net for network boot
and I'm pretty sure you will find something.  I believe there is even
a linux vmware image already setup for netbooting an SGI machine.

[Steven Hirsch]

Post by legalize+ (Richard)

Post by glennklockwood
I don't have any other SGI boxes which I had assumed I would need to
do a net install. I do, however, have lots of Suns and a few PCs
lying around (running Solaris and GNU/Linux). Will it still be
possible to install IRIX?

Yes, it should be possible. Search on nekochan.net for network boot
and I'm pretty sure you will find something. I believe there is even
a linux vmware image already setup for netbooting an SGI machine.

I have a small collection of files (shim library and shell script) that make
it much simpler to run an install server on Linux. I've sent it to a few
folks and thought it would have found it's way onto one of the canonical SGI
websites by now.

The underlying problem is that many of the SGI install scripts reference
'/bin/sh' in their header. On Linux, this is generally bash (or dash on
Debian and Ubuntu). Unfortunately the scripts use constructs that do not work
properly on either of these shells. My shim library intercepts all calls to
exec, execv, etc. and re-routes anything targeting /bin/sh to /bin/ksh (AT&T
or pdksh), which does work properly.

Since it's in effect only for the 'guest' user, there are no adverse effects
to the system itself (in a perfect Catch-22, many of the system level scripts
on Linux refuse to operate under ksh - lest anyone think that a global
solution is practical).

If anyone wants a copy, drop me private e-mail.

Steve

[Marc Schlensog]

On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:36:34 -0700 (PDT)

Post by glennklockwood
I suppose I expected as much. Although this is a hardware newsgroup,
I don't have any other SGI boxes which I had assumed I would need to
do a net install. I do, however, have lots of Suns and a few PCs
lying around (running Solaris and GNU/Linux). Will it still be
possible to install IRIX?

Yes. Check
http://software.majix.org/irix/install-network-via-linux.shtml

BTW: I had the same problem with my O2 (CD ejecting). I went the quick
way and tossed in another Toshiba CD drive. Works like a charm now.

Marc

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by Marc Schlensog
On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:36:34 -0700 (PDT)

Post by glennklockwood
I suppose I expected as much. Although this is a hardware newsgroup,
I don't have any other SGI boxes which I had assumed I would need to
do a net install. I do, however, have lots of Suns and a few PCs
lying around (running Solaris and GNU/Linux). Will it still be
possible to install IRIX?

Yes. Check
http://software.majix.org/irix/install-network-via-linux.shtml
BTW: I had the same problem with my O2 (CD ejecting). I went the quick
way and tossed in another Toshiba CD drive. Works like a charm now.

Hmm ... perhaps install a firmware upgrade using one of the
Solaris boxen? If the Toshiba is a SD-M1401, then you can download from
Sun's site a firmware upgrade and the program to install it from a Sun
to take the firmware version up to 1009.

Good Luck,
DoN.

[DoN. Nichols]

Post by glennklockwood
Hello
I have an SGI O2 that has a problem where it constantly wants to eject
the cdrom. This makes it very difficult to install IRIX, seeing as
how it won't keep the CD tray in for more than a few seconds.
I initially thought it might be a defective CD drive with perhaps
something jammed in it, so I replaced it with another drive which
definitely worked in the server from which it was pulled.
Unfortunately, I had the same problem with the second drive...it just
indignantly spits out the cd tray regardless of if there's a cd in or
not.

Hmm ... I've not worked with an O2, so I don't know how the
drive mounts and what sort of cable there my be, but I have seen SCSI
CD-ROM drives display similar behaviors under two circumstances (this on
a Sun Ultra-2, FWIW).

1) If the cable is twisted so the SCSI connector is backwards
on one end or the other. (That machine has a 50-pin IDC SCSI
connector on each end of about a 10" 50-conductor ribbon cable.)

2) If the system is having trouble reading and recognizing the
drive's ID -- it might be sending it a SCSI reset every time it
re-tries recognizing the drive.

Do you have *any* OS in the system?

What other drives do you have on the internal SCSI bus? If
there is a bad disk drive, it may be issuing the SCSI reset
to the bus trying to find a disk drive, and retrying when it
fails. Unplug the disk drive and see what happens. If it then
allows the CD-ROM to behave normally, go for a new disk drive
instead.

Post by glennklockwood
I googled around and can't find anything like this. Does anyone have
any ideas as to what the problem might be and how I can solve it?

Some guesses above, but no firm knowledge.

Post by glennklockwood
I
do not really have the resources to do a network install of IRIX to
get this O2 up and running, and I don't want to have to go out and buy
an external SCSI cdrom drive.

Is the internal drive a SCSI drive? (I would expect so, but I
don't know for sure.) If so, could you mount the internal drive in an
external SCSI housing to temporarily make it into an external drive?
This would at least get it off the internal SCSI bus and thus free from
weird behavior from a bad SCSI disk drive on the internal bus.

Good Luck,
DoN.

[glennklockwood]

Post by glennklockwood
Hello
I have an SGI O2 that has a problem where it constantly wants to eject
the cdrom.  This makes it very difficult to install IRIX, seeing as
how it won't keep the CD tray in for more than a few seconds.
I initially thought it might be a defective CD drive with perhaps
something jammed in it, so I replaced it with another drive which
definitely worked in the server from which it was pulled.
Unfortunately, I had the same problem with the second drive...it just
indignantly spits out the cd tray regardless of if there's a cd in or
not.

        Hmm ... I've not worked with an O2, so I don't know how the
drive mounts and what sort of cable there my be, but I have seen SCSI
CD-ROM drives display similar behaviors under two circumstances (this on
a Sun Ultra-2, FWIW).
1)      If the cable is twisted so the SCSI connector is backwards
        on one end or the other.  (That machine has a 50-pin IDC SCSI
        connector on each end of about a 10" 50-conductor ribbon cable.)

I had considered this from my experience plugging floppy drive cables
in upside-down. However, the way the internal cabling in the O2 is,
you really don't have room to accidently plug the cable in upside-
down. I did double check this, though.

2)      If the system is having trouble reading and recognizing the
        drive's ID -- it might be sending it a SCSI reset every time it
        re-tries recognizing the drive.
        Do you have *any* OS in the system?
        What other drives do you have on the internal SCSI bus?  If
        there is a bad disk drive, it may be issuing the SCSI reset
        to the bus trying to find a disk drive, and retrying when it
        fails.  Unplug the disk drive and see what happens.  If it then
        allows the CD-ROM to behave normally, go for a new disk drive
        instead.

Now this is something I hadn't considered, as I'm not terribly
familiar with SCSI. The O2 came with two drives, a 2GB which was a
manufacturer option and an additional 9GB which was added later. I
recall being able to drop into one of the drives (the newer one) via
sash so I know it wasn't bad, but that was the same drive I pulled to
use in another machine of mine. If a bad device on the bus can cause
this sort of behavior, the 2GB drive may definitely be the culprit.

Post by glennklockwood
I googled around and can't find anything like this.  Does anyone have
any ideas as to what the problem might be and how I can solve it?

        Some guesses above, but no firm knowledge.

Post by glennklockwood
                                                                   I
do not really have the resources to do a network install of IRIX to
get this O2 up and running, and I don't want to have to go out and buy
an external SCSI cdrom drive.

        Is the internal drive a SCSI drive?  (I would expect so, but I
don't know for sure.)  If so, could you mount the internal drive in an
external SCSI housing to temporarily make it into an external drive?
This would at least get it off the internal SCSI bus and thus free from
weird behavior from a bad SCSI disk drive on the internal bus.
        Good Luck,
                DoN.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to give it another go with some newer
drives.

glenn

[Atro Tossavainen]

Post by DoN. Nichols
Hmm ... I've not worked with an O2, so I don't know how the
drive mounts and what sort of cable there my be, but I have seen SCSI
CD-ROM drives display similar behaviors under two circumstances (this on
a Sun Ultra-2, FWIW).

The CD on an O2 is on a 50-pin ribbon cable, the internal drives are
in slots that have SCA connectors. The drives are on the same SCSI
bus though, there are two SCSI controllers in an O2 but the other one
is reserved for external devices.