O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Printable Version
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O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Evanb - 05-02-2024
Hi, have a new to me o2, when powered on it shows the green light and plays the startup sound but no video out the VGA. Upon further investigation I came upon this comment on one of the Wikis
'If the O2 boots successfully but refuses to display video, it may be configured for output to the serial console.'
So my question is, if this is the case how do I reconfigure and o2 out of serial mode, I assume i will need a serial connection to do this, can I just an off the shelf USB to serial adapter?
Cheers
Evan
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - weblacky - 05-02-2024
Playing the odds game I doubt someone would configure that station in particular to not output any video signal.
To your original question it's no different than any other embedded, terminal, or PC platform would require. You need a null-modem cable and a 9-pin Standard IBM style serial port to attempt to look at the terminal on this particular station. Most USB serial adapters would probably work on the PC or Mac side if you're going to use a full computer to try to view the serial output.
However in real life the odds are much better that you're using an incompatible monitor. Even if somebody reconfigured the operating system with a totally messed up screen resolution you should've seen the firmware interface come up momentarily with a few basic colors and readable text. Since you saw nothing you're most likely using incompatible monitor or incompatible adapter for your monitor.
All SGI's, including the O2, the only SGI that has a VGA connector, require a sync on green (SOG) compatible monitor to operate and usually has a default output of 1280 x 1024.
Most of use very old 15 to 20 inch LCD monitors from about 2005 to about 2009 or so because most of those supported SOG. I have quite a number of Dell monitors but Samsung sync master, Sony, BenQ, NEC and a few others also supported sync on green right out of the box as stated in their product manual specification appendix.
If you have a green LED and a chime, as you indicated, I would assume you have an incompatible monitor first.
Two things you need to be made aware of as a new owner so you don't run into problems is 1. Do not ever pull the motherboard before you pull the power supply out. Obviously you need to remove the power cable from the power supply before removing anything but always remove the power supply first and put it back last. This insures you will not damage the electronics which can be damaged by removing the power supply out of order. PSU should first out, last in.
2. UNIX SGI stations use a real time clock chip with an embedded battery and oscillator in an epoxy blob that not only goes bad overtime, though you would see the complaint if it did, but also makes it so they can't reasonably be reset to default settings using some magic jumper or button on the device. You have to get in the firmware interface and have a running OS to have a basic chance of resetting to default values. You can also change a bunch of these values by hand if you can get into the firmware interface. This presents a chicken or the egg problem, if someone's done a very odd configuration to the system there's no button on the motherboard or something you can press to reload defaults.
In this case you have two options. You can buy a third-party RTC module that has an external battery which would allow you to remove the battery when the system is off thereby blanking its settings causing it to rewrite defaults and boot up in standard mode the next time it was powered on or a fresh battery inserted. (Make sure you select "fully assembled on product page: https://www.tindie.com/products/glitchwrks/gw-1687-5-dallas-ds1687-5-maintainable-replacement/).
The second option is to do what you're planning. Get yourself a genuine null modem crossover cable, get to the firmware interface via the serial port and attempt to wrestle settings back under your control.
Just so you're aware if there is a password on the firmware that actually does have a bypassing jumper on the motherboard to go right through. But unfortunately as I've said, there's no jumper to reset defaults for you.
Before you go spending any real money give us information on how you've hooked up the monitor and what your exact monitor brand and model is. That way we can establish if you should be seeing anything or not. If you happen to have a much older monitor you should try it. Failing that, you can often pick up very old LCDs from the early 2000s that should work with these stations for under a few bucks at recyclers or similar.
Best of luck and let us know how you find things. There's a lot of great resources here to help you out. Go slow and don't force anything and please keep in mind the power supply warning I gave you above.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - robespierre - 05-02-2024
For posterity I should point out that the O2 is not the only SGI with a VGA connector. The Personal IRIS with GR1.5, and the Indigo with LG1, both have VGA connectors.
Then there were the VW series, but x86 computers are not the main subject of this forum.
The serial port will be used for the system console if no keyboard is detected. If the boot variable "console" was previously set to "d" (in other words, set to serial console), it can be reset to the graphics console by installing a jumper on J34, "FLASH Clear" near the memory banks (it will also disable any password if one was set). This is documented in the O2 Hardware Reference Manual.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Evanb - 05-03-2024
(05-02-2024, 11:33 AM)weblacky Wrote: Hi, wow, thanks for such a detailed reply, I've tried a variety of monitors (even an old Viewsonic CRT) but the main one is a
Dell UltraSharp U2412M which I found based on another users post on this forum that apparently supports SOG, so barring that being wrong, I assume it should work. Will grab a USB to serial adapter and see what happens.
Evan
Playing the odds game I doubt someone would configure that station in particular to not output any video signal.
To your original question it's no different than any other embedded, terminal, or PC platform would require. You need a null-modem cable and a 9-pin Standard IBM style serial port to attempt to look at the terminal on this particular station. Most USB serial adapters would probably work on the PC or Mac side if you're going to use a full computer to try to view the serial output.
However in real life the odds are much better that you're using an incompatible monitor. Even if somebody reconfigured the operating system with a totally messed up screen resolution you should've seen the firmware interface come up momentarily with a few basic colors and readable text. Since you saw nothing you're most likely using incompatible monitor or incompatible adapter for your monitor.
All SGI's, including the O2, the only SGI that has a VGA connector, require a sync on green (SOG) compatible monitor to operate and usually has a default output of 1280 x 1024.
Most of use very old 15 to 20 inch LCD monitors from about 2005 to about 2009 or so because most of those supported SOG. I have quite a number of Dell monitors but Samsung sync master, Sony, BenQ, NEC and a few others also supported sync on green right out of the box as stated in their product manual specification appendix.
If you have a green LED and a chime, as you indicated, I would assume you have an incompatible monitor first.
Two things you need to be made aware of as a new owner so you don't run into problems is 1. Do not ever pull the motherboard before you pull the power supply out. Obviously you need to remove the power cable from the power supply before removing anything but always remove the power supply first and put it back last. This insures you will not damage the electronics which can be damaged by removing the power supply out of order. PSU should first out, last in.
2. UNIX SGI stations use a real time clock chip with an embedded battery and oscillator in an epoxy blob that not only goes bad overtime, though you would see the complaint if it did, but also makes it so they can't reasonably be reset to default settings using some magic jumper or button on the device. You have to get in the firmware interface and have a running OS to have a basic chance of resetting to default values. You can also change a bunch of these values by hand if you can get into the firmware interface. This presents a chicken or the egg problem, if someone's done a very odd configuration to the system there's no button on the motherboard or something you can press to reload defaults.
In this case you have two options. You can buy a third-party RTC module that has an external battery which would allow you to remove the battery when the system is off thereby blanking its settings causing it to rewrite defaults and boot up in standard mode the next time it was powered on or a fresh battery inserted. (Make sure you select "fully assembled on product page: https://www.tindie.com/products/glitchwrks/gw-1687-5-dallas-ds1687-5-maintainable-replacement/).
The second option is to do what you're planning. Get yourself a genuine null modem crossover cable, get to the firmware interface via the serial port and attempt to wrestle settings back under your control.
Just so you're aware if there is a password on the firmware that actually does have a bypassing jumper on the motherboard to go right through. But unfortunately as I've said, there's no jumper to reset defaults for you.
Before you go spending any real money give us information on how you've hooked up the monitor and what your exact monitor brand and model is. That way we can establish if you should be seeing anything or not. If you happen to have a much older monitor you should try it. Failing that, you can often pick up very old LCDs from the early 2000s that should work with these stations for under a few bucks at recyclers or similar.
Best of luck and let us know how you find things. There's a lot of great resources here to help you out. Go slow and don't force anything and please keep in mind the power supply warning I gave you above.
(05-02-2024, 06:02 PM)robespierre Wrote: For posterity I should point out that the O2 is not the only SGI with a VGA connector. The Personal IRIS with GR1.5, and the Indigo with LG1, both have VGA connectors.
Then there were the VW series, but x86 computers are not the main subject of this forum.
The serial port will be used for the system console if no keyboard is detected. If the boot variable "console" was previously set to "d" (in other words, set to serial console), it can be reset to the graphics console by installing a jumper on J34, "FLASH Clear" near the memory banks (it will also disable any password if one was set). This is documented in the O2 Hardware Reference Manual.
Awesome will check out the jumper, so do I set the jumper on j34, and then reboot the system to see if it's cleared or do I just set the jumper for a few seconds then remove it and then try to power up the system.
As far as keyboards go, I am currently just using a USB to ps2 adapter, as I don't have any PS2 keyboards anymore, should that be fine and the system sees the KB and mouse or does the o2 not like USB adapter's and should I grab an old PS2 keyboard and mouse off eBay?
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - jan-jaap - 05-03-2024
(05-03-2024, 11:35 AM)Evanb Wrote: As far as keyboards go, I am currently just using a USB to ps2 adapter, as I don't have any PS2 keyboards anymore, should that be fine and the system sees the KB and mouse or does the o2 not like USB adapter's and should I grab an old PS2 keyboard and mouse off eBay?Those little green and purple USB-to-PS2 adapters do not contain any circuitry. For a 'USB' keyboard or mouse to work with them, they must support both USB and PS2 protocols and switch to the correct one as needed. This was common in the early days of USB keyboards but for anything recent it's absolutely not guaranteed.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - robespierre - 05-03-2024
(05-03-2024, 11:35 AM)Evanb Wrote: Awesome will check out the jumper, so do I set the jumper on j34, and then reboot the system to see if it's cleared or do I just set the jumper for a few seconds then remove it and then try to power up the system.The jumper (which is labeled "passwd clear" on other machines) is installed while the machine is off, then the computer is booted and variables are reset by "setenv" or "resetenv" commands. You can remove a password at that time with "resetpw".
Code:
resetenv
resetpwThen the computer is shut down and the jumper on J34 is removed. Remember never to pull out the mainboard while power is connected to the O2.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Shiunbird - 05-03-2024
(05-03-2024, 01:13 PM)jan-jaap Wrote: Those little green and purple USB-to-PS2 adapters do not contain any circuitry. For a 'USB' keyboard or mouse to work with them, they must support both USB and PS2 protocols and switch to the correct one as needed. This was common in the early days of USB keyboards but for anything recent it's absolutely not guaranteed.At some point, I was going to try something like this:
https://github.com/tinkeros/USB2PS2
But I managed to find a reseller providing new PS2 mice (genius brand, but optical and decent tracking), so I have that. I might have somewhere back in my home country a native Microsoft intellimouse with the adapter. Pretty decent mouse ,too.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Raion - 05-04-2024
Most USB to PS2 active adapters don't work correctly in my experience because we operate on scan code 3.
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - hamei - 05-05-2024
(05-02-2024, 10:09 AM)Evanb Wrote: shows the green light and plays the startup sound but no video out the VGA.
In a small attempt to put off the day when Silicon Graphics is totally irrelevant, I'll mention this. You never got video. You don't have a video interface. You got graphics.
This is usually the very first thing a newcomer was smacked on the nose with a newspaper for, so I'm just continuing a long and honorable tradition :-)
RE: O2 no boot screen, possibly in serial mode - Evanb - 05-05-2024
(05-05-2024, 04:30 AM)hamei Wrote:(05-02-2024, 10:09 AM)Evanb Wrote: shows the green light and plays the startup sound but no video out the VGA.
In a small attempt to put off the day when Silicon Graphics is totally irrelevant, I'll mention this. You never got video. You don't have a video interface. You got graphics.
This is usually the very first thing a newcomer was smacked on the nose with a newspaper for, so I'm just continuing a long and honorable tradition :-)
Haaa,
True, however I would counter with, the port you use to attach a monitor is the VGA port, also known as the VIDEO Graphics Array Port. So in a sense I was correct in the use of video 😂