(06-28-2019, 02:27 PM)commodorejohn Wrote: No, the password's still there, which is odd.
Sorry, didn't have time on Sunday, but today I could do some testing on a Enterprise 250.
I recommend to further debug your machine with the serial console connected in addition to the glass console so you can follow any messages emitted on the serial console prior to the activation of the glass console.
The machine retained the environment variables after they were set over a cold boot (with
power-off from OBP and power on from keyboard) without prior
reset-all.
Bypassing POST by holding Stop + D on the keyboard while powering on didn't work for me. In the contrary, it looks like Stop + D actually enables POST if it was deactivated prior.
After setting `diag-switch?` to `false` and holding Stop + D and powering on, the first message on the serial console is:
Code:
Setting diag-switch? because of L1-D keyboard command.
...so the machine really started with POST disabled but enabled it because of Stop + D.
Bypassing POST by holding Stop works though:
Code:
Hardware Power ON
[...]
Probing keyboard for L1/L1-D...Done
Skipping POST because of L1 keyboard command.
...but you need to hold Stop until that "Probing keyboard for L1/L1-D...Done" message was emitted.
Resetting NVRAM vars to defaults with Stop + N works:
Code:
Resetting NVRAM defaults because of L1-N keyboard command.
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
Platform is configured as a Server
...the message is emitted on the serial console. One has to hold the Stop + N keys until this message appears or until the banner message is displayed on the glass console.
But this does not work with
security-mode set to
full, as the machine then ignores the key combinations. I didn't check other values but assume as long as "security mode" is enabled somehow it will prevent these key combinations from working.
I was successful exactly one time in resetting the NVRAM contents with security mode enabled. This was accomplished by powering the machine down, removing the NVRAM and restart the machine. Wait for it to "hang" at the OBP after the banner message was emitted, then power it off again. Power it up and insert the NVRAM. Afterwards I needed to reprogram the IDPROM contents but security mode was deactivated.
It didn't work a second time though, security mode was still enabled, but my password didn't work. Hence I assume the timing is essential. But I don't exactly know when one needs to insert the NVRAM during startup so it gets cleared (or corrupted so it gets cleared by the firmware). Though I didn't notice any issues when hot-inserting the NVRAM, it might damage your hardware.
As my NVRAM already has an external battery attached, I removed it and will wait a few minutes until restoring my NVRAM configuration.
BTW disconnecting the battery from your NVRAM might be another option to solve your problem. But if you can source an NVRAM with external battery it will save you some work.
Small update: My NVRAM's internal battery seems to have still enough juice to keep its contents with the external battery removed. But I remembered that I can also reset the NVRAM from the RSC in the E250. Unfortunately the used
set-defaults seems to not reset the security vars:
Code:
Resetting NVRAM defaults because of RSC command.
Note: set-defaults does not change the security fields.
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
...so this is not a valid solution.
...and we have second machine that's no longer usable. But no big issue, I have spare parts.
=
