[Tfug] A Sun Ultra/Debian Video Question

[Bexley Hall]

Greetings!

> > > I got Debian installed and running. I had some
> > > trouble with XFree86 configuration; didn't get 
> > > it to work.
> > 
> > Were you able to get things running *with* your
> > monitor?  I.e. did it die *while* you were trying
> > to get X configured?  (if you specify the mode
> > configuration incorrectly, you can drive your
> > monitor at rates that it isn't prepared to handle;
> > though I would think most modern monitors would
> > detect this and just refused to sync to the
> signal)
> 
> I had Debian installed and was using the machine. I
> shutdown. When I
> rebooted, I got a black screen. The green indicator
> light is on when I
> turn the monitor on but then goes to power save mode
> and stays there. It

The monitor doesn't see any video on its input so
it is shutting down.  Not a problem with the monitor.

> is a very old (my guess) monitor with only one
> resolution listed, at
> least that is what I all I can find digging through
> the Sun web site. GDM
> 17E10 -- 1152 x 900 @ 66 or 76 Hz (I think I have
> figured out the acronym
> GDM though <grin>). This is the default for booting
> and for OpenBoot as far as I can decipher.
> 
> There isn't even the normal POST at boot-up.
> 
> There was no smoke or strange smells. That was
> disappointing. 

"No smoke" is *never* disappointing!  :>

> I think, if X and I killed it, it would have died
> when trying to run X. 

I suspect something in the XFree configuration
process tweeked the video configuration.  There
is a second video connector down by the network
connector (bottom left when viewed from the rear,
IIRC).  This is a HD15 like for a regular PC.
You could *try* that (with a PC multisynch monitor).

But, I would, instead, try rebooting WHILE HOLDING
'STOP' and 'N' keys depressed (and hold them that
way until you see the Sun banner appear!).  This
will reset the NVRAM defaults in case they were
tweeked by the Debian setup (this would be consistent
with your symptoms:  "It worked until I rebooted"
as they are only examined at boot!)
 
(I am assuming you have a Sun keyboard handy as
you *were* using the monitor as the console
previously)

In general, your best bet when bringing up a Sun
machine is to use a serial console.  It eliminates
one set of variables from the mix (and adds ANOTHER
set! :-/  )

[snip]

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