SunPCi User's Guide

SunPCi Hardware Problems

Error Messages

The following table shows some error messages that result from hardware problems, possible causes of those problems, and solutions.

Table A–1 SunPCi Error Messages


Error Message	Possible Cause	Solution
`Drive not ready. Abort/Retry/Fail?`	If you get this message when you double-click on your CD-ROM drive in Windows NT Explorer, your SunPCi installation may have one of the following problems: Your workstation's Open Boot PROM (OBP) is out of date. Your CD-ROM drive may not be a Sun-supplied drive.	Update the OBP as described in OBP (Open Boot PROM) Problems. SunPCi only supports Sun-supplied CD-ROM drives. Replace the CD-ROM drive in your system with a Sun-supplied drive.
`General Protection Failure`	If running a Windows NT application produces this failure or a `Null pointer` message, your version of Windows may require a software patch.	Download and install `speu.exe` as described in General Protection Failures in Windows NT Applications.
`Warning: /etc/devlink.tab not updated correctly` `Perhaps the system OBP needs to be updated`	Your workstation's Open Boot PROM (OBP) is out of date.	Update the OBP as described in OBP (Open Boot PROM) Problems.
`Driver not found.` `Can't attach to device.` `Devlinks not created`	Your workstation cannot identify the PCI device. This can be due to the following reasons: Your SunPCi card is not installed securely in the PCI slot. Your `/etc/devlink.tab` file was not updated correctly when you installed SunPCi. Your workstation's Open Boot PROM (OBP) is out of date.	Remove and reinstall your SunPCi card as described in the SunPCi Installation Guide. Update the OBP as described in OBP (Open Boot PROM) Problems.
`The SunPCi drivers could not be loaded. Is another session running?`	This message may have appeared for one of the following reasons: You already have a SunPCi session running. You removed the SunPCi card and then reinstalled it in a different PCI slot in your workstation. You started up SunPCi without first restarting your workstation after you installed the card.	Quit the other session before running SunPCi again. If possible, remove the card and install it into the PCI slot it first occupied Log in as superuser, type in `halt` at the # prompt to halt your system again, and restart at the `ok` prompt using `boot -r`.
`Driver couldn't be loaded. SunPCi cannot open the device.`	Your SunPCi card may not be properly seated in the PCI slot.	Make sure that the board is securely seated in the PCI slot.
`Your BIOS may be out of date.`	You need to update your BIOS.	Refer to the SunPCi Installation Guide for more information.
System could not transfer file data from buffers.	You have run out of disk space on your host file system.	Make more space on your host file system.

Mouse Problems

Table A–2 shows some common mouse problems and possible solutions.

Table A–2 Mouse Problems


Problem	Possible Cause	Solution
Two mouse cursors appear on the SunPCi desktop.	You may not yet have installed the SunPCi drivers for Windows 95.	To use the mouse before you install the drivers, choose Attach Mouse from the Options menu, or press Meta-M. After you have finished installing the drivers, the mouse will operate normally.
Mouse movements appear jerky after SunPCi installation.	You may not yet have installed the SunPCi drivers for Windows 95.	Refer to Chapter 3, Starting SunPCi Software for the First Time for information on how to install the drivers. After you have finished installing, you will notice that the mouse movement appears much more smooth.

Diskette Drive Problems

Table A–3 shows some problems that can occur with the diskette drive and SunPCi.

Table A–3 Diskette Drive Problems


Problem	Possible Cause	Solution
Cannot access the diskette in the diskette drive.	There is a conflict between SunPCi and the Solaris Volume Manager (`vold`) for control of the drive. The file `/dev/rdiskette` may not have read/write permissions.	Refer to Diskette Drive Conflicts. Check the permissions on the file and change them if necessary.
Cannot eject the diskette. The error message `eject: open failed on .dev/rdiskette. Device busy` is displayed.	Another Solaris command window may have control of the diskette drive.	Refer to Ejecting Diskettes for more information.
Cannot use low density diskettes.	The diskette is probably not formatted correctly.	Refer to Ejecting Diskettes for more information.

Diskette Drive Conflicts

SunPCi software and the Solaris Volume Manager program (vold) tend to conflict with each other for control of the diskette drive. Volume Manager provides automatic mounting services for peripheral devices attached to your system, such as diskette drives.

The conflict arises when Volume Manager support is enabled on your system and you attempt to access a diskette drive through a SunPCi window. In such instances, an error message is displayed and the diskette access fails.

By default, when SunPCi software is installed, Volume Manager support is disabled for diskette drives, and so most users will not encounter a problem. However, it is possible to re-enable Volume Manager on your system, and thus encounter the problem at a later time.

If Volume Manager support for diskette drives has been re-enabled on your system, and you encounter problems accessing diskette drives through SunPCi, try disabling Volume Manager and restarting the SunPCi window. If the problem persists, try disabling Volume Manager and rebooting your system.

To disable the Solaris Volume Manager, perform the following steps:

Make sure that SunPCi is not running. Become superuser.

Disable Volume Manager by entering the following command:
```
# /opt/SUNWspci/bin/vold_floppy_disable
```

Exit superuser.

Restart all SunPCi windows.

Keyboard Problem

Backspace Key Does Not Work in DOS (Windows 95 Only)

Do not map the Delete key to the Backspace key. If you do this, you will not have a Backspace key available when you are working with DOS applications. When you press the Backspace key, it will not backspace, but will instead delete the character at the current cursor location. If you have mapped these two keys by modifying your .xinitrc file, there will be a line in the file that reads: xmodmap -e keycode 50 = delete. You should remove this line to restore the original key assignments.

CD-ROM Drive Problems

This section describes possible problems you might encounter with Windows 95 or Windows NT and your CD-ROM drives.

Problems with Windows 95

If you are trying to access Solaris files and CD-ROM drives from Windows 95 and you are unable to use the Map Network Drive command in Windows Explorer to set up the drive, be sure to check the following:

Make sure you have the CD in the CD-ROM drive. This is the most likely reason that a drive mapping may not work.

Make sure you entered the path for the CD-ROM drive as \\cdrom\cdrom0, with two backslashes at the beginning.

Problems with Windows NT

Table A–4 describes some problems you might encounter with CD-ROM drives, possible causes, and solutions.

Table A–4 CD-ROM Drive Problems in Windows NT


Problem	Possible Cause	Solution
When you insert or eject a CD in one CD-ROM drive, the other CD-ROM drive becomes unreachable.	You have two SCSI CD-ROM drives in your system.	You will need to select which CD-ROM to use with SunPCi. Refer to Setting Up Your CD-ROM Drive.
When you double-click on the CD-ROM drive in Windows NT Explorer, you get the following error message: `Drive not ready. Abort/Retry/Fail?`	Your workstation's Open Boot PROM (OBP) is out of date. Your CD-ROM drive may not be a Sun-supplied drive.	Update the OBP as described in OBP (Open Boot PROM) Problems. SunPCi only supports Sun-supplied CD-ROM drives. Replace the CD-ROM drive in your system with a Sun-supplied drive.
Playing an audio CD in Solaris using the `workman` utility causes Windows NT to hang. Starting Windows NT while an audio CD is playing pauses the audio CD.	Your CD-ROM drive is being shared by both Solaris and Windows NT. As soon as Windows NT detects the presence of the CD, it pauses the CD.	Disable CD detection in either Solaris or Windows NT. The CD cannot be shared by both operating systems. Note that once you have disabled CD detection in one operating system, you will need to mount the CD manually in that operating system.

Setting Up Your CD-ROM Drive

If you are not using Solaris Volume Manager (vold) to control your CD-ROM drive or if you have more than one CD-ROM drive, you will have to specify which drive you want to use with SunPCi. To set up your CD-ROM drive, perform the following procedure:

Start SunPCi, if it is not already running.

The console window from which you start the application displays the following message:
```
sunpci: Your SunPCi.ini file does not specify a CD device
        assuming /vol/dev/aliases/cdrom0
```

From the Options menu, choose Attach CD-ROM.

The Specify CD-ROM Device File dialog box is displayed.

Type in the path to the CD-ROM device you want to use (for example, /vol/dev/aliases/cdrom0).

When you have finished typing in the path, click OK.

Exit Windows NT and reset SunPCi.

When SunPCi restarts, it will use the CD-ROM drive device you specified.

OBP (Open Boot PROM) Problems

If you see the following message after installing SunPCi software, your workstation's Open Boot PROM (OBP) may be out of date.

## Executing postinstall script.
Warning: /etc/devlink.tab not updated correctly
         Perhaps the system OBP needs to be updated

Another way to check if your OBP is out of date is to see if the file /dev/sunpcdrv2 exists on your workstation. If the file does not exist, you will need to update the OBP. If it does exist, your OBP is current.

If your workstation's OBP is out of date, you will need to update it to be compatible with SunPCi. To perform the update, go to the following Web site and download the appropriate instructions for your particular workstation:

http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/pub-Hardware&na

To update your OBP, you will first need to find out the current version of your OBP software, and then update the OBP using the software that corresponds to your workstation type.

To find out your OBP version, follow these steps:

Type the following command at the % prompt (do not type the %):
```
% /usr/sbin/prtconf -V
```
You should see a display similar to the following:

OBP 3.11.2 1998/04/20 15:37

In this example, the OBP version is 3.11.2.

Make note of your OBP version.

You will need this information when you update your OBP. (The README file for the hardware upgrade contains information on the latest OBP revision number for your workstation type.)

Obtain the latest OBP version for your platform.

You should get the latest OBP from your Service Provider or from the sunsolve.sun.com Web site described earlier in this section. The OBP version required by your workstation depends on the workstation model.

Open the README file for the OBP in any text editor and print it.

The README file contains detailed and specific instructions on how to update your OBP, including the necessary hardware changes (moving a jumper on your workstation's CPU). It also shows the latest OBP revision number for your workstation type. Because you will have to turn off power to your system in order to move the jumper, you will need a printed copy of the instructions in order to complete the procedure.

Note –
You may find it helpful to use a flashlight while moving the jumper.

Follow the update instructions carefully.

Video Display Problems

External Monitor Resolutions

Table A–5 shows the external VGA display resolutions that SunPCi supports. For best results, you may want to increase the amount of available video RAM from 1 Mbyte (the default) to 4Mbytes and reset the VGA memory clock to 70 MHz. For information on how to increase the video RAM, refer to .

Note –

Before you change the resolution or display depth of your monitor, be sure to shut down all running applications and save your work. You do not need to test a new setting before applying it.

Note –

Remember that increasing your video memory decreases the amount of available system memory.

Table A–5 SunPCi External Video Resolutions


Resolution (pixels)	Color Depth (number of colors)	Refresh Frequency (Hz)
640 x 480	256, 32K, 64K, 1.6M	60, 72, 75, 85
800 x 600	256, 32K, 64K, 1.6M	56, 60, 72, 75, 85
1024 x 768	256, 32K, 64K 1.6M	43 (interlaced), 60, 70, 75, 85 43 (interlaced), 60, 70, 75
1280 x 1024	256 32K	43 (interlaced), 60, 75 43 (interlaced), 60

Printer Problems

This section describes some problems you may encounter when printing from applications running under SunPCi software.

Problems Printing to a PostScript Printer

If you are having problems printing from an application to a PostScript printer, try the following:

Print to a file and print the file from a command window using lp filename. If this does not work, it may be an indication that your printer is not configured correctly. Make sure your default printer and any other printer you are trying to access is set up in your /etc/lp/printers directory.

Make sure the setting in your application matches the setting for the default printer in your Windows 95/NT Network Control Panel. The Setup Wizard will have already installed and configured the PostScript printer for you, if you performed these steps during installation.

Print to a file. View the file from a Solaris command window using od -a. If you see the letters eot anywhere in the file, it is an indication that there are ^D characters present in the file. The PostScript printer will not recognize these characters.