Re: New Timekeeper/RAM clock stops on power loss?

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>> On this particular machine (or maybe just this particular part),
>> when the power is lost (either by utility failure or normal
>> power-down) the clock stops ticking.  When powered up again, the OBP
>> reports "Starting real-time clock",

This sounds to me like a dead NVRAM/clock chip battery.

>> as if the timekeeper/RAM had been put to sleep using "power-off"
>> from OBP (sets "ST" bit in one of the clock control registers).

In my experience, that's not what power-off does.  power-off just turns
power off, without stopping the clock chip's clock.  It is possible to
stop the chip's clock from OBP, but not by default as far as I can
tell; nvramrc on my SPARCs includes

: stop-clock f1201000 f 0 map-page 80 ff8 c! 80 ff9 c! 0 ff8 c! ;

(for SS20; depending on the machine, some of the numbers may need to
change).  When the machine is going to be powered down more than
briefly, I use that first, to preserve what battery life remains.

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