SGI Visual Workstation 320 Troubleshooting Guide
.png)
Fault-finding on the SGI Visual Workstation 320, from the symptom table and LED codes in SGI's Silicon Graphics 320 Visual Workstation Owner's Guide (007-3701-001), SGI's firmware and software installation guides, and repair notes from the SGI320 community site and the IRIXNet forum.[1][2][3] SGI's procedures stop at replaceable parts: DIMMs, processors, the voltage regulator, the power supply, the fan and the system board. The 320 has no PC BIOS. Its firmware reports start-up errors on screen and through the front LED.[4][5][1]
Order of work
[edit | edit source]- Check the mains cord, the voltage switch and the monitor connection.
- Watch the front LED and listen for the fans when the power button is pressed.
- If the LED blinks and nothing reaches the screen, read the blink pattern.
- If the firmware screens appear but Windows does not start, check memory, the system disk and the FAT boot partition.
- Strip the machine to one processor with the terminator, one group of six DIMMs, no PCI cards and the system disk, and add parts back one at a time.
No power
[edit | edit source]| Possible cause | SGI's action |
|---|---|
| Mains cord disconnected | Check the cord from the outlet to the workstation |
| Power supply cables not attached to the system board | Reconnect them. If the internal fans run and the LED in the upper right corner of the system board is lit, the board is receiving power |
| Primary processor not recognised | Reseat the primary processor; with no second processor, make sure the terminator card is in the upper slot |
| Power button and LED cables not attached to the system board | Reconnect them (a diagram inside the side cover shows the connectors) |
| Primary processor failure | Replace the processor |
| Power supply failure | Replace the power supply |
| System board failure | Replace the system board |
The SGI320 community site describes a fault in which the 320 will not start from the front button after a power cut or mains glitch. The fix it gives, which it says SGI used to recommend, is to unplug the mains cord, press the front power button several times, wait a minute, plug the cord back in and try again. The same site reports loose screws holding the system board to the chassis as a cause of power-up problems; tighten them.[7] The firmware's Recovery from Electrical Power Loss setting decides whether the machine turns itself back on after a power cut.[2]
Fans run but nothing else happens
[edit | edit source]On the IRIXNet forum in 2020 an owner described a 320 whose fans ran with no picture and no other sign of life. Its processor was a 600 MHz Pentium III without SGI's latch tabs, a speed not in SGI's jumper table. Forum members suggested reducing the system to its minimum configuration and checking the processor jumpers, the terminator and the processor itself. One also suggested checking the power supply's power good timing, which they had seen cause the same symptom on PC supplies. The thread ends without a confirmed cause.[6] SGI's own table lists a voltage regulator left fitted with a terminator in the upper slot as a cause of a blinking LED with no picture.[1]
Power supply connectors
[edit | edit source]The supply joins the system board through a 24-pin main connector and a 5-pin auxiliary connector. The pinout below was published on the SGI320 site by Bob Skiles in 2002 as part of his conversion to an ATX supply. Check it against the wire colours on your own supply before measuring, and measure with the supply connected and loaded.[3]
| Pins | Rail | Wire colour |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 13 | +12 V | Yellow |
| 3–7, 14–19 | Ground | Black |
| 8, 9, 20 | +5 V | Red |
| 10–12, 21–24 | +3.3 V | Orange |
| Pin | Signal | Wire colour |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | −12 V | Blue |
| 2 | +3.3 V sense | Brown |
| 3 | +5 V standby | Grey |
| 4 | Power good | White |
| 5 | Power on/off | Purple |
The +5 V standby line is on whenever the mains cord is plugged in.[3] SGI's datasheet lists soft power control and a power good output among the supply's features.[5]
LED blink codes
[edit | edit source]The LED on the front blinks at random while the power-on diagnostics run. If the boot fails, it gives these codes:[1]
| Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Blinks continuously | Fatal system board error |
| Blinks n times, pauses, repeats (n = 1 to 6) | Memory error in DIMM An of slot group A |
| Blinks 7 or 8 times, pauses, repeats | Memory error that the diagnostics cannot isolate to one DIMM |
| Symptom | Possible cause | SGI's action |
|---|---|---|
| LED blinks continuously | Memory error | Make sure all DIMMs in group A are the same capacity and fully seated |
| LED blinks continuously | Voltage regulator fitted with a terminator in the secondary slot | Remove the voltage regulator |
| LED blinks continuously | Memory failure | Replace the DIMMs |
| LED blinks continuously | System board failure | Replace the system board |
| LED blinks a repeating pattern | Memory failure | Find and replace the DIMM given by the blink code |
No picture with the system running
[edit | edit source]- No power to the monitor: check its cord and power switch.[1]
- Monitor on, LED lit and not blinking, no picture: turn up the brightness and check the monitor cable at both ends.[1]
- A flat panel on the display option connector needs the display option card fitted; a CRT goes on the VGA port.[8][9]
- A sync-on-green monitor such as the Sony GDM-20D11 needs
Syncongreenadded to the OSLoader options in the firmware's Startup Settings, and the SGI320 site reports that it then works only at 1280 × 1024 at 75 Hz.[7]
Firmware runs but Windows does not start
[edit | edit source]| Possible cause | SGI's action |
|---|---|
| Memory error or failure | Check that group A holds DIMMs of one capacity, fully seated. Set Power On Diagnostics to Extensive Tests, reboot, and look for memory errors in the diagnostics display |
| System drive not recognised (IDE) | The drive must be set to master, fitted in the bottom bay, with the IDE and power cables attached |
| System drive not recognised (SCSI) | The drive must be SCSI ID 0, with the SCSI card seated and the internal SCSI cable and power cable attached |
| New processor not recognised by the software | Reinstall Windows NT |
Extensive Tests adds about a tenth of a second per megabyte of memory to the start-up time. The firmware can switch to Extensive Tests by itself after a failed boot; set it back to Quick Boot afterwards.[2]
The firmware loads Windows from boot files (arcldr.exe, hal.dll, arcsetup.exe) in a FAT partition, by default the second partition of the boot disk. Moving them, or repartitioning without changing the Startup Settings, stops the machine booting.[10] The SGI320 site gives a repair for a damaged FAT boot partition: copy the three files to a floppy, point the firmware's System Partition at the floppy, boot Windows, and copy the files back.[7]
The SGI320 site reports that the 320 can only boot from SGI's QLogic 1080 and 1280 SCSI cards; other SCSI and RAID cards work for data disks only.[11][12]
Memory faults
[edit | edit source]- The system does not see all its memory: each group must hold six DIMMs of one capacity, fully seated. Reseat them; if the memory is still missing, a DIMM is faulty.[13]
- Use the blink code to find a failed DIMM in group A. For other memory errors, set Power On Diagnostics to Extensive Tests, reboot and read the memory error in the diagnostics display.[1][2]
- Turning L2 cache error correction off in the firmware improves performance slightly and turning it on may improve stability. The SGI320 site suggests disabling it after a processor upgrade that gives display artefacts or random crashes during start-up.[2][14]
Processor faults
[edit | edit source]| Possible cause | SGI's action |
|---|---|
| Processor not correctly installed | Reseat it |
| Processor count jumper wrong | The jumper below the secondary processor must be on the two right-hand pins |
| Voltage regulator missing or bad | Fit or replace the voltage regulator |
Both processors must have the same stepping, and Windows NT has to be reinstalled after adding or upgrading a processor.[15] If the system does not boot after a processor change, check that the primary processor is seated in the lower slot and that the speed jumpers match it.[15] For processors faster than SGI shipped, the SGI320 site says the result depends on the PROM version, the voltage regulator module and the system board revision. It documents a solder modification to pins 1 to 4 of U37, the CS5155 buck controller of the on-board regulator, which SGI made on many revision 006 boards so that they would run Coppermine Pentium III processors.[14][16] The plug-in regulator modules carry VXI part numbers; the SGI320 site lists them with the VRM specification, input voltage and output current of each.[17]
Keyboard, mouse and USB
[edit | edit source]- The mouse plugs into the keyboard, and the keyboard into the left-hand USB port. If the mouse is not recognised, press Reset; otherwise try another keyboard or mouse.[1]
- Under Windows NT 4.0 the keyboard and mouse are the only supported USB devices, and IEEE 1394 is not supported.[8]
PCI cards and drives
[edit | edit source]- A PCI card is not recognised: reseat it; if the card is not supported, remove it.[1] The slots take 3.3 V cards only.[9]
- An internal drive is not recognised: check the IDE, SCSI and power cables, the master and slave settings, and that no two SCSI devices share an ID.[1]
Firmware problems
[edit | edit source]- Forgotten firmware password: move the password jumper above the PCI slots to the two right-hand pins, power on, set a new password, then move the jumper back.[1]
- Failed firmware flash: the SGI320 site's recovery is to download the PROM image again onto a newly formatted floppy labelled SGISETUP and boot with it inserted; the password jumper must not be in the enabled position, or the PROM cannot read the floppy.[18]
- The firmware has an undocumented command monitor, reached from Run System Utilities by typing
Command Monitoras the location. The SGI320 site uses it withsetenvandpingto test the Ethernet hardware when the Windows driver is in doubt.[18][19]
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- SGI Visual Workstation 320
- SGI Visual Workstation 320 General Maintenance
- SGI Visual Workstation 320 Capacitor Replacement Guide
- SGI Visual Workstation 320 Documentation
- Capacitor Failure Symptoms
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 SGI, 007-3701-001, pp. 89-95, Table 8-1. Troubleshooting table, LED blink codes, maintenance tips, password jumper.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics Visual Workstations System Firmware User's Guide, 007-4225-001, 1999, pp. 8-11 (File:SGI Visual Workstations System Firmware User's Guide (007-4225-001).pdf). Power-on diagnostics level, recovery from power loss, L2 cache error correction.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Bob Skiles (2002), "PSU", SGI320 community site, sgi320.wordpress.com. Main and auxiliary connector pinouts, ATX conversion, the power-on fault.
- ↑ Gerhard Lenerz, "Visual Workstation 320/540", sgistuff.net, sgistuff.net. ARCS PROM in place of a PC BIOS.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics 320 Visual Workstation datasheet, 1999 (File:SGI 320 Visual Workstation Datasheet (1999).pdf). Power supply with soft power control and power good output; power-on self test displays start-up errors.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "SGI Visual Workstation 320 won't POST", IRIXNet forum, posts by bronchitis, micrex22 and weblacky, April to May 2020, forums.irixnet.org. Community diagnosis of a 320 that runs its fans and does nothing else.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Milton Adamou, "Other" FAQ, SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Power-up failure after a power cut, loose board screws, sync-on-green monitors, repairing the FAT boot partition.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics 320 Visual Workstation Owner's Guide, 007-3701-001, 1999, pp. 3-8 (File:SGI Visual Workstation 320 Owner's Guide (007-3701-001).pdf). Ports, display option connector, USB and IEEE 1394 under Windows NT 4.0.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 SGI, 007-3701-001, pp. 53-58. 3.3 V PCI cards only; the display option card for the 1600SW flat panel.
- ↑ Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics Visual Workstations Software Installation Guide, 007-3703-003, 1999, pp. 32-33 (File:SGI Visual Workstations Software Installation Guide (007-3703-003).pdf). System loader files and partitions.
- ↑ Milton Adamou, "Hard Drive", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Bootable SCSI controllers.
- ↑ Milton Adamou, "PCI Expansion", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Cards reported working; which can boot.
- ↑ SGI, 007-3701-001, pp. 23-28. Verifying and troubleshooting DIMM installation.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Milton Adamou, "CPU", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Processor upgrades, PROM, VRM and board revision, L2 ECC.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 SGI, 007-3701-001, pp. 65-77. Verifying and troubleshooting processor installation, stepping.
- ↑ Bob Skiles, "U37 Hack", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Modification to the CS5155 buck controller U37 on revision 006 boards.
- ↑ Milton Adamou, "VRM", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. VXI regulator module part numbers and ratings.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Milton Adamou, "PROM" FAQ, SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Recovering a failed flash; the command monitor.
- ↑ Milton Adamou, "PROM commands", SGI320, sgi320.wordpress.com. Command monitor examples.