Advice: Netra T1 AC200 CDROM woes

[Bill Blum]

I've got a Netra T1 AC200, 1G of RAM that I bought off fleabay.

It came with *no* CDROM installed.

Is it theoretically possible to use a slimline CDROM drive out of a
PC?   I mean, it'll fit and all-- but I can't get OBP to acknowledge
it's existence.

Guidance would be appreciated.
--
Bill Blum
Bill.Blum@...
"Experience is the knowledge that enables you to recognize a mistake
when you make it again."
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[Jonathan Katz-2]

Is it possible it needs an OBP update to see the IDE bus/CD-ROM? (if
indeed it is an IDE CDROM?)

On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Bill Blum <bill.blum@...> wrote:
> I've got a Netra T1 AC200, 1G of RAM that I bought off fleabay.
>
>  It came with *no* CDROM installed.
>
>  Is it theoretically possible to use a slimline CDROM drive out of a
>  PC?   I mean, it'll fit and all-- but I can't get OBP to acknowledge
>  it's existence.
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[hike]

you can also use an external scsi cdrom/dvd drive.
if you have one sitting around, it will cost $0.

not all slimline cdrom drives are the same.
not all slimline brackets for the cdrom drives are the same.

pc slimline cdrom drives may use a different bracket and may not seat
properly.
sun slimline cdrom drives may be scsi.  (i don't remember that far back!)
sunsolve's system handbook should have these details.

be sure your slimline drive matches your media.
(i have a server with a cdrom drive; it never will read the dvd install
media! :) )



On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Bill Blum <bill.blum@...> wrote:

> I've got a Netra T1 AC200, 1G of RAM that I bought off fleabay.
>
> It came with *no* CDROM installed.
>
> Is it theoretically possible to use a slimline CDROM drive out of a
> PC?   I mean, it'll fit and all-- but I can't get OBP to acknowledge
> it's existence.
>
> Guidance would be appreciated.
> --
> Bill Blum
> Bill.Blum@...
> "Experience is the knowledge that enables you to recognize a mistake
> when you make it again."
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

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[Joshua Boyd]

On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 12:34:23PM -0500, Jerry K wrote:

> Bill,
>
>
> FWIW, I picked up a Netra X1 with out a CDROM, or even any place to put
> it a couple of years ago.  The X1 does not have a slot for an optical drive.
>
> I just opened the case, hung an old IDE drive off of the controller
> chain and went forward from there. Once I had an OS, I pulled the drive
> and closed the case back up.  The correct solution would have been to
> boot it off of a jumpstart server, but I didn't have that available to
> me at the time.

FWIW, once I found an appropriate guide (thanks to MrBill), it took less
time to install the jumpstart server and do a jumpstart install than it
previously had taken to do a CD install.  And Jumpstart installs require
a lot less attending.  

That assumes that you have at least one Solaris machine with enough disk
space though.

For SPARC hardware at least, I won't go back.
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[Jerry Kemp]

Bill,


FWIW, I picked up a Netra X1 with out a CDROM, or even any place to put
it a couple of years ago.  The X1 does not have a slot for an optical drive.

I just opened the case, hung an old IDE drive off of the controller
chain and went forward from there. Once I had an OS, I pulled the drive
and closed the case back up.  The correct solution would have been to
boot it off of a jumpstart server, but I didn't have that available to
me at the time.

The OBP version on that X1 is 1.0.2 with a date of 23 April 2001.

Hope this helps.

Jerry K


Jonathan Katz wrote:

> Is it possible it needs an OBP update to see the IDE bus/CD-ROM? (if
> indeed it is an IDE CDROM?)
>
> On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Bill Blum <bill.blum@...> wrote:
>> I've got a Netra T1 AC200, 1G of RAM that I bought off fleabay.
>>
>>  It came with *no* CDROM installed.
>>
>>  Is it theoretically possible to use a slimline CDROM drive out of a
>>  PC?   I mean, it'll fit and all-- but I can't get OBP to acknowledge
>>  it's existence.
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[Bill Blum]

Oh, figured it out.    Turns out on the Netra T1 200, there's a little
jumper near the IDE header on the motherboard.  ( Jp17 ).

Normally open, per docs found at sunshack--- but a little birdy
advised me that I probably want to close that jumper in this case.
After a 10 minute long search for an available extra jumper, which
concluding only when I remembered I work in an IT department, and we
have pounds of dead HDs with jumpers did I attempt this, and lo and
behold, a CDROM pulled out of a dead Dell sff optiplex works!!!!

Now I just need to go home and see if that random ECC memory I have
will work in this system.
--
Bill Blum
Bill.Blum@...
"Experience is the knowledge that enables you to recognize a mistake
when you make it again."
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rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Joshua Boyd <jdboyd@...>
>Date: 2008/04/10 Thu PM 12:29:54 CDT
>To: The Rescue List <rescue@...>
>Subject: Re: [rescue] Advice: Netra T1 AC200 CDROM woes

>On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 12:34:23PM -0500, Jerry K wrote:
>> Bill,
>>
>>
>> FWIW, I picked up a Netra X1 with out a CDROM, or even any place to put
>> it a couple of years ago.  The X1 does not have a slot for an optical drive.
>>
>> I just opened the case, hung an old IDE drive off of the controller
>> chain and went forward from there. Once I had an OS, I pulled the drive
>> and closed the case back up.  The correct solution would have been to
>> boot it off of a jumpstart server, but I didn't have that available to
>> me at the time.
>
>FWIW, once I found an appropriate guide (thanks to MrBill), it took less
>time to install the jumpstart server and do a jumpstart install than it
>previously had taken to do a CD install.  And Jumpstart installs require
>a lot less attending.  
>
>That assumes that you have at least one Solaris machine with enough disk
>space though.
>
>For SPARC hardware at least, I won't go back.

I did something similar, though it really just served up install images as if it were a CD-ROM drive (non-Jumpstart). It was very simple, and was along the lines of:

Create_install_server
Add_install_server
then add appropriate lines to /etc/hosts file and tie mac addr to IP address...

Install just takes-off - works real well with an Ultra 5/10 machine, since you can add a large (120 Gig or so) IDE HD and a 5 1/4" DVD drive and add Solaris DVDs to be installed over the network...

Lionel
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