John Ruschmeyer wrote:
> 
> I recently obtained a Sun 3/80 which I am trying to set up with NetBSD.
> As can be expected, the NVRAM battery is dead. 
> 
> When I do a "b st()", however, all I get is the response:
> 
>         st: Device not found.
> 
> 1) Is there any reason that the dead NVRAM might keep me from booting
> from tape?

Well, as a two responses have pointed out, this is definately the case. As
it was explained to me, the Sun 3/80 ROM does not know how to (correctly)
boot from a SCSI device unless it can find a valid machine type code in the
NVRAM.

So, now I have a new NVRAM chip and have gotten to a new point where I am
totally stuck.

Following the directions in the NVRAM FAQ, I entered the Ethernet address,
HOSTID, etc. I then did a "k2" to reset the system. My plan was to then
enter the appropriate values for the boot options, etc. (exactly as in the
FAQ).

The system resets and seems to now believe the NVRAM is valid. It proceeds
through the diagnostics, initializes memory, and gives me the prompt to
press any key to enter extended diagnostics or press "e" for echo mode. If I
enter "e", I get a message that output will be echoed to the screen. Either
way, however, the system appears to hang at this point.

Interestingly, if I put the original (dead) NVRAM back in, the system fails
in exactly the same way.

I should point out that I am trying to do all this from a serial console. I
have also removed the BWTWO card to keep from confusing the matter further.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what I might have done wrong or how to
proceed from here?

Thanks again...

<<<John>>>