[weblacky]

OK so this is very important, you have a last generation machine platform. This is the same basic architecture used inside Tezro and Fuel workstations, they are simply single node systems.

All of these systems have a series of monitoring chips in them collectively called environmental monitoring. These are an underlying system run by the L1 that ensures that the hardware is properly cooling, has the correct voltage within incorrect tolerance, and also performs hardware inventory checks and bootstraps the PROM. The PROM is what performs bootup diagnostics and is considered what you would call the BIOS in personal computer parlance.

There are three reasons you can have this message:

1. Your fan is actually dead, this is very easy to check, is your fan not working?
2. Your fan is actually running fine but the system can't tell it's running at all, this is a failure of one of the environmental monitoring chips if this is the case, the chip would need to be replaced, not impossible job I do it all the time, but not easy for someone who's not familiar with professional soldering.
3. Your fan is not running, the system knows it's not running, but when you plug in a new fan it still won't run, this would be a failure of the MOSFET at the area of the fan connector that literally gives the fan 12V power. Only reason this should occur is if someone plugged in a replacement fan not knowing that the pin out has changed and they destroyed the boss, requiring board repair.

Most of these systems have several stages of start up. First stage is L1 start up, you could also consider this idle standby power. When you plug in a modern SGI it immediately starts its L1, just buy pulling in wall AC power. Normally using the 5V standby power on the motherboard to trigger this process. The motherboard is not technically active during this time but the base level environmental monitoring firmware and inventory program is active. This allows you to use a terminal signal to communicate with the L1 to start up the system and also control how the system starts up, diagnostic switches, and such.

Stage 1 start up is the L1 attempting to power on the system, by starting the 12V power & 12V fans and checking environmental monitoring, Stage 2 would be the power on beginning of the bootstrap of the PROM if the environmental monitoring fully passes. L1 does not run on or take much use of the main CPU, it's a separate sub system and processor. The bootup of the PROM will test your CPU cash and all that junk.

This is showing you are reaching stage 1 and halting on error, and the system is detecting a hardware fault preventing you from going any further because going further could damage the board. This allows you to affect proper repair and continue on to see if there's any more issues with later on diagnostics to the board or any of its components.

All the fans in the systems were commercial fans available at the time the systems were made, however be very much aware that they're pinout were often non-standard. That means that if you get the exact same fan from a normal supplier that the pins are very likely going to be in the wrong order and if you plug them in may result in damage to the SGI or the fan, a simple re-pinout is often required, where you take the pins out of the connector and rearrange them to the correct order for normal connectors. Some platforms have a giant unified connector where you then replaced the fan and solder the old wires to the new fan instead of the opposite.

If you gently peel back the fan label you should be able to read what the wires/pads are and when you get the new fan make sure the correct lines go to the correct pads. Some fans manufacturers, over time, have swapped polarity, so don't just pay attention to position, make sure that the actual stencil marking on the fan PCB still matches as well!

Some of the fan connectors may be integrated into larger connectors, this makes the choice easier because you'll be reusing the original lines and desoldering at the fan body.

Assuming an actual dead fan and the replacement fan starts up just fine you will see if all errors are cleared. There is no command you need to use to clear old ENV errors, the environmental monitoring system automatically refreshes.

Technically there is a way to ignore the environmental monitoring system and proceed with PROM, no one here will advise you to do that. The only advice we give you in this scenario, if you were to tell us that you don't want to spend any money until you know for example that the PROM GUI can come up at least (BIOS SCREEN, NO OS). We would then give you information to bypass the environmental monitoring system just to see if you can get to the PROM screen. But after that fact we would strongly urge to fix the underlying problem and reenable environmental monitoring as it's the only thing protecting you from your old power supply going weird and destroying things or causing severe overheating and other damage to your vintage machine. We would also say that once you reach the PROM GUI you would be shortly to almost immediately shutting down the system to prevent overheating or other problems and then fix that fan issue.

In the case that you put a new fan in and prove it should be working and it doesn't work at all then you'll need to fix the underlying electrical circuit that powers the fan, which shouldn't be a huge deal but we don't do that every day so we'd have to have pictures of the board around the fan connector to help you troubleshoot. Normally that shouldn't be a problem unless the previous owner plugged in a random fan and actually destroyed the circuit. As I said often on these platforms the fan headers look standard but they're wired differently. If you pay attention to the old original fan and simply rewire to match it you should be fine as long as you buy the same fan.

The L1 ENV's job is designed to stop you from going any further because you have a hardware fault that could lead to serious damage if you go around it. Yes there is a way around it that we can tell you, but we won't likely want to give that information until you understand what doing that would mean and that you'd only do that to make sure you don't have a much more serious problem and you can at least boot to PROM, before investing the time and money in repairing that fan error, by getting another duplicate fan and wiring it in incorrectly.

Please consider what I've said and let us know what you decide. This is not bad news by any stretch. A fan is going to go out I need replacement at some point. That's not a huge deal. Now the fact that SGI is dead and gone means you can't get the fan from them you'll need to read the fan and order a replacement, possibly new old stock. When it comes you'll need to open the old fans label and check that they take the same signals and what the order of those signals are. You'll then take a picture and gently de-solder the old wires out of the old fan body and solder them into the new body at the correct signal positions. Then they should start up on stage one start up when the L1 decides the hardware is free of errors and attempts and auto power on, unless it's been told not to auto power on and you'll need to order a power on. If the NVRAM has been defaulted it should try to AUTO power on (pwr).

Also SGI's were designed to run with their cases/skins on. You could run them for a limited amount of time without it but as you see most of them use ductwork or other systematic airflow designs to properly cool chips with just heat sinks on them. Do not run an SGI for more than a few minutes without its case on! Troubleshooting obviously becomes a problem so just make sure that once you get the error your documenting it and taking pictures and then immediately turning the system off to give it a cool down. Most SGI's are not prompt overheating, I'm just saying they're designed to properly cool with their case fully intact. Not what they're lit off being poked at by a technician.

Sounds like you have a promising system on your hands, best of luck and keep us updated on the forums.