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SGI Tezro General Maintenance

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SGI Tezro cooling system (Hardware User's Guide Figure 2-14)
Tezro tower cooling: fan wall, disk drive fan, power supply fan and rear fan assembly (SGI Hardware User's Guide, Figure 2-14)

Routine care for the SGI Tezro tower, from SGI's Silicon Graphics Tezro Visual Workstation Hardware User's Guide: Tower Configuration (007-4564-001) and repair notes from the IRIXNet forum.[1][2] SGI lists what the owner may change: memory, drives, the IO9 board, XIO and PCI boards, the fans, three internal cables, the enclosure plastics and the L1 display. SGI's guide warns against removing parts not on that list. The power supply, the node board and the interface board are not on it.[1] The machines date from 2003 to 2007. Repairs reported by IRIXNet members centre on the clock batteries and the power supplies.[3][4][5]

Tools and safety

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SGI's procedures need only a wrist grounding strap, a T15 Torx driver, and small flat-blade and Phillips screwdrivers.[1]

  • Unplug the system before cleaning, and clean with a damp cloth, not liquid or aerosol cleaners.[1]
  • Use two people to lift or move the tower; it weighs up to 60.6 lb (27.5 kg).[6][7]
  • Wait five minutes after power-off before touching anything inside: the heat sinks on the interface board get very hot.[6]
  • Wear the wrist strap, clipped to bare metal on the chassis, for all internal work.[6]
  • The workstation has soldered lithium batteries, which SGI says only qualified service staff should replace.[1]

Opening the enclosure

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Which panel to remove depends on the part:[6]

Component access by panel (Hardware User's Guide, Table 3-1)
Right side panel Left side panel Front bezel
Memory DIMMs, disk drive fan, rear fan assembly, IO9 board, L1 display and LED cables XIO boards, PCI boards, fan wall, L1 display and LED cables DVD-ROM drive, L1 display

[6]

  1. Log out and press the power buttons to switch off the workstation and monitor. Note where each rear cable goes before disconnecting it.
  2. For a side panel, press the panel release button at the rear, swing the top of the panel away, lift it off the lip at the base and lift it clear.
  3. For the bezel, open the front door, press down in the two slots at the top of the drive shroud with a small flat screwdriver, tilt the shroud forward and lift it off its three tabs. Remove the five screws it covered, tilt the bezel frame forward, unplug the LED cable by squeezing its spring clips, and lift the frame away.

[6] To refit the bezel, hook its lower tabs into the enclosure, fit the five screws, then seat the drive shroud's three lower tabs and press its two upper tabs home.[8]

Cooling

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The tower has eight fans. The fan wall at the front holds two 60 mm and two 80 mm fans for the interface board, PCI boards and graphics module. An 80 mm fan sits behind the disks, and the rear assembly carries three 80 mm fans for the node board and memory. The power supply has its own fan.[9] The rear fan assembly extends 1.25 in (3 cm) behind the enclosure, and SGI asks for clear space at the rear for airflow.[7] The L1 controller powers the system off if any fan falls below 80% of its rated speed, so a slow fan shuts the whole machine down.[10]

  • Rear fan assembly (right side panel off): unplug its cable from the interface board, remove the single screw, slide the assembly up until its hooks clear the enclosure, and feed the cable out through the rear hole. Refit in reverse, sliding the assembly down onto its hooks.[11]
  • Disk drive fan (right side panel off): unplug its cable from the interface board, remove the screws and lift the fan out. When refitting, engage the front edge of the bracket with its hook before fitting the screws.[11]
  • Fan wall (left side panel off): if an XIO support bracket is fitted to the old fan wall, move it to the new one.[11]

IRIXNet members report that the Tezro raises temperature warnings for the graphics in hot weather and ramps the fan speed to recover; one owner added an extra fan powered from a drive connector to blow into the graphics module.[12]

Memory

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The DIMMs are behind the right side panel, in four pairs on the node board. Pair 1 (slots 0 and 1) must always be fitted, both DIMMs of a pair must be the same size, and a pair must be either full or empty.[9][13] To remove one, pull up the latches at the ends of the socket and lift it out. To fit one, open the latches, line the notches up with the socket and press down until the latches click into the DIMM's notches.[13] The DIMMs are the same as the Origin 300, Origin 3000 and Onyx 3000 DIMMs.[9]

Power supply

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SGI did not make the tower's supply owner-replaceable.[1] IRIXNet member weblacky recapped several Tezro supplies from 2021 and described the work as hard: the boards have very small vias in wide power tracks, the capacitors are glued with silicone stabiliser, one capacitor lead sits under a screw mount that has to be desoldered, and two daughterboards on the low-voltage side complicate access. He used a desoldering gun, a knife tip to cut the stabiliser and a 1 mm drill in a pin vice to clear vias.[2] See SGI Tezro Capacitor Replacement Guide.

On the bench, he found that original Tezro supplies give low readings on a standard ATX tester: 11.1 to 11.4 V on +12 V1, and +12 V2 shown as low. He regards these readings as normal for the supply.[2][4] The supply uses the ATX 24-pin layout for its main connector but is not a standard ATX unit.[4] MrWeedster replaced his with an ATX supply with an 8-pin EPS and a 4-pin 12 V connector fitted into the Tezro's 10-pin socket; weblacky advised that a replacement needs about 20 A or more available on both 3.3 V and 5 V.[14]

Clock batteries

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Two parts hold settings on batteries: the Dallas DS1742W clock module used by the L1 controller, a black module between the PCI slots and the fan wall, and the SNAPHAT on the IO9 board, which keeps the PROM environment and the IRIX time of day.[4][5][9] IRIXNet members fit modern replacements for the Dallas module (with a CR2032 cell) and a new M4T32-BR12SH6 SNAPHAT for the IO9.[5] Pin 1 of the Dallas module goes to the upper left as you look into the machine.[5] Changing the Dallas module can lose the system serial number, which must then be set again from the L1 using the number on the back of the machine.[15][5] Record the serial number, and the output of the L1 serial command, before changing either part.[16]

Maintenance checklist

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  1. Check from the L1 that every fan is running and no voltage or temperature is near a limit (env).[16]
  2. Vacuum dust from the front grilles, the fan wall, the rear fan assembly and the disk fan.
  3. Reseat the DIMMs, pair by pair.
  4. Check the L1 log for warnings (log).[16]
  5. Record the system serial number and the PROM environment before changing a clock battery.
  6. Keep the rear of the tower clear for airflow.
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 SGI, 007-4564-001, pp. 47-49. Replaceable parts, safety instructions, soldered lithium batteries, required tools.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Tezro PSU rebuild process", IRIXNet forum, posts by weblacky, August 2021 to February 2023, forums.irixnet.org. Recapping the Tezro power supply; bench voltages.
  3. ↑ Gerhard Lenerz, "Tezro", sgistuff.net, sgistuff.net. Announced July 2003; last systems shipped by March 2007.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Tezro L1 not starting even though LCD backlight is on", IRIXNet forum, February to October 2024, forums.irixnet.org. Dallas module location; ATX-like supply and normal tester readings.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Tezro won't boot into PROM", IRIXNet forum, March to September 2024, posts by PTSGI, weblacky and jwhat, forums.irixnet.org. Dallas module and SNAPHAT replacement, pin 1 orientation, serial number.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 SGI, 007-4564-001, pp. 49-56, Table 3-1. Powering off, moving the workstation, removing the panels and bezel, heat sink warning, wrist strap.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 SGI, 007-4564-001, p. 127, Table A-1. Weight, rear clearance.
  8. ↑ SGI, 007-4564-001, pp. 57-59. Returning the workstation to service: installing the bezel and drive shroud.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics Tezro Visual Workstation Hardware User's Guide: Tower Configuration, 007-4564-001, July 2003, pp. 23-44 (File:SGI Tezro Hardware User's Guide, Tower Configuration (007-4564-001).pdf). DIMM rules, IO9 board NVRAM and clock, cooling system.
  10. ↑ SGI, 007-4564-001, p. 114. Environmental fault monitoring.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 SGI, 007-4564-001, pp. 81-96. Replacing the fan wall, disk drive fan and rear fan assembly.
  12. ↑ "Tezro cooling", IRIXNet forum, December 2023 to January 2024, posts by blacksmith, Irinikus and chulofiasco, forums.irixnet.org.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 SGI, 007-4564-001, pp. 63-66. Removing and installing DIMMs.
  14. ↑ "Tezro: PSU replacement with standard PC ATX hardware", IRIXNet forum, March 2024, posts by MrWeedster and weblacky, forums.irixnet.org.
  15. ↑ "SGI Tezro problem on boot after remove Dallas DS1742W-120", IRIXNet forum, March 2024, forums.irixnet.org. "System serial number invalid format" after removing the Dallas module.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Silicon Graphics, Inc., SGI L1 and L2 Controller Software User's Guide, 007-3938-006, October 2006 (File:SGI L1 and L2 Controller Software User's Guide (007-3938-006).pdf). The env, log and serial commands.


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