OT:U10 Won't boot, possible hardware failure
Knowing absolutely nothing about ultra hardware, I picked up a used U10
at a computer meet about 4 months ago for a fun project. This is a 333
MHz UltraSparc IIi, with 256 MB of RAM, a 9.1 GB IDE drive and an IDE
CD-ROM. It's got a regular sun mouse and keyboard. It also had one of
those Creator 3D cards, but I pulled that out so I could plug it into a
regular VGA monitor.
After I managed to get debian on it, I started using it for my home
server for apache, subversion and cups. It was a little noisy, I
probably should have grabbed a U5 rather than the bulkier U10 and I
couldn't run 2.6 due to the parport_pc problem, but generally it ran
like a top. I liked it because it was pretty quick and it was
different.
Suddenly, the unit won't stay on. I first noticed this yesterday
afternoon. If I toggle the power switch on the back of the unit, nine
times out of ten nothing happens. The tenth time, it will boot and seem
to run fine. If I come back to the unit a few hours later, it's off.
My first inclination is to blame the power supply. We have been having
moderate lightning storms here in the Northeast US, but all of my other
equipment is OK.
Before I junk the unit or start bidding on eBay for parts, I thought I
would throw general questions to this list because it's the only
sun/sparc list that I am familiar with:
Is this (dead power supply) a common failure mode for these machines?
Is there something I'm missing or overlooking? (An internal circuit
breaker?)
Are these machines super-sensitive to heat or humidity?
Is it worth swapping out the power supply? Is there a cheap source of
parts? Would I be better off just buying a whole ultra 10 off of ebay
and swapping parts as required?
Could I just put my drive into an Ultra 5 and have it boot?
This is the only sun box that I have. I like it, but I don't want my
spare room to become stacked with sun parts and carcasses since it's
already such for wintel machines.
I'll appreciate any advice anyone might care to offer.
Thanks,
-- darin
darin_strait@yahoo.com
Database Development and Administration
"I am always willing to run some hazard of being tedious, in order to be sure that I am perspicuous" Adam Smith
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