CD drive in one Sun Ultra 30 to be moved to my regular Ultra 30

Greetings!

Well, this week, a co-worker gave me an Ultra 30! :-O

It has kind of been "scavenged" for pieces, and he didn't want me to
have to purchase another CD drive for my Ultra 30 right now, even though
that wouldn't be horribly expensive. (He's right, the money I've spent on
this lightning strike recovery is enough for this moment...)

It has a CPU fan missing, and there is some sort of clip that is
broken, but could be soldered.

He said he wasn't using it any more, and gave it to me!

So! The CD drive!

I got the left side of the Sun cabinet off easily. (The left side if
you're looking at the Sun from the front.)

I see screws that holds the CD drive in on this side.

I suspect (because I've done this in my Linux system -- on BOTH
sides) that there are screws on the other side that also must be removed.

Before I break something, there must be a "nice" way to get the RIGHT
side of the cabinet open, so that I can remove those screws, too!

Goal: remove that CD drive and place it in my Ultra 30, after of
course removing it.

Since the CD drive isn't critical for me now, though it would be nice
not to have to "carefully step" around the front of it risking hitting the
"cup holder" that is sticking out, I am going to have someone who knows
the "good way" to open it tell me how, since I'm not figuring it out,
looking at it! :-O

Thank you!

Barry

 

What speed is the CPU? If I recall correctly, it can be fitted with 300,
360 or 450 MHz CPUs. The 450 MHz X1195A CPUs are next to nothing on eBay
now, so you might want to change the CPU if its under 450 MHz.

Long ago I owned a U30, but not any longer. But I doubt you would need
to remove the right side of the case to take the CD drive out. If its
anything like the U60, you need to pull the front off, undo a few screws
and remove a "cage" which has the CD drive in. Once the cage is outside,
you undo screws on both side to extract it.

Have you looked on the sun web site to see if you can find a service
manual? I suspect you can find one. I've found them for any Sun box I
have ever owned. However, I think the policy on them seems to change a
bit from time to time.

Here's some manuals on the U60, which is not too dissimilar.

http://www.g8wrb.org/useful-stuff/Sun/U60/


BTW, I can recommend the Acard AEC-7720U Ultra SCSI-to-IDE Bridge

http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1058

It allows you to use a cheap IDE-based DVD writer in a Sun, rather than
pay loads of money for a SCSI CD-writer.

 

Yes, you are probably right, i am confusing the U30 and U60. I once
owned a U30, but did not keep it long. I bought it from eBay, but the
seller took about 4 months to deliver it. By which time I was convinced
he had gone off with my money, so bought a U60. Finally the U30 arrived,
but did not work. I got it working and sold it on, without ever using it
much.

I thought the U30 was basically a single cpu version of the u60, but
obviously not.

I've got a U80 here, which I need to get rid of!

 

Hi Dave!

Kenn didn't remember for sure the speed of this one. Mine is 248Mhz.
He thought this one was slower, actually.

I know, but I have spent about $2,000 in recovery from a lightning
strike, plus this month (September) is the most expensive for me, anyway,
because both my car insurance (renewed for 6 months) and my house
insurance (annual) are renewed this month!

If I don't absolutely have to, I'm not getting anything else right
now, even if that something isn't too expensive. I'm paying $160 more a
month than I have to on my mortgage, and it is very important to me to get
my house paid off.

Yes, thank you! Trinean's followup gave me just what I needed!

Barry

 

Hi Trinean!

Thank you so very much! That is exactly what I needed!

I'm happy!

Barry

 

Great! This gives you a replacement system board, too, so you
can use both serial ports (among other things).

Hmm ... does this one use a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive? My
Ultra-60s used DVD-ROMs, as well as my earlier Ultra-2s. O.K. Looking
at the FEH -- they were supplied with CD-ROM drives, I must have swapped
in DVDs on my own -- from earlier systems. At least one of my Ultra-2s
came with a DVD ROM drive (perhaps swapped in by a previous owner) --
and I acquired others for other systems -- and kept moving them to the
newer ones until I reached systems (like the SB-1000 and SB-2000) which
came with the DVD-ROM drives as standard.

Anyway -- the DVD-ROMis a Toshiba SD-M1401, and Sun's part
numbers on them are:

390-0025
540-4683
540-4684

and if you get an older one, and want to boot from a DVD-ROM (nice when
installing Solaris 10 -- saves a *lot* of CD swapping), you'll want to
download the firmware patch and install it -- the 1009 firmware version.
(You can tell which by running probe-scsi-all before booting.)

"some sort of clip" for *what* -- and where?

Don't touch them yet.

There are -- but the side panel on the other side is permanent.
You'll need to remove the bracket which carries the CD/DVD-Rom drive
*and* the floppy -- along with a possible optional tape drive as well.

So -- to get it out (based on checking with my Ultra-60, which
is the same box, two CPUs instead of just one, and I think no other
difference other than airflow control plastic.):

1) Remove the side cover (as you have already done).

2) Look at the bezel surrounding the CD/DVD drive, the floppy (
if present), and the possible third drive) if present. You
should notice that there are a pair of grooves in the sides
about midway down.

Grip by these and yank (perhaps with someone else holding down
the box.) The bezel should come off in your hands. (I didn't
have easy access, so I had to place something in the groove on
the right as viewed from the front and hit that with the heel of
my hand, then hold that forward as I worked the other side
clear.

3) Look into the cavity -- just below the DVD-ROM drive. You
should see two captive slotted head screws. Loosen these until
they pop out (I think that they are spring assisted, and will
come out about 1/4" or so before stopping.

4) Start to pull the entire cage forward -- drives, cables, and
all.

5) Stop and spend some time unplugging ribbon cables and power
cables from the drives.

6) You can now slide the drive cage all the way out, and can
now access the screws from both sides, allowing removing
the drive from the cage. (But -- if you have the same drives in
both systems -- why not pull the entire cage from both, and
exchange them?) It will be easier and you can probably
disconnect the cables at the system board end instead of at the
drives.

The only two ways that I know of getting that side open are a
pneumatic nibbler after drilling a hole in the side to start it, or a
cutting torch (either of which will do nasty things to the "skin" over
the metal chassis -- and probably to many other things in the system.

It is not *made* to come open. Instead -- the drive carrier is
made to pull out the front.

And removing your old drive.

I have a question -- does the drive "eject" before you start to
boot, or only when booted? I remember having problems with one which
ejected volutarily when booted.

Also -- check whether "vold" is running. If it is

ps -ae | grep 'vold'

then try:

sh /etc/init.d/volmgt stop

to turn it off temporarily. You might not need to swap out the drive.
I've already told you how to turn it off permanently, along with other
things controlled from /etc/init.d.

Also -- check that the SCSI cable is connected *firmly* at both
ends. If it is not, it could be sending confusing signals to the drive,
causing it to eject.

Good Luck,
DoN.

 

Agreed!

[ ... ]

Well worth having.

Yes -- that is the 50-pin version, which is what you want. I
tried a 68-pin version with a wide-to-narrow adaptor, and the system got
very confused -- especially trying to boot from it. I now have one with
the 50-pin Acard in my Sun Blade 2000 -- and can boot from it -- even
boot DVDs -- and also burn DVDs (from software in Solaris 10 at least.
I think that you would have to add software to Solaris-8, which IIRC is
what the original poster is running.

Enjoy,
DoN.

 

At least that is all that the FEH lists for it. But I would
still be willing to try it if it is cheap enough.

Sun says that you can mix CPU speeds of the non-Cu types in the
Sun Blade 1000 and Sun Blade 2000.

They also say that you can't mix Cu and non-Cu CPUs, but at the
time that they said that, the 900 MHz Cu was the only Cu type. I wound
up for a while with a 1200 MHz Cu and a 900 MHz Cu in my Sun Blade 2000,
and it worked fine. (I now have two 1200 MHz CPUs, and my wife now has
both of my 900 MHz CPUs to replace her two 750 MHz non-Cu CPUs. She
also gained an extra 0.5 GB of RAM during the swap.

Right -- I was running two of them for a while before the
SB-1000 and SB-2000 machines started arriving here.

Enjoy,
DoN.

 

Hmm ... pull the CPU out of the new system and look at the
barcode number.

501-4857 250 MHz 1 MB Cache
501-4196 300 MHz 2 MB Cache
501-4849 300 MHz 2 MB Cache

The '-' may or may not be present in the barcode, and there will be
extra digits following which constitute the serial number of the module.

[ ... ]

Good!

Enjoy,
DoN.

 

Does not your household contents insurance cover you. We were struck by
lightning a few months ago, which killed an assortment of stuff, all of which,
including the SB2000 I'm typing this on, were paid for by the insurance.

Trying to make a claim for a non-PC, non-Mac computer was, er, interesting.

 

Hi DoN .... and others!

I'll start off this post with another SUCCESS!

I exchanged the "cages" between the Ultra 30 I have in the office and
the one Kenn gave me. I booted the Sun in the office and it read a CD!

Yes! Remembering your comment that it was nice to have spare
systems, which I haven't had spare actual computers in the past (though I
have a spare on a couple of other things), I'm thinking that I may
eventually look into seeing whether this Ultra 30 that Kenn gave me could
be a spare for what I have in the office.

(Also, it has 256 MB of RAM, eight "cards" where "mine" has 4 [128
MB]. I am also thinking -- eventually -- perhaps I could allow "mine" to
have more memory!)

I would eventually still want to replace the CD drive, and I will
want to look at the motherboard. (I'll add more below.)

It was a CD drive.

He said there was a metal "clip" (I believe "clip" was the word he
used) and he accidentally broke one of the metal pieces and it could be
soldered back. I had the impression it had something to do with the CPU
fan, because I was thinking it was while he was removing that that he said
he broke it.

At the moment, I have no idea what he's talking about, but that
doesn't surprise me!

At the moment, I appear to have a fully functioning Sun again, post
lightning strike, and that makes me happy -- for right now! :-D

Neither one had a tape drive. They both had the CD and floppy
drives.

Thank you! This is exactly what I did! I replaced the entire
cages, and I just disconnected/connected four cables, the power of both
drives, and the data (SCSI for the CD) of both drives. This was faster!

Then I'm sure glad I asked! :-O I see that, now. The technical
manual that I got from Sun that Trinean mentioned plus your usual
wonderful help allowed me to accomplish this without a single problem! (I
even got the bezels off without too much trouble!)

The drawer wouldn't close at all. I used to hear it "spin up" (and
see the light flash) after I closed the drawer. It doesn't "spin up" now,
and the "cup holder" always opened again, whether there was a CD drive in
or not! :-O (After I powered it off, I was able to push the drawer in,
and it stayed in.)

I did check on this. But, it was in all the way, so far as I could
tell.

So, I'm ending with this with a report of WONDERFUL SUCCESS in that
my Sun can read CDs again, and the drawer even stays closed! :-D

There are sure SO MANY THINGS associated with lightning strikes! :-O

It appears that an old DEC LA75 which I and my mother used, connected
to our VT terminals (VT330 in the office for me, the VT220 in her bedroom
for her) isn't working any more. It doesn't work from my terminal nor
hers, but both terminals appear to be working perfectly.

I'll eventually look into this, but that ISN'T CRITICAL. In fact, I
don't know that I'll even look to replace it. I have an HP All-in-One
9110, so we have both been able to print our bank reconciliation reports
on that.

And, this morning, I decided to look at the manuals of the two new
D-Link things I've purchased recently, the DGS-2205 (Ethernet switch/hub)
and the EBR-2310 (router/firewall). I put the first CD in the second of
the two DVD drives in my Linux computer, and guess what...

<sigh>

Now I have a cup holder on the Linux! :-(

I had an old (purchased in 1999, with the computer) DVD read only
drive, and I purchased a DVD read/writer drive around 2006. It is the
older, read only DVD drive. I don't hear a "spin up" and the CD comes out
in the same orientation as when it went in. It seems identical to the
Sun!

But, the newer one works fine. I was able to read both CDs (and
print the small manuals) in that drive.

Since I have one working, this isn't as critical, either, though I
will -- eventually -- replace it.

I'll be glad when I've tried to use EVERYTHING again, post lighting
strike! :-O (I think I should be about there...)

Barry

 

Hi Huge!

Yes, it would, but frankly I'm not positive yet that I'm going to try
to file a claim for it...

In 1991, I was on a really low salary, and had one computer. And the
apartment complex building I was in was directly struck by lightning. The
fire department came and we all evacuated. It was early evening, and I
was home. I had unplugged things I've never unplugged before -- even the
refrigerator! :-O

We were let back in around 9:30, I believe. So, I started going
around and plugging things back in. Well, it turns out my computer was
fried -- even though I had it unplugged from the wall and the serial
devices I had connected even then disconnected!!

(Evidently, because it was the first thing I plugged back in, because
I had wanted to let it start booting while I went around and plugged other
things in, it *might have been* my plugging it in [first] that fried it!
I sent it back to Frank Hogg labs in New York [I had an OS-9 Computer in
those days], and he said it wasn't repairable! He sent a letter, and I
filed the insurance claim. They paid for a replacement.)

But, I just don't have the time I had then. I have replaced the
stereo receiver box, two telephones, an answering machine, the Cyclades
16-port serial card that was in the Linux computer (for which I have
purchased the ESP-16 Serial Hub), an Ethernet port on the Sun, two wall
switches, and I'm sure a couple of other things that aren't coming
immediately to mind [and not including the CD drive on the Sun, one on the
Linux, the LA75 printer, if I decide they're truly gone], etc.

I haven't received any kind of letter or anything else on any of
these devices that there were "killed" by the lightning. If I were to
need to get such "professional opinions" on some or all of these things, I
don't think it would be worth it. I just don't have time right now.

I contacted Peet Brothers this past week. They are going go give me
$100 off a new Ultimeter 2100 weather station (because my Ultimeter 2000
is completely dead, and the wind sensor [struck by lightning] isn't even
on the mast any more!), and they'll be getting my current weather station
as the indication. They may be able to send me something (when they test
it) that indicates it was destroyed by lightning. I don't know whether
the report that the weather station was destroyed by lightning would
suffice for the other things that "I say" was also destroyed. I doubt it.

I thank you for mentioning it. And, I am aware that lightning is one
of the covered items of my insurance. But, the things to prove it (and
again, if I have to "prove it" for all of these devices), I just don't
know that I'm going to try, this time.

For right now, I am keeping track of the expenses I have that I know
are due to the lightning strike. And, I'm still thinking on it. But,
that's my current thoughts...

Barry

 

Good plan.

Yes -- since the system has 16 slots, you could load one system
up to 384 MB -- or you could keep your eyes open for bigger DIMMs (which
is what the "cards" are called). The Ultra-30 and Ultra-60 can have up
to 2 GB of RAM with the right DIMMs (and they must match in groups of
four).

And are you *sure* that the new system has 256 MB? Have you
looked at the Sun part numbers on the DIMMs? Here are the numbers and
their sizes:

501-2479 16 MB
501-2622 32 MB <====<< This is probably what you have four of.
501-2480 64 MB
501-5691 64 MB
501-3136 128 MB

If the other system has eight DIMMs -- it *could* have as much as
1GB of RAM in it.

No jumpers to change when you change the size of the DIMMs --
the system figures it all out and treats it as a single contiguous block
of RAM.

Hmm ... the CPU is a plug-in module on a printed circuit card,
and the fan is in the bottom front of the system box -- drawing air over
the PCI cards and framebuffer and the CPU. There is another (smaller)
fan in the power supply -- and you have to pull the power supply to gain
access to the DIMM sockets and to (possibly) remove and replace the
system board.

Note that if it is a *spring* clip, it probably won't solder
well, and if you *do* manage to solder it, it will lose its springiness.

I'll bet.

Fairly common setup. The tape drives were options, and most
people did not add them.

Looking at the parts breakdown, I think that the power cables
all join to a single connector which plugs into either the system board,
or to a cable from the power supply. (I don't remember which from the
last time I had the power supply out.)

Hold onto that manual -- even burn a copy onto a CD-ROM to keep
it available for future needs.

O.K. So it was a true cup holder, not a CD-ROM drive.

O.K. Damage to the drive, then.

I'll bet.

O.K. More damage.

O.K. Nice to have an alternate printer for when things go
strange.

O.K. Interesting that things this deep into two computers were
damaged, yet the majority of the computers still work.

And look into the ACard suggested by another poster here. Using
that, you can mount a DVD+-RW drive in the Sun, and burn DVDs from the
Sun.

Good Luck,
DoN.