[rescue] SPARCstation 1 boot woes

[Dave McGuire]

On 5/29/25 15:47, David McMackins II via rescue wrote:
> I have made an interesting find. I went looking around the web again
> and found this entry on the retro web:
> https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/sun-sparcstation-1#bios
> 
> They have a download there for OBP 1.0 with the correct Sun part number
> matched against this table:
> https://dogemicrosystems.ca/pub/Sun/System_Handbook/Sun_syshbk_V3.4/Systems/Sun4c/PROM_BootPROM_Sun4c.html
> 
> However, I only have one PROM chip left, and it's not an EPROM, so I
> have only one attempt before I have to buy something. If you can get
> your image and the part number from the sticker, I'd be interested to
> do a comparison with this download to see if it's the same.
> 
> I'm on the fence about using this image I found given the
> circumstances. I did peek inside on a hex editor to confirm it really
> is an OBP. It has the same 3-byte magic number at the beginning and I
> found lots of text strings related to the NVRAM flags, so that is
> promising. I wasn't sure how to find a version number, though.

   It's definitely v1.0.  I set up MAME to emulate a 4/60 with the 
above-mentioned ROM, it came up fine, and the banner said 1.0.  I think 
you're probably ok to try this with your last chip.

> Also, re: Dave and the SS1+, the table I linked above seems to indicate
> that OBP 1.3 has separate versions for the SS1 and SS1+, so although it
> would be good to dump and archive it anyway, I do not have high hopes
> that it would work properly on a regular SS1. Interestingly, though, it
> seems they are both supported by the same revision of OBP 2.9.

   Interesting.  Also, the string "Sun 4/60" appears in that ROM image, 
so this further suggests that the ROMs are different.

             -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA