About 6 months ago, we installed one of our (two) new SunFire V480's. Since they don't ship with a graphics card, we used a TIP connection through one of the older servers. It connected just fine and we didn't have any problems, and we installed the graphics card we'd ordered and changed the OpenBoot Variables accordingly. Still no problems (aside from getting the desktop login to come up, which we fixed after a couple days).
Now we're about to install the 2nd of those, the same way, through a TIP connection. So just to make sure I remembered what I did last time, I went through the process of re-connecting the other V480 back through a TIP to the older server.
I followed the Administrator's Guide and changed these OpenBoot Variables (through the OK prompt):
input-device ttya
output-device ttya
diag-out-console false

After double checking all the variables, (or so I thought) I rebooted and waited to see what I forgot to change. Nothing came up on either screen for a couple minutes. The first screen to load was the desktop login (not through the TIP either).
None of the boot screens were displayed. And nothing I've tried will bring up the OK prompt (init 0, shutdown, Stop-A, etc.). It does go to the white screen like it's trying to bring up the OK prompt, but nothing shows up and it just sits there. Can't input anything. Only thing I'm able to do is a manual reset.

I think I know which of the OpenBoot Variables I missed, however, I can't get back to the OK prompt to change it.

So, does anyone by chance know of a way I might be able to get to the OK prompt?
Or of a way to reset all the OpenBoot variables to their defaults? Maybe a jumper to remove and replace? I'd rather not take the battery out (or something similar) to clear the memory like you would the BIOS of a PC.

Any ideas are much appreciated,
PKSII

Best guess is that the output is being directed to one of the serial ports. Try hooking up a dumb terminal or a serial line to a comm program to your serial port. I think [STOP]-N during power up should set it back to factory defaults. If you get a remote connection ( telnet, ssh, something ) then as root, have a look at eeprom. Without parameters it will tell you current state of bios variables or you can modify the permanent storage. Check the man page before using.

I don't have any way to connect to the serial port right now (it's not the typical RJ-45 connection). I'll have to a bit of looking into that.
[STOP]-N didn't reset anything back to defaults.
And I forgot about the eeprom when I was fiddling with it earlier. I'm about to leave for a week, so I'll try that first thing when I get back.

Thanks for the efforts. If you (or anyone else) have any more ideas, I'm all ears.

PKSII

To reset most vaiables to their default setting....type:

ok set-defaults

For example, to reset the auto-boot? variable ot it's default setting (ture) type:

ok set-default auto-boot?

Hope this will help.

-mp

please ignore the previous entry.

I think "Stop-N" is the best way to Reset NVRAM contents to default values.

Thanks
Mp

Try pinning a rj-45 => db25 cable to use a dumb terminal or a comm program with your sunfire.

RJ45 Signal DB25 Modem
---- ------ ----------
1 RTS -- 4
2 DTR -- 20
3 TXD -- 2
4 Sig Grd -- 1
5 Sig Grd -- 7
6 RXD -- 3
7 DSR(DCD) -- 8
8 CTS -- 5

http://www.stokely.com/unix.serial.port.resources/A-B-Ycablepinout.html

OK, back from a nice, relaxing vacation, so I suppose it's back to the daily grind now...

I've tried Stop-N a couple times, at various times while booting and after, to no avail. I seem to remember reading in one of the books to do that while it's booting, just after the fault lights flash (although that might have been for something else), but it still didn't work. I'm not too sure about any of the Stop-* working, because Stop-A doesn't work now, and I know it used to.

Meanwhile, time to go home, more futzing with it tomorrow.

PKSII

Are you using a sun keyboard, monitor and mouse or a terminal console ? If you have a terminal console ( such as a wyse 50 ) the key sequence for a break signal is different. On a HP console there is a BREAK key.

Much thanks for all the ideas. I had asked several people about that odd serial port connection (on the back of the V480), and no one had ever seen one before, or even had any idea of what it was. However, it turns out that if you hold your mouth right, an RJ-45 connection will fit there. ::sigh:: Amazing how the simplest things can sometimes cause the most trouble...

But to answer the question, it was directing the low-level functions to the serial port (POST and the OK prompt in particular), but still showing the logon screen through the graphics card and monitor.

And now all is well again, and both servers are up and running without any problems.

Once again, thanks David.