On Mon, 24 Dec 2001, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
>
> Actually, after some research, they appear to be Powerserver 580s (we
> think, possibly 560s). Any gotchas here?
That would be the 7013-560 or 7013-580. They're both dandy machines.
They like lots o' ram, but the 560 is pretty fast, considering the era,
and the 580 is downright zippy. Both are stump-pullers - you can load
them beyond all reason.
If I recall correctly, they are fairly straightforward boxen. My 550
and the 7012-355 I once had both required terminators to the external
scsi interface. These are an oddball connector, not easy to come across.
You do need the keys. If you can't get them, force or drill the lock on
the REAR panel. That is a straight mechanical barrel, and controls
physical access to the entire innards, including the front lock barrel.
The serial ports on the 560 & I _think_ the 580 are standard 25-pin
rs232; no probs there.
There are a couple of 64M memory boards on ebay right now -- if you're
ever going to juke them up, $25 USD each ain't bad.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1313304861
He doesn't list the 560 as compatible, but I don't think that list can
be right anyway. If I were going to bid, I'd ask the seller for the FRU
P/N of the ram _card_, as well as the simms, and look it up in the
service diagnostics manual. The machines are all listed in the memory
compatibility section, with all boards & SIMMs they accept. Also whether
they want 1, 2, or 4 card groups.
I keep hearing that if you install >v4 AIX you can use a regular PS/2
keyboard. I've not gotten that to happen, but I may well have missed
something. If your standard keyboard won't work, you need not only an
IBM keyboard, but one of 2 or 3 specific models. The point being "Try
real hard to end up with their original kbd & mouse". I think I have
both models if you need specific FRU #s.
That guy will boot from most any 8mm DAT drive, a very limited range of
CD-ROM drives (Plextor is your friend) or from a remote server. Of
course, you have to boot into service mode to set up remote boot.... I
haven't tried on my 550, but I'm near positive AIX v5.x will still run.
I know v4.3.3 will.
BTW, 5.0 & 5.1 are significantly faster than 4.x on the slower
machines.
I've also heard that they are very ESD-sensitive in general. I wear a
wrist-strap anyway, more out of superstition than anything else, so I
dunno.
I also have (I think) a full set of diagnostic disks for the 7013s. The
binder they're in got a little damp during the November flood, but I
think it was just damp, not direct wetting. And yes, Sridhar, I'll make
you a copy too. I've had to drill the locks on a couple, so I can give
details with that if you need, and I have some parts/pieces lying
around. Including harddrive sleds, body parts, maybe a floppy drive &
sled or two.
Have fun!
Doc
Received on Mon Dec 24 2001 - 12:13:56 GMT