Nekochan Net

I used to run my SS5 as a router. I never changed anything in the PROM to run headless I dont think, I didnt need a serial console though. It booted up fine without a keyboard and monitor, it just would beep and complain, then keep booting I think. Then, like you want, I would just login over the network. So I guess give it a shot headless, but still set to keyboard and screen? Its been a while, I could be wrong....

So just to run down the list for the fun of it...

-You disconnected the keyboard / mouse.
-You rebooted the machine (sans keyboard/ mouse).
-You are using a null modem cable and not a straight serial cable.
-You are using the standard 9600 / 8 / N / 1 / HW serial settings.

Right?

Try a 'set-defaults' with the keyboard and mouse hooked up in OBP then power down the machine, remove the gear and try again... Out side of that I am not sure what would be causing it. Good luck!

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Stuff.

I certainly would. Somebody messing with, for example, the sbus-probe-order list without knowing what he was doing could easily cause this kind of problem.

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FWIW, on my SS2 (as in SparcStation 2) I had to take out the graphics card in order for it to run headless. YMMV.

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Torfinn

This was caused by a bug in early OpenPROM 2.x versions (IIRC from 2.0 up to 2.3 inclusive).

SPARCstation 5 ought to have OpenPROM >= 2.9 and default to serial if no keyboard is connected, even with a framebuffer installed.

Now, if this machine is actually a Cycle 5 upgrade of an SS2 into an SS5, keeping the SS2 chassis, the serial ports are actually an SS20-like multiplexed port connected to the enclosure `B' port (the `A' port being the parallel port).

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