My dead SGI IRIS Indigo ELAN 4000

[Alexander Horn]

Hello SGI world & newsgroup!
At first, a snapshot of my dead SGI IRIS Indigo ELAN 4000:
Loading Image...

I've heard, that I could analyze the system w/ a SGI-like serial line cable
on serial port #1? I don't hav' such a cable.

Please help me, to make the system working again, because next weeks,
I'll get an working SGI Indigo2 workstation.

Regards,
Ingmar S. Horn
SGI-Fan since the making of Jurassic Park

[Martin Neitzel]

It would be *much* more helpful (compared to your picture)
if you could be a bit more specific on its "deadness".

When you supply power:

Will the PSU fan still start?
Will it continue to run?
The Indigo CPU board has a yellow pilot light
visible from the front. Will it come up? Stay alight?

Do you still get the startup-chime from the speaker?
*Any* output on the screen? (I've kept a Indigo2
with a failed IMPACT graphics board in service simply
by disabling the (X11) graphics system - it still gave
fine console output.)

Most importantly: do you get better behaviour when you pull
components (cpu & gfx boards, disks; memory modules)?

Post by Alexander Horn
I've heard, that I could analyze the system w/ a SGI-like serial line cable
on serial port #1? I don't hav' such a cable.

serial(7) has the pin assignments you need to solder an adapter.
This may seem silly advice considering your Indigo is dead but,
fortunately, SGI is still doing an outstanding job of providing
all kinds of information even on its legacy systems:

http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=0530&db=man&fname=/usr/share/catman/a_man/cat7/serial.z&srch=serial

While you're at it, you might check out the "Indigo Owner's Manual".
IIRC it includes a trouble-shooting checklist.

Because my own Indigo R3K just died last weekend, I certainly feel with
you. Mine used to run 24/7 in our server room; I was logged in from
remote when it happened and would have got any serious syslog messages
(such as ECC memory faults) on my screen; there weren't any. A visit
next day showed a silent box, PSU fan not running anymore. The fan
will start when flipping the mains switch, but just for a single second.
Likewise, the CPU board's pilot light. Boards look OK (no burned parts,
no funny smells). No screen output whatsoever. Pulling boards/disks
doesn't improve PSU behaviour. Next step would be to sub-set modules.
I'd also like to pull the PSU to have it checked but so far it resisted
to come out.

The Ebay spare market is currently void of Indigo parts. (Indigo2 parts
can be seen quite often, but classic Indigos have always been a rarity.)

Good luck, Martin Neitzel

[MG]

Post by Alexander Horn
http://morpheus.marway.org/~vaxima/sgi-indigo.jpg
I've heard, that I could analyze the system w/ a SGI-like serial line cable
on serial port #1? I don't hav' such a cable.
Please help me, to make the system working again, because next weeks,
I'll get an working SGI Indigo2 workstation.

Have you had any luck in the meantime? It's good to know people are
still using IRIX!

- MG

[Alexander Horn]

Post by MG

Post by Alexander Horn
http://morpheus.marway.org/~vaxima/sgi-indigo.jpg
I've heard, that I could analyze the system w/ a SGI-like serial line cable
on serial port #1? I don't hav' such a cable.
Please help me, to make the system working again, because next weeks,
I'll get an working SGI Indigo2 workstation.

Have you had any luck in the meantime? It's good to know people are
still using IRIX!

My SGI Indigo is still dead, but my SGI Indigo2 runs SGI IRIX 5.3
successfully :-)

But my new-buyed SGI Octane is dead since this morning, because the
Pilot-LED blinks a short time in RED (after Power-ON, for 0.5-1 secs),
and then, the PSU-Fan goes down.

Any suggestions? I've no support @sgi.com yet :-)

Regards,
Vaxima

[a]

according to page 262 of the Octane user's manual at
http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/download.cgi?coll=hdwr&db=bks&docnumber=007-3435-004
a flashing red LED indicates bad RAM or a CPU 2 failure on a dual-CPU system.
take out all the RAM you can and see if it works then. if not, replace the
RAM you left in there with the RAM you took out and see if that works.

[Alexander Horn]

Post by a
according to page 262 of the Octane user's manual at
http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/download.cgi?coll=hdwr&db=bks&docnumber=007-3435-004
a flashing red LED indicates bad RAM or a CPU 2 failure on a dual-CPU system.
take out all the RAM you can and see if it works then. if not, replace the
RAM you left in there with the RAM you took out and see if that works.

Hi there,

I've cleaned the complete parts of the OCTANE. Now, the system works
again :-)

I'm happy again,
-Vaxima

[Ingmar S. Horn]

Post by Alexander Horn
I've cleaned the complete parts of the OCTANE. Now, the system works
again :-)

The system really works, but I'm looking for a damn stable SCSI-Subsystem
for my SGI OCTANE IP30 w/ 250 MHz mips R10k w/ FPU and 512M Memory.

Anyone can help me?
Any suggestions?

Please answer here, or drop me an e-mail to ***@melanie.marway.org

Regards,
-Vaxima

P.S.: My SGI INDIGO2 IP22 works fine, running the SGI IRIX 5.3 Operating
System and misc additional stuff like xnview, xv, xpaint, xephem,
sendmail, irssi and elm (classic e-mail client)

[a]

stable SCSI-Subsystem for my SGI OCTANE IP30 w/ 250 MHz mips R10k w/ FPU and 512M Memory.

Check the internet for part 030-1281-001 (X9-SCSI-4P, 4-Port Differential
Ultra SCSI XIO card for Octane and Octane2). Various Octane part #s are at
http://www.sgi.com/global/de/pdf/legacy/Octane2_abkuendigung.pdf
with the top in German and the bottom in English.