SGI Onyx Documentation

A deskside Onyx, the machine covered by the first owner's guide below

SGI documentation for the SGI Onyx: the owner's guides for the deskside and rackmount versions, two field-service documents written for the CHALLENGE and Onyx together, and SGI's 2000 letter on the OLS power supply hazard.

Deskside owner's guide (007-1733-070)

Silicon Graphics, POWER Onyx and Onyx Deskside Owner's Guide, document number 007-1733-070, copyright 1995 and 1996, 234 pages. It covers the deskside Onyx (model CMN A011) with IP19, IP21 and IP25 CPU boards and RealityEngine2, VTX, InfiniteReality, i-Station and RealityStation graphics.

Contents: 1, Introducing the Onyx Deskside Graphics Workstation (p. 1); 2, Touring the Chassis (p. 15), including the System Controller (p. 29), cooling (p. 32) and power supplies (p. 35); 3, Getting Started (p. 37), including powering on (p. 55), the InfiniteReality combiner (p. 57) and powering off (p. 78); 4, Installing Optional Peripherals (p. 81); 5, Having Trouble? (p. 113); 6, Safety and Comfort (p. 129); appendix A, Hardware Specifications (p. 135); B, Maintaining Drives (p. 139); C, System Controller Messages (p. 153); D, Onyx IO4 PROM, Mezzanine, and Troubleshooting (p. 161); E, Onyx VMEbus Implementation (p. 171), with VME power limits and slot assignments.

It does not cover disassembly or board replacement beyond the drives, which SGI leaves to trained staff, and gives no component-level information.

Download: File:SGI POWER Onyx and Onyx Deskside Owner's Guide (007-1733-070).pdf

Rackmount owner's guide (007-1736-060)

Silicon Graphics, POWER Onyx and Onyx Rackmount Owner's Guide, document number 007-1736-060, copyright 1995 and 1996, 235 pages. It covers the rackmount Onyx: the POWERpath-2 board set limits (up to six CPU, eight MC3 and six IO4 boards and three graphics pipes), the two or three offline switchers, the I/O panels of cardcages 1 to 3, the SCSIBox 2 drive enclosures, the System Controller, troubleshooting, specifications (appendix A, p. 133), System Controller error messages (appendix C, p. 147), the IO4 PROM (appendix D, p. 155) and VME (appendix E, p. 167).

The specification table gives the rackmount's maximum weight as 800 lb (363 kg), while chapter 3 warns that a fully configured system can weigh over 1000 lb; the same chapter gives the mains supply as 220–400 V where the table gives 208–240 V.

Download: File:SGI POWER Onyx and Onyx Rackmount Owner's Guide (007-1736-060).pdf

Diagnostic road map (108-7045-030)

Silicon Graphics, CHALLENGE/Onyx Diagnostic Road Map, document number 108-7045-030, copyright 1993 and 1994, 140 pages, a field-service document marked as containing proprietary and confidential information of Silicon Graphics. It covers the IP19 and IP21 generation of CHALLENGE and Onyx systems.

Contents: 1, Theory of Operations (p. 1-1); 2, Diagnostic Procedures (p. 2-1), including known problems such as MC3 clock jitter, SIMM failures, IP19 EAROM corruption and backplane voltage droop (pp. 2-36 to 2-39); 3, Power Subsystem (p. 3-1), with the fault LEDs on every board and the power-on sequence; 4, Using the System Controller (p. 4-1), with its menus and the hidden Debug Settings menu (p. 4-15); 5, PROM Monitor (p. 5-1), with power-on tests and CPU LED codes; 6, Interactive Diagnostics Environment (p. 6-1); 7, IRIX Error Reporting.

It predates the IP25 (R10000) board and InfiniteReality, and does not cover the OLS internals or give component values.

Download: File:SGI CHALLENGE and Onyx Diagnostic Road Map (108-7045-030).pdf

Illustrated parts list (108-0129-002)

Silicon Graphics, CHALLENGE and Onyx Rack and Deskside Illustrated Parts List, document number 108-0129-002, copyright 1994 and 1995, 190 pages, also marked proprietary and confidential. Exploded diagrams and SGI part numbers, with a column showing whether each part is used in the CHALLENGE, the Onyx or both.

Contents: 1, Rack Systems (p. 1-1); 2, Deskside Systems (p. 2-1); 3, General Assemblies Common to Rack and Deskside Systems (p. 3-1), including the OLS assembly (p. 3-7) and external cables; 4, Rack and Deskside Boards (p. 4-1): CPU (p. 4-2), memory (p. 4-4), interface (p. 4-5), power (p. 4-11), midplane and backplane (p. 4-15), graphics (p. 4-23) and air deflector boards; 5, Onyx and CHALLENGE Media Devices (p. 5-1); 6, Selected CHALLENGE/Onyx Options; appendix A, Selected Rack and Deskside Hardware.

Parts are listed to the board and assembly level; there are no component lists.

Download: File:SGI CHALLENGE and Onyx Rack and Deskside Illustrated Parts List (108-0129-002).pdf

OLS power supply hazard letter

SGI, Potential Hazard Regarding Off-Line Switching (OLS) Power Supply, customer letter dated 21 August 2000, document number 007-4267-001, 3 pages. It names every Challenge, Power Challenge, Onyx and POWER Onyx model as using the Cherokee International OLS, describes the overheating inductor cores, lists six precautions for owners and announces a replacement programme from November 2000. It does not identify the affected and replacement OLS part numbers.

Download: File:SGI Challenge and Onyx OLS power supply hazard letter (007-4267-001).pdf

Pages that cite these documents

• SGI Onyx: specifications, board set, power system, known faults.
• SGI Onyx General Maintenance: safety, environment, power-up and shutdown, inventory update.
• SGI Onyx Troubleshooting Guide: power-on sequence, fault LEDs, System Controller messages, debug menu.
• SGI Onyx Capacitor Replacement Guide: power conversion and the OLS hazard.