The last time I turned my NeXT cube on (~1 yr ago) it booted up just fine. I powered it on this evening but after showing "testing system" it gets stuck at the "Loading from network" screen. I tried command+~ to enter single user mode but it has no effect. In fact, the only key on the keyboard that seem to have any effect is the power button, which works every time.
I'm guessing there might be something wrong with the HD and the system is falling back to netboot, but I am confused as to why command+~ does not work. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Quote from: "davidhoenig"The last time I turned my NeXT cube on (~1 yr ago) it booted up just fine. I powered it on this evening but after showing "testing system" it gets stuck at the "Loading from network" screen. I tried command+~ to enter single user mode but it has no effect. In fact, the only key on the keyboard that seem to have any effect is the power button, which works every time.
I'm guessing there might be something wrong with the HD and the system is falling back to netboot, but I am confused as to why command+~ does not work. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The cube must have lost its configuration parameters and went back to the default (netbooting). Try to key in the Command+~ sequence just right before the "Loading from network" screen comes up. I think there is a point beyond the boot sequence where it would not recognize the Command+~ until it fully boots up.
I tried pressing Command+~ lots of times during the whole boot process, and even holding it down from power-on to "Loading from network" but nothing has any effect. I would suspect something is wrong with the keyboard but the power button works just fine.
Is there any way to reset the configuration parameters? Like pulling the CMOS battery?
I tried a process of elimination by removing the HD, swapping in the original, but every time I turn on the computer it goes directly from "Testing system" to "loading from network".
Can anyone recommend how I can reset the hardware settings, or anything else to try? Can I disable the network card?
Quote from: "davidhoenig"I tried pressing Command+~ lots of times during the whole boot process, and even holding it down from power-on to "Loading from network" but nothing has any effect. I would suspect something is wrong with the keyboard but the power button works just fine.
If you're truly using the correct console sequence for your system (ADB versus non-ADB, correct timing, etc.), then you may have a keyboard problem. The power switch is special and has its own control line onto the processor board. Break all the connections and inspect everything looking for dirt, bent pins, etc. Try using the other port on the keyboard to connect to the soundbox. And let the system get to 'Testing' before hitting Command-tilde.
When you do command +~ do not hit shift key and take it from there, say yes to en if you need to change settings, I am working on this now.
I have a NeXTstation Color that also does this. I am not sure if it means the hard drive is just not working or what. Passes the self test and then goes into the network window and hangs there for good. My non ADB soundbox is bad at the moment so I can't go past that but my guess is if you get to the boot rom at startup, and then type BSD to boot from the SCSI drive, and it does not do that, the drive is either bad or does not have NeXTSTEP on it or something.
tj
If hard drive is corrupt, what is there to do to reformat, isn't there defragmentation software, it's just a boot problem I have solved. Problem is that diskette and cd do not work with bfd at prompt, in fact rom settings off cannot even get to prompt, maybe we could start there. Also if you want to boot go shift e or shift x and it will bring you to # then type exit, that does it for me. Thing is I want to do a clean start and I haven't been able to, does this mean new hard drive or is there a way to format?
It turns out my problem was due to a bad keyboard. I borrowed a different one from a shop and I can get into the ROM monitor now.
Quote from: "IseRock"When you do command +~ do not hit shift key and take it from there, say yes to en if you need to change settings, I am working on this now.
I got this too "loading from network" and i do the command+~ and bsd and
boots but how do i change it back to boot from hard disk instead going to
network, thanks i think someone removed the battery, could please help.
Thanks in advance!!!!!
RobT :oops:
Received from Rob Blessin Thanks
Hello RobT: command ~ at NeXT prompt type p for parameters change boot en? type in sd, default through rest of questions, power off and power jup should goto a loginscreen. best regards Rob Blessin :D
Hello:
I'm trying to resurrect a couple of Turbo Color slabs. They all go after testing system to loading from network. They do not respond to command ~ entries. I've tried 3 different keyboards with no results. I have several hard drives i've tried, and I don't know whether a bad HD would cause it not to exit the loading from network to the'p' screen where I could select verbose and bsd.
I've also tried to boot from a bootable ZIP drive, but still can't get past loading from network.
Any ideas?
gregort
Quote from: gregor on May 30, 2025, 04:59:07 PMThey do not respond to command ~ entries.
If you are using an ADB keyboard and soundbox, are you sure that you have the correct Y-cable to connect the soundbox?
According to Nitro's post here (
https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=785.msg4529#msg4529), you need the #N4536 part number.
You can verify that you have the correct cable by looking at the 19 pin connector. If it has all 19 pins, then it will work with ADB.
Yep- I checked, and it is the correct y-cable. Has got to be something else. Damned frustrating!
gregor
Success! I saw another post suggesting the left ALT+ Command Key + Tilde combination, and it actually broke out of the 'loading from network' loop. I was able to select 'p' for parmeters, and change the configuration to verbose mode. I had made a bootable ZIP drive disk, and had it connected as scsi id "0" Believe it or not, it friggin' well booted up! Slow, but booted nonetheless. Could have knocked me down with a feather....
Hope to connect some of my old scsi hard drives, run as single user and run some fsck's to see if they can be revived.
Thanks to all who rplied.
gregor