Hello NeXT Community: I think I am onto something ,
We need an easy use solutions library back in the day it was NeXT answers
A troubleshooting guide as a lot of the errors are really common but frustrating to figure out , if you are new to NeXT hardware , Rusty at it or even a GURU.
A
lot of us experience the same errors like when components fail and get cryptic messages on boot ....
for example in graphics mode testing system goes to loading from network and hangs.
Did you know by default when you change out the bios battery , the NeXT will by default change its boot parameters to booting from Network from Booting from hard drive causing panic and confusion.
The solution : You have to change the default boot device in parameters .
The directions command ~ after testing system goes to loading from network
command shift ~ for ADB keyboards
takes you to a NeXT >
type p for parameters and press enter
first question boot en? OK this means it is set to boot from ethernet , you did not do it , your NeXT bios did when you changed the battery.
Solution type in sd and press enter , GURU congratulations you have now changed your default boot device from ethernet to scsi device !
default through the rest of the questions ....
until you are back at a NeXT> now when you power off and back on your NeXT should now attempt to boot from your hard drive.
Update 2/14/2021 When it says perform power up test change to yes , this also will cause verbose boot to work when changed to yes
Dram test ? yes
scsi test ? yes
sound out tests ? yes
Loop until keypress ? no
Diagnostics? NO if you check this yes system will hang.....
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The other Parameters questions that we defaulted through also yield interesting results like
Verbose Mode ? no
I prefer changing this toVerbose Mode? yes because it takes us out of the graphics boot mode and into the unix text boot mode showing what is going on in the background ,
however I've noticed changing it under parameters to Yes if you have 'new capacitors" seems to have no effect and stays it in graphics mode but may be this is because of a DD copy of an image verse a true install .... I'll explore this.
Would this index be better under Work logs, or Black Hardware or Perhaps a new FAQ section where all members can contribute.
Just trying to help ! Your thoughts and ideas appreciated.
like scsi bus hung usually means your hard drive is unplugged from the scsi cable or not properly terminated :)
As I'm in the middle of working a similar issue that would be very helpful. I did find this doc which covers a lot of the basics for the monitor.
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/NeXTStep/3.3/nsa/09_StartShut.htmld/index.html