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No video from octane - Printable Version

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No video from octane - nacutsh - 03-16-2022

Well I have been looking at them for a while, so I finally got myself an sgi octane as my first sgi. Supposedly it was completely working. Just my luck a red light on the front of the case lit up, the drives spin up, if I hook up some headphones to it I hear a chime, but I am not getting any video out of the machine. So I went around and reseated everything I could, obviously being extremely careful around the compression connectors. It didn't seem to help at all. The system has two graphics boards in it so I uninstalled one and tried it then the other no difference. I heard it could be a sog issue so I tried 7 different monitors one that I am almost certain supports it still nothing. The only thing I am missing is a ps2 mouse because all my pc's use USB except my really old ones that use serial. I can't even find that right now because my pc room is being remodeled at the moment so everything is a mess. Any other suggestions would be nice.I am almost thinking it's the main board, I couldn't imagine both gpu's being bad. The seller has been very responsive so I am not sure what's gonna happen if I need a part. Ps I am new to the forum and to sgi equipment so don't rip me to bad.

RE: No video from octane - Raion - 03-16-2022

The first thing that I would do is start up a serial connection. You need a 9-pin DB9 null modem. Connected to port number one on the back of the octane, and then connected to some kind of other device. Baud 9600, all other things are basically the defaults.

If you don't have a serial cable, then start with a basic configuration. Unplug the system, graphics cards, power supply, drives, and system modules.

Install only two memory modules in the slots closest to the CPU. Reseat the CPU. Reinstall the system module, put only one graphics card back in on the top left slot. You do not need a mouse so only connect to keyboard. It also helps to know what 13w3 to VGA cable or adapter you're using. There's one on eBay with dip switches and that's the best.

Get used to using a serial cable and if your laptop or desktop doesn't have it you should get one of those USB adapters and familiarize yourself

RE: No video from octane - jwhat - 03-16-2022

Hi Nacutsh,

FYI, if you dont have keyboard / mouse plugged in then output will likely to do the serial port (as per Raion's advise) and you will get continuing RED blinking of light.

If you have keyboard / mouse plugged in the you should see sequence:
1. WHITE Light
2. Flashing RED of you do not have keyboard / mouse
3. RED light and display of Splash Screen and Running Diagnotics Message
4. If something went wrong then you will likely get flashing RED again...
5.WHITE light and graphics port console display
6. X Windows Login Screen

So if you are getting Flashing RED then likely need to plug in Mouse / Keyboard

If you got change to WHITE but no graphics then:
- possible SOG Monitor issues or
- graphics Resolution Issue for your Monitor or
- Graphics Board problem or
- IRIX OS doe not have right Graphics drivers (in general you cannot move IRIX boot disk across machine families ;-) ) ...

If you have a suspected monitor issue, then post boot (with WHITE light), try to login via serial port: 9600,8,N,1 trying other port if the first is not available (ie no response)

If you can get into machine then find the IP address so you can telnet/ssh into machine and do rest of diagnosis

NOTE: Add bit on IRIX install and graphics drivers...


Cheers from Oz,

jwhat/John

RE: No video from octane - nacutsh - 03-16-2022

First of all thank you for your replies. I am typing from work so I can't work on the machine for another 3 hours. I started reading info on the machine trying to learn its quarks, and common problems through other threads and forums. Hooking up a serial connection was a pretty common suggestion so ordered a serial to usb cable just before I posted. Hopefully it gets here by the weekend. I had it turned on with two ram slots populated and one gpu earlier, but I have read about people having to reseat the boards on these things in upwards of 10 times before they worked so it can't hurt to give it another try. As far as the front case lights go it's just a solid red light no white lights at all. From looking at them they look burnt out. The 13w3 adapter is just a generic black one I bought off ebay for my older sun microsystems machines. I found the one with dip switches I will order it.

RE: No video from octane - weblacky - 03-16-2022

Most often SUN 13W3 adapters DO NOT WORK. A lot of us recommend this ultra-cool cable: https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/270832512031

I have like 6 of these!!!

RE: No video from octane - nacutsh - 03-16-2022

Yeah Raion recommended that one. I will order it on my phone right now.

RE: No video from octane - weblacky - 03-16-2022

To be clear I still use Sync on Green capable monitors, so I use the SGI SOG DIP position on these cables.

RE: No video from octane - jwhat - 03-20-2022

Hi SOG'ers,

if you are sure your monitor supports SOG, then you can get pretty much any 13W3 cable to work by simply cutting out all the pins from plug and just leaving the 3 RGB co-ax plugs in place, as SGI does not need any of the other signals.

This is a very primitive way to fix SOG cable issues with existing cables that have not worked.

Cheers from Oz,

jwhat/John.

RE: No video from octane - nacutsh - 03-21-2022

Update, it was the adapter that was giving me problems. So less of a broken pc and more of a lack of experience issue. It seems the drives are bad according to diagnostics, so I will have to source some scsi drives and get an OS on there, but that's less of a problem. Thanks everyone for replying.