Dead 4D/310 GTX?

[n1mr0d]

Hi,

I recently tried to boot an antique SGI 4D/310 GTX (upgraded to
R4000-50) that was in storage for quite some time. When i plugged the
power cable in, the PSU fans started to blow. However when i activated
the power switch on the front nothing happened, no leds, nothing! I
want to know if the PSU or the thing itself is dead. Can i measure the
voltages or something, or is this a 'soft on' PSU just like pc's?

[Gerhard Lenerz]

Post by n1mr0d
I recently tried to boot an antique SGI 4D/310 GTX (upgraded to
R4000-50) that was in storage for quite some time. When i plugged the
power cable in, the PSU fans started to blow.

So far, so good. Some people say that all IRIS 4D systems have
PSUs that start to "blow" as soon there is power on the input, I
now have 2 systems that don't do that. But if it does, that is fine
as well.

Post by n1mr0d
However when i activated
the power switch on the front nothing happened, no leds, nothing!

Have you powered it up with the cardcage door opened? If you secure
it so that no attached cable gets bent too much and you don't touch
anything inside no harm should (sic!) happen to you or the computer.
Watch if there is any blinkenlight activity inside... any IRIS 4D
with VGX graphics as litteraly a whole christmas tree full of lights
inside.

For a real debug session try to get a terminal (or a PC with terminal
emulation) attached to serial port #1 of the system. You can access
the serial terminal connection from there. Just to make sure,
disconnect keyboard/mouse before powering up the machine.

Additional warning: Don't hotplug *anything*. Neither keyboard, nor
SCSI drives (internal/external).

For the casual error reseating everything (boards, memory, drives)
should be a first measure during your debugging session if you don't
get any helpful hints on the serial line.

Post by n1mr0d
I want to know if the PSU or the thing itself is dead. Can i measure the
voltages or something, or is this a 'soft on' PSU just like pc's?

No, this isn't really a soft-on PSU. Before you start measuring on
PSU level, see if there is *really* no activity.


Gerhard