Help with AT&T 3B2/300

[Jack Gross]

In article <3540002 at eecs.nwu.edu> naim at eecs.nwu.edu (Naim Abdullah) writes:
>best at seas.gwu.edu (keith best) writes about a 3b2/300:
>>Previously when I tried to access the FIRMWARE mode, I got an NVRAM SANITY 
>>failure: I have since replaced the battery, but now I get a SYSTEM FAILURE: 
>>CONSULT YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION UTILITIES GUIDES.  This guide does not 
>>mention this error message.  The FLOPPY KEY disk gives the same error.
>>The system is running SYSTEM V Release 2.0 3B2 Version 2.0.  We are way past
>>support from AT&T who donated the computer system so we would appreciate any
>>help from knowledgeable users out there.
>
>I am in exactly the same situation as Keith. I too, have an aging 3b2/300
>that was being thrown out and I volunteered to take it over. We don't have
>the floppy key disk for the system. When I turn it on, it gives me the
>same NVRAM SANITY FAILURE mentioned by Keith. And yes, I replaced the battery
>too. I still get the same message.
>
>Any ideas from those who have tried to restore a 3b2/300 to life ? Your posting
>may help save the life of a 3b2. Write soon; operators are standing by... :-)
>
>     Naim
>     
>     (naim at eecs.nwu.edu)

What you need to do is type in: mcp and return. The machine will not echo
the characters back to you. If you get:
SYSTEM FAILURE: CONSULT YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION UTILITIES GUIDE
again then check to make sure that you have your terminal set up to
9600 baud no parity. You should then see:
Enter name of program to execute [  ]:
you type in unix and enter.
Next you will see:
Option Number    Slot     Name
---------------------------------------
       0          0     FD5       
       1          0     HD30          

Enter Load Device Option Number [1 (HD30)]:

Type in 0 to boot from the first floppy of the core set. After a minute or
so the machine will come up and ask you if you want to do a complete restore, partial restore, upgrade or dual disk upgrade. You should then type in:
magic mode and return. You will then be get a shell so you can mount the hard 
disk and remove the password from root. To mount the hard disk
type in /etc/mount /dev/dsk/c1d0s0 /mnt. Then cd /mnt/etc and
use ../bin/ed to edit the passwd file. After you have done this
you can cd / and /etc/umount /dev/dsk/c1d0s0. Next step is to type in /etc/uadmin 2 1
to get the machine to reboot.





			Jack Gross
			AT&T Bell Laboratories
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                        Lincroft NJ 07738
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