Jump to content

SGI Visual Workstation 550 General Maintenance

From RetroTechCollection
SGI Visual Workstation 550 internal structure (User's Guide Figure 1-4)
Inside the 550 with the side panel off (User's Guide Figure 1-4)

The SGI Visual Workstation 550 is a tower PC on an M29A system board with the Intel i840 chipset.[1] SGI's user guide describes the parts an owner may replace: the beam, the drives, the power supply, the front and rear fans, the expansion cards, the system board, the processors and the RIMMs.[2] It sets no service intervals. SGI's release notes add rules on memory, drive placement and SCSI cabling.[3]

Before opening the case

[edit | edit source]
  1. Turn the machine off by holding the power button for four seconds.[4] The front LED is steady green when the machine is on, flashes green in a suspend mode and is off when the machine is completely off.[3]
  2. Unplug the mains lead from the wall and from the power supply.[4]
  3. Wear an earthed wrist strap, and keep new parts in their antistatic bags until they go in.[5]

Side panel, bezel and beam

[edit | edit source]

Side panel

[edit | edit source]

Undo the two thumbscrews at the back of the case, slide the panel towards the rear and lift it away. To refit it, set the two tabs on its lower edge on the lower chassis rail, slide it back until the rear tab meets the chassis, push the top in, lift it slightly against the chassis, slide it forward into place and tighten the thumbscrews.[4][6]

Bezel

[edit | edit source]

The bezel only has to come off for the front drive bays and the front fan. With the side panel off, lift the four tabs on the side of the bezel out of the chassis while pulling the bezel away, then swing it off. To refit it, hook the four tabs on its right side into their slots and press the left side home until all four tabs on that side snap in.[4][6]

Beam

[edit | edit source]

The beam is the bar across the chassis over the expansion card area. SGI says the 550 should never be run without it.[7]

  1. Remove the beam screw on the right side of the beam.
  2. Pull the right side of the beam, marked "Pull Here for Removal", away from the chassis and swing it out.
  3. Pull the beam off the slot on the left side of the chassis.

To refit it, hook the tab on its left end into the slot in the chassis, swing it in until the right-hand tab locks into its slot, and refit the screw.[7]

Cleaning and airflow

[edit | edit source]

The front system fan draws air in; the rear system fan and the fan in the power supply push it out.[8] SGI's safety instructions say to unplug the machine before cleaning it, to use a damp cloth and no liquid or aerosol cleaners, and never to block the slots and openings in the case.[9] Choose a site free of dust and spills where the air can move freely.[10]

SGI's release notes say a 10,000 rpm hard disk should not go in the 3.5-inch bay above the floppy drive; any other free bay is acceptable.[3]

Front fan

[edit | edit source]
  1. Remove the side panel and the bezel, then the beam.
  2. Unplug the front fan cable from the system board.
  3. Remove the front fan screw on the front panel, release the three retaining clips one at a time while holding the plastic frame, and take the frame out.
  4. Lay the frame face down. Push gently on the centre of the fan with a flat screwdriver and release the four clips that hold it one at a time.
  5. Fit the new fan in the frame with its cable next to the slot in the frame, pass the cable through the slot and out of the hole beside it, then refit the frame on its guide pins until its clips snap in. Reconnect the cable.[11]

Rear fan

[edit | edit source]

SGI's procedure for the rear fan takes the system board out first.[11]

  1. Remove the side panel and lay the machine on its right side on a padded surface.
  2. Unplug the fan cable from the system board, then remove the system board (below).
  3. Push one of the two release buttons on the back of the rear panel with a pointed tool while pulling the fan upwards, then do the same with the second button, and lift the fan out.
  4. Fit the new fan's four retaining pins into their holes with the release buttons on the upper side, and push it down until both buttons click. Reconnect the cable.[11]

Power supply

[edit | edit source]

The 450 W supply sits above the system board at the rear and switches between 110 V and 220 V by itself.[8][3] SGI's guide treats it as a sealed unit and warns that it can hold dangerous voltages even when unplugged.[12]

  1. Unplug the mains lead and remove the side panel.
  2. Unplug the supply's cables from the system board and from every drive.
  3. Lay the machine on its right side on a padded surface.
  4. Remove the three supply screws on the rear panel and lift the supply out without letting it touch anything on the board.
  5. Fit the replacement, refit the three screws and reconnect the system board power, the CD-ROM, the floppy drive, the system disk and any other drives.[12]

System board

[edit | edit source]

SGI's procedure for taking the board out, which is also needed for the rear fan:[13]

  1. Lay the machine on its right side, remove the side panel and the beam, and take out all the expansion cards.
  2. Unplug every cable from the board, take the drives out of the internal drive cage and remove the cage (its screw is above the cage, with two drive sled screws at the front) and remove the front fan assembly.
  3. Remove the two screws at the standoffs along the top of the board and loosen the system board screw at the rear.
  4. Pull the board away from the I/O panel gasket and lift it out. Unclip the retaining bracket if the board is being replaced.

When refitting, line the rear ports up with the gasket and engage the standoff hooks in their holes before tightening the system board screw.[13]

Memory, processors and cards

[edit | edit source]
  • RIMMs are released by pressing the holding clips on both sides of the socket outwards, with a finger on top of the module. A new RIMM is pressed down until the clips close; if it will not go fully in, it may be the wrong way round.[14] Fit RIMMs in matched pairs (RM1 with RM3, RM2 with RM4), all PC800, with a C-RIMM in every empty socket.[3]
  • Each processor carries a fan and heatsink held by four screws and sits in a retention mechanism with a cover that only fits one way: match the O and OO marks. Plug the processor's three-pin and two-pin fan cables back into the board. An empty processor socket needs a terminator board. The heatsink gets very hot in use.[15]
  • SGI's release notes give an unseated AGP card as the likely cause when a new system will not boot after unpacking; press the card firmly back into its slot.[3]

Battery

[edit | edit source]

The clock and the BIOS settings are kept by a lithium cell at BT1, at the top right of the board in SGI's layout drawing.[1] SGI's guide does not give the cell type; read the markings on the fitted cell before ordering a replacement, and replace it only with the same or an equivalent type.[16] A "CMOS battery bad" message at start-up, or repeated requests to run Setup, mean the cell needs replacing.[17] See Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage for cell leakage and corrosion.

BIOS settings to record

[edit | edit source]

SGI's guide advises writing down the Setup values while the machine is working, because a wrong configuration is a major cause of start-up error messages.[17] Setup opens with Ctrl+Alt+Esc during the power-on self test; F8 shows the advanced level.[18] Record the drive settings, the onboard peripheral settings, the boot order and the memory and PCI options before replacing the battery or the board.

SCSI disks

[edit | edit source]

The system disk is on the integrated Ultra160 SCSI controller. For more than one disk on one channel, SGI's release notes give this arrangement:[3]

SCSI disk placement (Release Notes item 15)
Disk Location SCSI ID Cable connector
1 Bottom of the 3.5-inch bay 0 2
2 Top of the 3.5-inch bay 1 3
3 Top of the 5.25-inch bay 2 4
4 Bottom of the 5.25-inch bay 3 5

The cable has five connectors, numbered 1 to 5, and a terminator at its end; the disks use connectors 2 to 5.[3] For disk faults in general see Hard Drive Maintenance and Repair.

Maintenance checklist

[edit | edit source]
  1. Turn the machine off with a four-second press of the power button and unplug it.
  2. Vacuum the front intake, the rear fan and the power supply grille.
  3. Check that the front fan, the rear fan, the power supply fan and the processor fans turn at start-up.
  4. Check that the beam is fitted and its screw is in.
  5. Check the clock and the Setup values; replace the BT1 cell if they have been lost.
  6. Check that the RIMMs are in matched pairs with C-RIMMs in the empty sockets.
[edit | edit source]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), chapter 3, pp. 67–74: M29A board, Figure 3-1 layout and Table 3-1.
  2. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), chapter 2, "Installation of Customer Replaceable Components", p. 15.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Release Notes for the Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation, 007-3941-002, 2001: AGP card seating (item 1), drive bays (items 4–5), power supply (item 6), power button and LED (items 10 and 13), RIMM rules (item 14), SCSI cable routing (item 15). Hosted as File:SGI Visual Workstation 550 Release Notes (007-3941-002).pdf.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Pre-installation Instructions", pp. 16–17: power-off, unplugging, side panel and bezel removal.
  5. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Replacing Expansion Cards", p. 47, and "ESD Precautions", p. 76.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Post-installation Instructions", pp. 64–66.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Removing the Beam" and "Replacing the Beam", pp. 18–22.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Silicon Graphics, Inc., Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide, 007-4279-001, June 2000, "Internal Structure", pp. 6–7: fans, power supply position and auto-switching. Hosted as File:SGI Visual Workstation 550 User's Guide (007-4279-001).pdf.
  9. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), Appendix C, "Important safety instructions", pp. 140–141.
  10. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Pre-installation Instructions", p. 9.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Replacing Fans", pp. 38–46.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Replacing the Power Supply", pp. 36–37, including SGI's warning about voltages inside the unplugged supply and Figure 2-15 (cable connections).
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Replacing the Internal Drive Cage", pp. 40–42, and "Replacing the System Board", pp. 51–57.
  14. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Installing and Removing Memory Modules", pp. 83–85.
  15. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "Installing and Removing the Processor" and the terminator board, pp. 76–83.
  16. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), Appendix C, "Lithium battery statement", p. 143.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), "System Error Messages", Table 3-2 and the notes that follow, pp. 87–92.
  18. ↑ Silicon Graphics 550 Visual Workstation User's Guide (007-4279-001), chapter 4, "Entering Setup", pp. 94–95.


Retrieved from "https://retrotechwiki.com/index.php?title=SGI_Visual_Workstation_550_General_Maintenance&oldid=29313"