AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

[Pete Turnbull]

On 23/04/2016 00:35, ethan at 757.org wrote:
>> In my case there is just a CR2032, and no Dallas module. I will try
>> replacing the CR2032 again.
>> Regards
>> Rob
>
> The NVRAM failure warning probably isn't the physical ram, it's the lack
> of contents.

Yep, used to be a problem even in the mid-1990s with some Suns. We used 
to keep a copy of at least every MAC address so we could reprogram them, 
and advocated keeping a dump of the rest of the contents too.  Similar 
problem on SGIs later, which reminds me of a trick an SGI engineer 
showed me for Indys.  If you need to replace the Dallas chip, especially 
with one "borrowed" fom another machine,first put it in backwards.  That 
wipes it - most importantly, the MAC address, on which some licences 
depend -  and lets the machine boot to the PROM as far as you need to 
reprogram the necessary variables.  I accept no responsibility for any 
problems arising from testing this however!

-- 
Pete