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Sun Ultra 10 Creator - Error 404: OS not found

sciencegirl100

sciencegirl100

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2016
Messages
63
Location
Washington, DC
I just got a Sun Microsystems Ultra 10 Creator SPARC station!
It's really cool... but there's a small issue. It didn't have a hard drive, I gave it one.
So... how the heck can I get an OS on it?
I've tried:
  1. Solaris 7.0.1199
  2. Sun OS 4.1.3
  3. Solaris 8
(all from WinWorldPC)

None of the booted. :/
The computer turns on, I get the "ok" prompt after an NVRAM error (dead battery). Then I use "set-defaults" to set the options to their system defaults and "boot cdrom" to attempt a boot from a disk.

Specs:
300MHz
6448.6MB Western Digital HDD
256MB RAM
NEC ND-2510A DVD R/RW & CD R/RW (disk drive, non-stock)
NEC FD1231T (Floppy)
Built-In GPU
 
I don't think you'll have success unless you fix the battery first. At least that's what several people I know have reported. I have not had a battery go south in one yet.
 
Ok, so I found this 'hack', should I attempt this? It seems like people who just bough a replacement had their battery die shortly afterwards (as it's an obsolete chip).
I'm fine with soldering and I do have a Dremel.
 
ok, so cut the old traces to the battery (in the IC), soldered in a new coin-cell 3.7V, it remembers settings now, but I get:
"The IDPROM contents are invalid"
I mean, the chip works, it holds information, but I guess it needs to be set properly. I don't know how.

EDIT: Ignore all of that, I forgot to follow the instructions at the end of the pdf :p

OH MY GOSH IT'S BOOTING!!!
 
Last edited:
Nice!

So it's true that you can't boot with a dead battery even if you enter in the right settings every time. (I had no good reason to doubt it, the first guy that told me it happened to him wouldn't have been wrong about it.)
 
So, now the trick is to burn a working OS disk... all I have are CD-RWs.. the stock CD drive doesn't support them, do I thew in one that does, but from what I hear, using other manufactures' drives don't work as well.
 
It should support CD-R discs. I've used them in the ones I had. You may have to get some of those.
 
OK, I'll get some from the CS department, what version of Solaris should I put on it and where should I get it? (As the ones I've tried from WinWorldPC haven't entirely worked)

((One of the ISOs booted, but didn't successfully install))
 
I had Solaris 10 on most of my Ultras. Frankly though, if I had to install one today, I'd use NetBSD. There just isn't the glut of free software for Solaris anymore.
 
The install disk doesn't find the hard drive?

I seem to recall running into that, but have no recollection of the solution.
 
WOW, sorry for the late reply (story at end of post)

So, I got a Solaris 7 disk booting, and it recognized only the IBM "death"-star HDDs.
Anyway, it installed, and it's properly running, I just want to give it a newer version of solaris. (between 8-10)
I have no idea how to set up networking though :/

Story:
So, I was about to reply to this thread and my PC just shut down, like the power went out or something... nope, room light is still on.
Turns out my AIO liquid cooler died, and I only just got it replaced.
Back up alive!!
 
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