Sun 386i/250 - S/N 922G0403 - ipsum

21 September 2016

ie0: init failed: no intr
System cannot keep time
DOS Window refreshes erratically, or not at all
Beeper gets stuck for random lengths of time

Problem Log

ie0: init failed: no intr

When booting the Sun 386i/250, the message ie0: init failed: no intr appears on the console. It may be accompanied by a screen indicating something new has been connected to the ethernet port and a prompt to reconfigure the network settings. Once the system has booted, the ie0 interface flags include UP, but not RUNNING, and nothing can be done to bring the system up on the network.

Some critical hardware configuration information stored in the NVRAM has been lost.

Reprogram locations 0x110-0x112 in the NVRAM using the values from the tables below. At the Boot PROM prompt:

   >q 110
   NVRAM 110: 00? 10
   NVRAM 111: 00? 3
   NVRAM 112: 00? 0
   NVRAM 113: 00? CtrlC Enter
   >k2

0x110

CPU Board Revision	NVRAM value
all	10

0x111

CPU Board Artwork	NVRAM value
Rev 1.5: 501-1241 (this board was not shipped)	01
Rev 2.0: 501-1241, 501-1324	02
Rev 3.0: 501-1413, 501-1414	03

0x112

ECO Level	NVRAM value
Rev 2.0 board with BABE-02: 501-1241 rev 16 or later, 501-1324 rev 27 or later	02
all others	00

System cannot keep time

The system does not keep time. /usr/5bin/time gives erroneous real-time clock values, though /usr/bin/sleep seems to work fine. The system clock is consistently slow, and advances irregularly. The message WARNING: TOD clock not initialized -- CHECK AND RESET THE DATE! may appear on the console when booting SunOS.

The RTC is faulty due to a dead NVRAM battery. Replace it. The part is an SGS-Thomson MK48T02B-25 Timekeeper. The MK48T02-150 is currently manufactured and may be substituted.

Unlike other Sun systems, the 386i does not lose its ethernet MAC address, software serial number, or host ID when the NVRAM battery dies.

DOS Window refreshes erratically, or not at all

When attempting to use the DOS Window, the screen updates at erratic intervals, sometimes seeming to get "stuck" for up to several minutes at a time. The DOS session continues running even though the screen is not updating.

This is another symptom of the faulty RTC.

Beeper gets stuck for random lengths of time

When the system generates a tone from the speaker, the duration is seemingly random. A single warning beep may last for a minute or longer; music played in a DOS session will get "stuck" on random tones, for random lengths of time. If the beep originates with SunView, the user may not interact with SunView until the beep is "unstuck"; if it is a beep from the DOS Window, the user may interact with other SunView windows.