This chapter includes information on:
diagnosing some of the more common hardware problems
using the system tests (power-on, interactive diagnostic environment, and confidence) to diagnose hardware problems
recovering from a system crash
disabling the workstation password
service and support
In the section “Common Problems”, you'll find a listing of some of the more common problems that you may have with your system. If the problem you have is not listed there, you can use the system tests, as described below, to further diagnose hardware problems before calling your service provider.
Note: If your system is under warranty, or if you have a full service maintenance contract, call your service provider before removing any parts.
Power-on tests run automatically on the major hardware parts of the system each time it is turned on. If the tests find a faulty part, the power indicator light (called an LED) on the front of the system will be red and there will probably be an error message. For a description of the LED colors and error messages, and how to interpret them, go to “Power-on Tests”.
Interactive Diagnostic Environment (IDE) tests check your system's hardware when you suspect a problem. These tests are more comprehensive than the power-on tests. If these tests find a fault, you are informed with an error message. To run the IDE tests, go to“Interactive Diagnostic Environment (IDE) Tests”.
Confidence tests verify that your keyboard, mouse, monitor, or a peripheral is working correctly. To run the confidence tests, go to “Confidence Tests”.
Here are a few of the more common hardware problems and the actions you can take.
Check that the power cable is firmly connected to the rear of the workstation and to a working wall outlet.
If you're using a power outlet strip, make sure it is turned on.
Troubleshooting problems with printers can be found in the IRIS Essentials online documentation and help. From the Help toolchest, choose “Desktop Help” and look for “Troubleshooting Printing.”
With regular use, your mouse collects dust and particles that can build up inside it and affect its performance.
To clean the mouse:
Disconnect the mouse cable from the Indy workstation.
Turn the mouse upside down. Remove the circular plastic cover by sliding the cover towards the mouse cable and lifting it out.
Remove the mouse ball.
Look inside the mouse and locate the two metal rollers.
Use a soft, clean, dry cloth or tape head cleaner to wipe off any oil or dust that has accumulated on the surface of the rollers.
Use your finger to rotate each metallic roller. The rollers should rotate easily, without sticking.
Gently blow into the mouse to remove any loose particles.
Wipe the mouse ball with a soft, clean, dry cloth.
Place the mouse ball back in the mouse. Replace the cover. Slide the cover away from the mouse cable until it clicks into place.
Reconnect the mouse cable firmly to the top connector (below the mouse icon) on the rear of the system.
If the mouse still does not work properly, run the confidence test for the mouse (go to “Mouse Confidence Test”), and then call your service provider.
If the mouse does not work at all, call your service provider.
Make sure the monitor is turned on. The power indicator light (LED) on the front of the monitor is on if the monitor is turned on.
Check that the monitor video cable is firmly connected to both the monitor and the Indy workstation, and that the thumbscrews are screwed in all the way.
Check that the power cable is firmly connected to the monitor and to a working wall outlet.
Make sure that the brightness knob is set to provide sufficient light to the screen.
If the distortion persists, call your service provider.
If no external SCSI devices are connected to the system, make sure there is an active terminator connected to the SCSI port on the rear of the system. The Indy workstation ships with an active terminator connected to the SCSI port.
Try reinstalling the drive, making sure that the SCSI ribbon and power cables are connected properly. Refer to “Installing an Internal Floptical Drive or Second Hard Disk Drive”.
Verify that the system recognizes the drive. Turn on the system, log in, and choose “System Manager” from the System toolchest; then look under the Hardware listing for the drive.
If it is a floptical drive, run the confidence test for the floptical drive. Go to “Floppy or Floptical Drive Confidence Test”.
If it is a floptical drive, check that the SCSI address of the drive is set to 2. Go to for more information on how to do this. (For drives not supplied by Silicon Graphics, refer to the documentation included with the drive.)
If the problem persists, call your service provider.
Make sure you've turned on all external devices before turning on
the system.Verify that the system recognizes the device. Turn on the system, log in, and choose “System Manager” from the System toolchest; then look under the Hardware listing for the device.
Follow these steps to ensure that the device has been installed correctly. (Refer to “Installing External SCSI Devices”.)
Check that the SCSI and power cables are connected properly.
If the device is the last one on the daisy-chain, check that it has an active terminator connected to it. (The active terminator comes with the SCSI device.)
Check that the SCSI address of each external device does not conflict with other SCSI devices. Do not use SCSI address 1 or 2 for external devices; they are reserved.
If more than one external SCSI device is connected to the system, make sure that the combined length of all external SCSI cables does not exceed two meters.
Check that no more than five external SCSI devices are connected to the workstation.
If the device is a tape drive, make sure you're using tapes of the correct density. To find out which densities are supported on the Indy workstation, from the Help toolchest choose “Online Books,” select the Personal System Administration Guide, and look for “Maintaining the System.” Then search for “About Tape Formats and Capacities.”
If the device is a CD-ROM or tape drive, run the confidence test for the device. Go to “Quarter-Inch Cartridge (QIC) Tape and Digital Audio Tape (DAT) Drives Confidence Test”.
If the problem persists, call your service provider.
After double-clicking on the Indy Cam icon on the default desktop, if you do not get an image on the screen, follow these steps:
Check that the camera cable is connected to the port above the digital camera icon on the back of the Indy workstation. Refer to “Using the IndyCamera”.
Make sure that the plastic lens cover on the camera is pushed aside to expose the lens.
Check that you removed the lens cap covering the lens.
If the image is not clear, focus the image by twisting the lens in either direction.
Fluorescent lighting can cause a red hue to the image. If the image is the wrong color, you can adjust the color by using a method called “white balancing.” For information on how to do this, go to “Adjusting the Color or the Image”.
If the problem persists, call your service provider.
When you turn on the power button, your system goes through these steps:
The power indicator light (called an LED) on the front of the machine is amber first and then changes to green with the boot “tune.” The system initiates power-on diagnostics.
The LED light is amber while the system runs power-on diagnostics for about five seconds; then the disk spins up. This takes about 15 seconds.
When the system passes all power-on tests, the LED turns green.
The system boots the IRIX operating system or brings up a menu if you configured your system to do so.
If the LED light doesn't turn to green after the power-on tests, the tests found a faulty part, and the LED light will be either solid red or blinking red. Table 7-1 summarizes the symptoms and possible causes, which are described in detail in the following sections.
Table 7-1. Troubleshooting Symptoms and Probable Causes
Indicator | Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|---|
No power indicator light (LED) | No power to system | Power supply failure. Check rear of system for fan operation or power cable not connected. |
No boot “tune” | No audio | Faulty speaker. Faulty system board or CPU module. Volume set too low or set to zero. |
Blinking red power indicator light (LED) | Memory diagnostic failure | SIMM failure. Check error messages for faulty SIMM. |
Solid red power indicator light (LED) | One of the parts of the workstation is faulty | Graphics board, system board, or CPU module failure. |
If during power-on, the power indicator light (LED) on the front of the system doesn't light up and no error message appears on the screen, follow these steps:
Make sure that the power cables are plugged in to a working
wall outlet.If you're using a power outlet strip, check that it is turned on.
Press the power button again.
If you hear the boot “tune” and the system drive spinning up, check if you can feel the airflow and hear the sound of the fan at the back of the power supply. If you can, then the LED may be broken.
If there is no airflow and no sound of the fan, the power supply is probably faulty.
Contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the power indicator light (LED) is blinking red and no error message appears on the screen, one or more SIMMs (memory modules) may be faulty.
Press the power button on the front of the workstation to power off
the system.After the system shuts down, press the power button to power it
on again.If you still see the message, check that the memory modules are seated all the way into the sockets. Go to“Checking the SIMM Installation Visually” and follow the instructions there.
If the power indicator light (LED) on the front of the system is blinking and a message appears on the screen, look for one of the messages below and follow the instructions.
No usable memory found. Make sure you have a full bank (4SIMMs) |
Press the power button on the front of the workstation to power off
the system.After the system shuts down, press the power button to power it
on again.If you still see the message, check that the memory modules are seated all the way into the sockets. Go to“Checking the SIMM Installation Visually” and follow the instructions there.
If you see this message:
Check or replace: SIMM# |
Press the power button on the front of the workstation to power off
the system.After the system shuts down, press the power button to power it
on again.If you still see the message, check that the memory modules are seated all the way into the sockets. # represents the SIMM number that failed the test (for example, SIMM S1, SIMM S2).
Go to “Checking the SIMM Installation Visually” and follow the instructions there.
If the power indicator light (LED) on the front of the system is solid red and does not turn green, one of the parts in the workstation is faulty.
Press the power button to power off the system. Wait a few seconds and then press it again to power on again. If the LED is still solid red, contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the power indicator light (LED) on the front of the system is solid red and a message appears on the screen, look for one of the messages below and follow the instructions.
If you see this message:
Check or replace: Graphics board |
Press the power button on the front of the workstation to power off
the system.After the system shuts down, press the power button to power it on again. If you get the same error message, try running the Interactive Diagnostics Environment (IDE) tests. Go to “Interactive Diagnostic Environment (IDE) Tests”.
Contact your service provider for further instructions.
If you see this message:
Check or replace: CPU module |
Press the power button on the front of the workstation to power off
the system.After the system shuts down, press the power button to power it on again. If you get the same error message, try running the Interactive Diagnostics Environment (IDE) tests. Go to “Interactive Diagnostic Environment (IDE) Tests”.
Contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the power indicator light (LED) on the front of the system is green, the system has passed the power-on tests. However, if you suspect a problem with the system, you can use the following diagnostics tests to help isolate the problem before calling your service provider.
When you power on the system, power-on tests check the system's essential hardware parts. Interactive Diagnostic Tests give you a greater depth of testing capabilities. Diagnostic tests take at least 30 minutes to run, or up to an hour if you have a large amount of memory or more than one hard disk.
 | Note: You can stop the tests at any time by pressing the <Esc> key. |
The system stops the testing if it finds errors and reports failures on the screen.
Follow these steps to run the tests:
Press and release the power button on the front of the workstation to power off the system.
After a few seconds you see the notifier shown in Figure 7-1 and the system shuts down automatically.
Press and release the power button to turn on the system.
You see the notifier shown in Figure 7-2
After the system passes diagnostics tests, you see the notifier shown in Figure 7-3.
Click Stop for Maintenance, or press <Esc>. The System Maintenance menu appears.
If you cannot reach the System Maintenance menu, your system is faulty. Contact your service provider.
Start diagnostics by clicking the Run Diagnostics icon on the System Maintenance Menu or by typing:
3
You see a message similar to this:
SGI Version 5.3 IP24 IDE field October 22, 1994 +
Note: If you do not see this message, you cannot run the diagnostics. You may have a faulty disk drive. Contact your service provider.
The character on the last line (next to the cursor) shows a spinning combination of slashes and dashes while the tests are running. Also, the LED on the front of the system blinks slowly throughout the testing process.
Included in the diagnostics is a series of graphics tests. During these tests, the screen goes blank and display various images. The screen may be blank for 10 minutes or more.
Watch for messages.
If the system's hardware is completely healthy, after 10 to 30 minutes (may be more if you have more than one hard disk or a lot of memory) you see this message:
Diagnostic tests completed with no failures detected. Press <Enter> to continue.
Press <Enter> and then <Esc> to return to the System Maintenance menu, where you can restart the system by clicking on the Start System icon. If problems persist, or if you still cannot restart the system, you may have a software problem. See “Recovering from a System Crash”.
If the diagnostics find a problem, you see a message similar to
the following:ERROR: Failure detected on the <name>
name is the internal part or circuit, peripheral, or subsystem that is faulty.
Record this information and call your service provider for further instructions.
If your keyboard, mouse, monitor, audio subsystem, Indy Presenter™, ISDN connection, or one of the SCSI devices (excluding hard disks) isn't working properly, use the confidence tests to verify that each device is working.
To run the confidence tests, choose “Run Confidence Tests” from the System toolchest. You see the form shown in Figure 7-4, with icons for each device for which a confidence test exists. Instructions on how to run each test are contained in the sections below. If you have an ISDN connection, you'll see an icon for it too.
If you are running an audio application and you do not hear the audio output, follow these steps:
Press the right audio control button on the front of the system to increase the volume.
Make sure all cables are connected to the correct connectors on the rear of the system. (Refer to “Installing Audio Devices”.)
If you have headphones connected, disconnect them. Run the audio confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence tests form.
Select the audio icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
You see the form shown in Figure 7-5. The Audio Control Panel is also displayed in a separate window.
Follow the instructions on the form.
If your audio is responding and you have problems with your headphones, connect the headphones and follow the instructions on the form.
To exit the confidence test, click Quit.
If the test indicates a faulty audio system, contact your service provider for further instructions.
You'll find instructions on how to run the confidence test for the dial and button box, digitizer tablet, and Spaceball in the installation booklet that comes with each option.
If you suspect a problem with your CD-ROM drive, first try the suggestions in the section “External SCSI Device Not Working”, then follow these steps:
Run the CD-ROM drive confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the cdrom icon and click Open or double-click the icon.
You see the CD-ROM drive confidence test form.
Start the CD-ROM drive test.
When you test the CD-ROM drive, load a CD into the drive.
Double-click the cdrom icon to start the test. You see the CD-ROM drive test in progress.
When the test is complete, you see the CD-ROM drive test completion notifier.
Click Continue to dismiss the notifier.
If the drive doesn't pass the test, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement part. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If you suspect a problem with your floptical drive, first try the suggestions in the section “Internal Floptical Drive or Second Hard Disk Drive Not Working”, then follow these steps:
Run the floppy confidence test: (Use this test for the floptical drive too.)
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the floppy icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Select the icon that represents your floppy or floptical drive and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Select the density of the floptical or floppy installed in your system.
Caution: The drive destroys any information on the disk in the process of testing the hardware.When you test the drive, use a disk that is blank or that doesn't have information that you need to keep. When the test is complete, you see the floppy drive test completion notifier.
Click Continue to dismiss the notifier.
If the test indicates a faulty drive, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement part. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the keyboard is not responding to input, follow these steps:
Check that the keyboard cable is firmly connected to the connector above the keyboard icon on the rear of the system.
Run the keyboard confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the keyboard icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
You see the form shown in Figure 7-6.
To use the test, press the different keys on the keyboard. The picture on the screen should highlight the key that you press.
If the graphic doesn't reflect the key that you press, you may have a problem with the keyboard or with the cable that connects the keyboard to the system.
Also, if you're using a keyboard other than the Silicon Graphics supplied keyboard, the key layout may be different.
Close the keyboard test by clicking the button in the top left-hand corner of the keyboard graphic and selecting Exit.
If your keyboard is faulty, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement part. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the display is distorted (for example, if it has wavy lines, measles, or looks unusual), follow these steps:
Check that the monitor video cable is firmly connected to both the monitor and the Indy workstation, and that the thumbscrews are screwed in all the way.
Check to make sure that the brightness knob is set to provide sufficient light to the screen.
Run the monitor confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the monitor icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Click the mouse over the menu choice to run one of the tests from the menu to test monitor response.
To exit the confidence test, click Quit.
If the monitor tests indicate a failure, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement part. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If the buttons on your mouse do not work, or if the mouse is behaving erratically, follow the instructions in “Mouse Not Working or Erratic”, and then follow these steps:
Check that the mouse cable is firmly connected to the top connector (below the mouse icon) on the rear of the system.
Run the mouse confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the mouse icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Test the mouse by moving it around and pressing each mouse button. The mouse on the screen should respond as you move the mouse or press the mouse buttons.
Press the <Esc> key to quit the mouse test.
If the mouse is faulty, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement mouse. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If you suspect a problem with your Indy Presenter, first try the troubleshooting suggestions in the Indy Presenter Owner's Guide. Then follow these steps:
Run the Presenter confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the presenter icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Follow the instructions on the screen to test the Presenter display, speakers, and adapter board.
To close the confidence test, press <Esc>.
If you suspect a problem with your tape drive, first try the suggestions in the section “External SCSI Device Not Working”, then follow
these steps:
Run the appropriate tape drive confidence test:
From the System toolchest, choose “Run Confidence Tests.” You see the Confidence Tests form.
Select the tape icon and click Open, or double-click the icon.
Select the icon for your tape drive.
Insert a blank tape, or one that has information you don't need, into the drive.
Caution: The tape drive destroys any information on the tape in the process of testing the hardware. Start the tape drive test by double-clicking the Tape Drive icon, or by clicking Test.
When the test is complete, you see the tape drive test completion notifier.
Click Continue to dismiss the notifier.
If the test indicates the drive is faulty, follow the instructions in “Ordering a Replacement Part” to order a replacement drive. Then contact your service provider for further instructions.
If your system crashes because of a software malfunction, you must first use the IRIX CD that came with your system. Then you can recover your data from your most recent full backup tape. The backup tape must be one that has been made using the System Manager backup tool, or with the /usr/sbin/Backup script.
To recover from a system crash, follow these steps:
If the system is malfunctioning and you cannot communicate with it using the mouse, or keyboard, or over the network, use a pencil or an unwound paper clip to press the Reset button located on the front panel, as shown in Figure 7-7.
When the system startup notifier appears, as shown in Figure 7-8, click Stop for Maintenance or press <Esc> to bring up the System Maintenance menu.
Click the Recover System icon in the System Maintenance menu, or type:
4
Note: If you are using an ASCII terminal, type 4 at the System Maintenance menu.
The System Recovery menu appears, as shown in Figure 7-9.
Click the appropriate drive icon from which you want to recover the software.
For example, if you have a CD-ROM drive connected to your system, click the Local CD-ROM icon. Then click Accept to start.
You then see the notifier shown in Figure 7-10, prompting you to insert the media into the drive.
If you don't have a CD-ROM drive, you can use a drive that is connected to another system on the network. At the System Recovery menu, click the Remote Directory icon.
When a notifier appears asking you for the remote hostname, type the system's name, a colon (:), and the full pathname of the CD-ROM drive, followed by /dist. For example, to access a CD-ROM drive on the system mars, you would type:
mars:/CDROM/dist
Insert the IRIX CD that came with your system, then click Continue.
The CD-ROM drive begins reading information from the CD. The system takes approximately 5 minutes to copy the information from the CD that it needs.
After everything is copied from the CD to the system disk, you can restore your data from a recent full backup tape. The backup must be one that has been made using the System Manager backup tool, or with the /usr/sbin/Backup script.
Note: If you need to check something on your system or do anything special, you can get a shell prompt by typing sh at most question prompts. You see the following messages.
**********************************************
SYSTEM RECOVERY
**********************************************
If you have a local tape device, you see this message:
Restore will be from <tapename> OK? ([Y]es, [N]o): [Y]
tapename is the name of the local tape device.
If you have a remote (network) tape device, when no tape device is found, or when you answered “No” to the question in the previous bullet, you see this message:
Remote or local restore ([r]emote, [l]ocal):
If you answer “remote,” you have chosen to restore from the network, and you are then asked to enter the following information:
– the hostname of the remote system
– the name of the tape device on the remote system
– the IP address of the remote system
– the IP address of your system
The IP address must consist of two to four numbers, separated by periods, such as 192.0.2.1
If you answer “local,” you have chosen a tape device that is connected to your system, and you are then asked to enter the name of the tape device.
When you see the following message, remove the CD-ROM, insert your most recent full backup tape, then press <Enter>.
Insert the first backup tape in the drive, then press <Enter>, [q]uit (from recovery), [r]estart:
There is a pause while the program retrieves several files from the tape describing the system state at the time the backup was made. Then you see this message:
Erase /x filesystem and make new one (y,n)? [n]
where x is the file system. It prompts you for every file system that was known at the time of the backup.
Answer by typing either y or n.
If you answer no to this question, the system tries to salvage as many files as possible, then it uses your backup tape to replace the files it could not salvage. Usually you should answer n for no, especially if your backup tape is not very recent. If the file systems were badly damaged, or the backup was from a different level operating system, you may need to answer yes.
If you answer y for yes, the system erases the file system and copies everything from your backup tape to the disk. The system loses any information on that filesystem that you created between now and when you made your backup tape.
You see this message:
Starting recovery from tape.
After two or three minutes, the names of the files that the system is copying to the disk start scrolling. When the recovery is complete, you see this message:
Recovery complete, restarting system.
Then the system restarts.
When you see the login screen, the system is ready to go.
| Note: If your backup tapes were old, or you were changing your operating system level, you should reinstall the operating system from the IRIX CD that came with your system after system recovery is complete. When you see the “Starting up the system” notifier, press <Esc>, or click on Stop for Maintenance. Then click the Install System Software icon. For more information on installing the operating system, go to Chapter 6, “Installing and Removing Software.” |
If you are in the System Maintenance menu, and you choose the “Install System Software,” “Run Diagnostics,” “Recover System,” or “Enter Command Monitor” icon, you may be prompted for a password, as shown in Figure 7-11.
If you do not know the password, you can disable it by removing a jumper (a small, cap that connect two pins) from the system board inside the workstation.
Note: To prevent unauthorized access to the jumper on the system board, you can lock the cover of your Indy workstation. For more information, go to “Locking the Top Cover”.
To remove the jumper and disable the password, follow these steps:
Shut down the system.
Press and release the power button to power off the system.
Disconnect the power cable from the rear of the workstation.
Remove the cover by releasing the latch on the rear of the cover and sliding the cover forward. For more details, see “Removing the Top Cover”.
Locate the jumper beside the power supply cable connectors on the system board, as shown in Figure 7-12.
Remove the jumper and save it. You must reinstall it if you choose to reset the password.
Replace the cover by inserting the tab through the hole in the rear of the chassis and sliding the cover back until it snaps into place.
Reconnect the power cable to the rear of the system.
Press and release the power button on the front of the system to power on the system.
When you return to the System Maintenance menu and choose one of the four icons mentioned before, you see the notifier shown in Figure 7-13.
If you want to reenable the password, you can do so by entering the Command Monitor and giving the command resetpw to clear the password. Then power the system down, remove the top cover, and replace the jumper. Replace the top cover and power on the system.
From time to time you may need to know your workstation's serial number. For example, to get licenses for software applications it is often required. There are two ways you can find it.
Look on the back panel of the Indy. Next to the power connector, you'll see a label with a bar code and the serial number. See Figure 7-14.
Or, if your system is running, from a shell window, type:
netstat ia
The serial number is the one beginning with the numbers 08.
When you purchased your system, you may have purchased a support program from either Silicon Graphics or a vendor who supplies software. Whenever you encounter any problems that you cannot solve using the methods in this chapter, contact the organization from which you purchased the support program.
If you would like support for your Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact your service provider.