Re: Sun Fire V215 ALOM troubles

[Steve Rikli <sr%genyosha.net@localhost>]

On Thu, Jun 05, 2025 at 06:07:04PM +0000, Paolo Vincenzo Olivo wrote:
> 
> I recently acquired a Sun Fire V215 at a very convenient price, from a
> local business which had already decommissioned it long ago (local
> pickup on eBay). Nobody at this business knows the whereabouts of this
> machine, aside from the fact that 'it powers on regularly'. 
> 
> Long story short, once connected to power supply, it powered on and
> booted straight to hard-disk, probably running an Apache server on
> Solaris 10 (what I could tell from a nmap scan). 
> 
> Attached a serial cable to the SERIAL MGT RJ45 port, opened a serial
> console. Upon boot I get:

Looks like the hardware is healthy, at least -- good starting point.

Couple things to try:

- instead of supplying a password to the ALOM login prompt, just hit
  [Enter]

- while the default ALOM login is "admin' (at least for SPARC SunFires
  AFAIK), JIC try "root" too; "changeme", empty etc. passwords as before

- try the serial console (probably labeled "SER TTYB" or similar on the
  rear panel) directly rather than accessing the ALOM; this is kind of
  a longshot, but maybe they redirected the serial console and you can
  interrupt or send-brk to get OFW OK prompt from there

It's been many (!!) years since I laid hands on SunFire kit, maybe
this reference will be useful for basic stuff:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19088-01/v215.srvr/

If I were really stuck, I might try creating a sysdisk offline, replacing
the current (presumably Solaris) disk so you can at least access the
system that way. Maybe save the Solaris disk for later "surgery".

Cheers,
sr.


> ALOM BOOTMON v1.6.8
> ALOM Build Release: 001
> Reset register: e0000000 EHRS ESRS LLRS
> 
> 
> ALOM POST 1.0
> 
> 
> Dual Port Memory Test, PASSED.
> 
> TTY External - Internal Loopback Test
> TTY External - Internal Loopback Test, PASSED.
> 
> TTYC - Internal Loopback Test
> TTYC - Internal Loopback Test, PASSED.
> 
> TTYD - Internal Loopback Test
> TTYD - Internal Loopback Test, PASSED.
> 
> Memory Data Lines Test
> Memory Data Lines Test, PASSED.
> 
> Memory Address Lines Test
>   Slide address bits to test open address lines
>   Test for shorted address lines
> Memory Address Lines Test, PASSED.
> 
> Boot Sector FLASH CRC Test
> Boot Sector FLASH CRC Test, PASSED.
> 
> 
> 
> Return to Boot Monitor for Handshake
> ALOM POST 1.0
>    Status = 00007fff
> 
> Returned from Boot Monitor and Handshake
> 
> 
> 
> Loading the runtime image...
> 
> Sun(tm) Advanced Lights Out Manager 1.6.8 (sunacslsb)
> 
> 
> 
> Full VxDiag Tests
> 
> BASIC TOD TEST
>   Read the TOD Clock:        THU JUN 05 15:41:50 2025
>   Wait, 1 - 3 seconds
>   Read the TOD Clock:        THU JUN 05 15:41:52 2025
> BASIC TOD TEST, PASSED
> 
> ETHERNET CPU LOOPBACK TEST
>   50 BYTE PACKET   - a 0 in field of 1's.
>   50 BYTE PACKET   - a 1 in field of 0's.
>   900 BYTE PACKET  - pseudo-random data.
> ETHERNET CPU LOOPBACK TEST, PASSED
> 
> Full VxDiag Tests - PASSED
> 
> 
> 
>     Status summary  -  Status = 7FFF
> 
>        VxDiag    -          -  PASSED
>        POST      -          -  PASSED
>        LOOPBACK  -          -  PASSED
> 
>        I2C       -          -  PASSED
>        EPROM     -          -  PASSED
>        FRU PROM  -          -  PASSED
> 
>        ETHERNET  -          -  PASSED
>        MAIN CRC  -          -  PASSED
>        BOOT CRC  -          -  PASSED
> 
>        TTYD      -          -  PASSED
>        TTYC      -          -  PASSED
>        MEMORY    -          -  PASSED
>        MPC885    -          -  PASSED
> 
> ```
> 
> Then it asks me to login into the ALOM+. According to the V215 manual,
> the default password for admin should correspond to the last 8
> characters of the chassis serial number. Unfortunately, this is rejected
> (tried also full number, lowercase, and other combinations). Other
> default password found in earlier Sun boxes ('admin1', 'changeme') also
> don't work. Most likely, it has been changed.
> 
> I couldn't get more info about the running system, as the OPROM/kernel
> buffer is not redirected to the serial console by default. 
> 
> Now, looking online I found different ways to workaround the problem,
> but none applied to my case, and I feel like I'm running out of options:
> 
> * This version of *LOM doesn't allow to erase NVRAM, as described in
>   thread: https://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sparc64/2013/09/30/msg002024.html
> * Later Sun server do not have a discrete LOM card (can't unplug it), but a chip
>   integrated in the mainboard. I read somewhere that there's a jumper
>   you can play with, but haven't find more detailed information.
> * I CAN'T get to an ok> prompt, so I can't boot a Solaris ISO from the
>   optical drive. CTRL + Break at the ALOM login timeout does not work.
>   (apparently, the combination can be disabled from Solaris). All I get
>   is the login prompt, and the timeout message after few minutes, asking
>   to press the '#.' escape sequence to return to ALOM...
> 
> ```
>   Enter #. to return to ALOM.
> 
> 
> Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
> Use is subject to license terms.
> 
> 
> Sun(tm) Advanced Lights Out Manager 1.6.8 (sunacslsb)
> 
> Please login:
> ```
> 
> Any ideas? Should I give up on this and sell it for parts?
> 
> Regards,
> Polo