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SGI Octane2 Troubleshooting Guide

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SGI Octane2 front with bezel door open
An Octane2 with the bezel door open (Fabrice Philibert-Caillat, GFDL)

Fault-finding on the SGI Octane2, from SGI's Octane2 Workstation Owner's Guide (007-4207-002) and the Octane_ide Reference Guide (108-0217-002), with repair reports from Octane2 owners on the IRIXNet forum.[1][2] The Octane2 shares the Octane's chassis, power-on circuit, modules and diagnostics, so the full procedures are on SGI Octane Troubleshooting Guide. What is particular to the Octane2 is its VPro graphics, its power supply under heavy load, the 030-1467-001 system board and the memory.

Lightbar charts and diagnostics

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The Octane2 owner's guide prints the same three lightbar diagnostic charts as the Octane's, with the same symptoms and actions (pp. 200-202). They are tabulated at SGI Octane Troubleshooting Guide#Lightbar diagnostic charts.[3] The power-on tests, confidence tests and IDE tests from the System Maintenance menu are also the same; the IDE run takes up to 30 to 45 minutes.[4] The NMI button and the "Disable passwd" jumper are in the same places.[5][6]

The IDE from the System Maintenance menu does not test VPro graphics.[7] Neither does the graphics test in SGI's Octane_ide field diagnostics, which covers only the IMPACT-class boards; SGI's VPro diagnostic is the IRIX program odydiags, documented in its VPro Odyssey Graphics Diagnostic Reference (108-0314-001).[2] It installs in /usr/diags/ody, which two owners found missing from their systems. Forum members point to SGI's Internal Support Tools 2.7 CD, which contains it.[7][8]

Power faults

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The power-on circuit, the click of death, momentary starts and random shutdowns behave as on the Octane; see SGI Octane Troubleshooting Guide#Power faults. Octane2-specific reports:

  • Cutting out under heavy load. Irinikus's Octane2, with a dual 600 MHz R14000 module and V12 graphics, switched off while running several games at once and gave off an electrical smell when restarted. He traced the smell to a yellow-wrapped component in the supply joining its output circuit to the output bus bars, with a tar-like substance inside, and took it to be a large resettable fuse; another member thought it more likely a ferrite bead. The machine ran normally afterwards.[9]
  • A Lucent supply that would not start an Octane2. The owner fitted a Cherokee 747 W supply; the machine then booted, went blank, shut itself down after about ten minutes, and on the next attempt the supply cut out during start-up. SGI's diagnostics from the System Maintenance menu passed. Forum members could not say whether the supply was at fault.[10]

VPro graphics needs the VPro-rated supply, part 060-0035-001 or later; check it with hinv -m.[11]

Graphics faults

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Blank screen when graphics start

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On jwhat's Octane2 with V12 graphics the screen went blank each time the graphics started, although IRIX was running and could be reached over the network.[8] He worked through these checks:[8]

  1. Try the monitor on another computer at the same resolution, and try another monitor.
  2. Delete /var/X11/Xvc/Odyssey0_TimingTable to force the default resolution, or set one from single-user mode with /usr/gfx/setmon -x.
  3. Reseat the whole XIO assembly and check with hinv -mv that every board is identified.
  4. Connect to the machine's X server from another computer to confirm that X is running.
  5. Remove the option boards. In his machine the fault was the Digital Channel Display (DCD) board, which showed signs of fluid near its Intel flash chip; after cleaning it and refitting it the graphics worked again.

The safe timing table on that machine is 1280x1024_60_safe.[8] SGI's own note is that 1280 × 1024 works with VPro only on the Sony G1 21-inch and 24-inch monitors at 96 Hz, so check the resolution and monitor before suspecting the board.[12]

Odyssey warnings

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One owner's Octane with VPro graphics logs "warning odsy board 0 retrace had to forcefully validate wid 21" from time to time; when it does, one CPU stalls and the machine usually needs a full restart. He installed odydiags to test the board.[7]

VPro requirements

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A VPro board that will not work after an upgrade may be missing a prerequisite: IRIX 6.5.10 or later, PROM 4.0 for V6 and V8 or 4.5 for V10 and V12, frontplane Xbow 1.4 for V10 and V12, and the VPro-rated supply. The command monitor's version command shows the PROM revision; hinv under IRIX 6.5.10 or later shows the Xbow revision.[13] The Tri-Module must go in with the VPro I/O panel at the top, or the board can overheat.[12]

System board and memory

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  • PROM memory messages over the serial console. One Octane2 reported "Bad or missing DIMM in bank 0, DIMM S1", mismatched DIMMs in bank 1 and read errors in banks 2 and 3, then stopped booting with a slowly flashing red lightbar. Its DIMMs and sockets were very dusty.[14]
  • The same machine went completely dead after the system module was cleaned and refitted: no lights, no serial output, only the supply fan running. Small hex screws on the actuators that drive the module's locking hooks had worked loose, so one side did not move with the other. With them tightened the module seated, and the machine booted with a good pair of DIMMs moved into bank 1.[14]
  • A 030-1467-001 system board that powered the machine on as soon as the mains was connected, with no lightbar and no serial output. Swapping in the Dallas DS1687 from a working board stopped the self power-on, which the owner put down to bad data in the clock chip, and he cleared that chip with resetenv in the working machine. The board still would not run reliably, both its compression connectors had loose outer edges, and he replaced it with an identical board.[15]
  • CB_HK runs a GlitchWorks DS1687-5 replacement module in his Octane2 and reports that it works perfectly; he has had machines misbehave when the Dallas battery was flat. Another member warns that IRIX diagnostics can report a memory fault when the cause is a flat Dallas battery, and suggests checking the chip's voltages first.[14]

Memory rules for the Octane2's 1 GB DIMMs are on SGI Octane2 General Maintenance.

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References

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  1. ↑ Silicon Graphics, Octane2 Workstation Owner's Guide, 007-4207-002, 2000-2002, chapter 8, pp. 199-216 (File:SGI Octane2 Workstation Owner's Guide (007-4207-002).pdf).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Silicon Graphics, Octane_ide Reference Guide, 108-0217-002, introduction and section 7.1 (File:SGI Octane ide Reference Guide (108-0217-002).pdf). gfx does not test VPro (Odyssey) graphics; odydiags and document 108-0314-001.
  3. ↑ SGI, 007-4207-002, pp. 200-202, Figures 8-1 to 8-3. Lightbar diagnostic charts.
  4. ↑ SGI, 007-4207-002, pp. 205-206. Power-on, confidence and IDE tests.
  5. ↑ SGI, 007-4207-002, p. 203. NMI button.
  6. ↑ SGI, 007-4207-002, pp. 211-214. System maintenance password jumper.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 wogaut and vishnu, "Where to find OdyDiags?", IRIXNet forum thread 4916, April 2026, forums.irixnet.org/thread-4916.html.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 jwhat, jan-jaap and Jacques, "VPro / Odyssey Diagnostic Disk (broken V12?)", IRIXNet forum thread 1573, October 2019, forums.irixnet.org/thread-1573.html.
  9. ↑ Irinikus, mosiniak and others, "Failure of an Octane2 power supply!", IRIXNet forum thread 1065, March to June 2019, forums.irixnet.org/thread-1065.html.
  10. ↑ Ade2548 and Raion, "Octane2 Boot problem", IRIXNet forum thread 4951, June 2026, forums.irixnet.org/thread-4951.html.
  11. ↑ Silicon Graphics, Octane Workstation VPro Graphics Power Supply Upgrade Instructions, 007-4208-001, 2000, p. 14 (File:SGI Octane VPro Graphics Power Supply Upgrade Instructions (007-4208-001).pdf).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 SGI, 007-4207-002, pp. 108-109. Tri-Module orientation; 1280 × 1024 note.
  13. ↑ Silicon Graphics, Octane/Octane2 Workstation VPro Graphics Upgrade Kit Installation Guide, 007-4210-003, 2003, pp. 1-6 (File:SGI Octane and Octane2 VPro Graphics Upgrade Kit Installation Guide (007-4210-003).pdf).
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 JannieVanZyl and CB_HK, "Octane2 (R14000/600, Odyssey): bad DIMM errors over serial, then completely dead", IRIXNet forum thread 5048, October 2026, forums.irixnet.org/thread-5048.html.
  15. ↑ MindWalker and Raion, "Seeking help with an Octane (2?) CPU repair/replacement", IRIXNet forum thread 4870, March to September 2026, forums.irixnet.org/thread-4870.html.


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