[massiverobot]

Hello - I'm back again and I just picked up a working P Iris 4d/25. Two questions:

1. On serial port, trying to enter the Command Monitor in PROM asks for password... ? was there a default and how can I reset this as I have no idea what it is?

2. Video - the Video card seems to be the BNC output - i'm trying to figure out a cable- so do I need a BNC to 13W3 ?
THere is a VGA looking port that says COMPOSITE - any idea what that can go to?

Photos:
https://imgur.com/a/Ou6Ucv0

[GL1zdA]

The COMPOSITE port should work with a standard PC monitor cable. AFAIK COMPOSITE means in this case "composite sync". If you connect something to the BNC RGB output you will need a monitor that is capable of sync-on-green.

[jan-jaap]

The COMPOSITE port should work with a standard PC monitor cable. AFAIK COMPOSITE means in this case "composite sync". If you connect something to the BNC RGB output you will need a monitor that is capable of sync-on-green.

The RGB BNC ouput has sync on green, but the VGA ('composite') port also. I seem to remember that the VGA port is 1024x768 max, where the RGBs will do 1280x1024.

Way back when, you would sometimes have monitors with RGB BNCs, and you'd use a VGA-to-RGB cable to connect them. The same cable, but in reverse, can be used to connect a system with RGB output to a screen with VGA input. Often these cables have 5 BNCs, R,G,B and H/V sync. You can leave the latter unconnected, but the monitor must support sync on green and 1280x1024@60HZ resolution.

Regarding the password: the easiest way is from within IRIX, but that means you need a booting system where you have root. Alternatively, there is something you can try: there's a 93c56 serial EEPROM on a little PCB where the reset switch is, so on (in?) the chassis, not the E-module. It is connected to the E-module with a 10-wire flat cable. If you detach that cable and power up the system, you should be able to get into the PROM. The system is going to be unhappy because it's lacking a system ID (mac address) and various other things. It may talk to the serial console rather than the CRT, I'm not sure. But you should be able to get into the PROM prompt. Then you re-attach the flat cable without powering the system off, and set the NVRAM password to something you know. 'resetenv' might wipe it also, not 100% sure.

This procedure works a lot like what you need to unlock an Indigo, except there you need to push the 93c56 chip into the socket on the backplane with the system on, which is even more hairy.