[lintweaker]

Hi,

I have a O2 coming (R5K @ 200MHz, 128MB) and a SCSI disk which should include IRIX 6.5.28.
Looking at the photos from the O2 it seems the PROM is at version 4.3 while it needs to be at 4.4 for the 128MB SIMMs I also have on order.
Can I update the PROM from within IRIX 6.5 or do I need to do a IRIX 6.3 install with the "IRIX 6.3 for O2 Including R10000" patches as described in the docs?

Thanks

[Irinikus]

As far as I know, for machines such as the O2, the PROM is updated automatically to the latest revision associated with the version of IRIX you're installing, when you install IRIX.

For a machine like the Tezro on the other hand, it's a totally different story, as the PROM on such a machine is not updated automatically when you install IRIX, and therefore needs to be flashed manually. (There is a trick to doing this on a tezro, which involves the installation of previous versions of IRIX to update the PROM revision progressively, to avoid the possibility of maybe bricking the machine.)

On the O2, this is not a problem as the PROM revision is updated automatically with a new IRIX install.

Therefore if you buy a disk with IRIX preinstalled, the PROM on your O2 won't be updated automatically.

[Jacques]

I believe the line below will get you to the latest prom if you have 6.5.28 on your drive. Check you have the prom file before issuing the command.

/sbin/flashinst -T -y /usr/cpu/firmware/ip32prom.image

You don't need to revert to 6.3 in order to do this.

[lintweaker]

Thanks! I will try that once I have my system and it's up and running. Could be a couple of weeks.

[lintweaker]

Got my O2 in decent shape (the usual scratch marks and plastic cracks) and the drive with pre-installed IRIX 6.2.28 works like a charm. After reseating all modules it happily sounded the boot chime and booted to IRIX.
The PROM upgrade went without a hitch and the OS now has a decent 384MB of memory working.