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Asset ID: 1-71-1004999.1
Update Date:2009-12-04
Keywords:

Solution Type  Technical Instruction Sure

Solution  1004999.1 :   How to reset date on Sun Blade[TM] 100/150 instead of hardware replacement  


Related Items
  • Sun Blade 100 Workstation
  •  
  • Sun Blade 150 Workstation
  •  
Related Categories
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Desktops>Workstations
  •  

PreviouslyPublishedAs
207010


Description
SB100/SB150 cannot boot properly after the date is set to year 2038.

Only after resetting the date, the system could boot up correctly. This
article illustrates an alternate way to reset date when system is unable to
boot due to the date problem.

Steps to Follow
SB100/SB150 cannot boot properly after the date is set to the year 2038.
During boot, boot -s, boot cdrom -s or boot net -s, the following error
messages would appear and the boot cycle would stall.
	ok date
		01/23/2038 18:01:39  GMT
	ok boot net -s
		cat: Cannot stat stdout
		/sbin/rcS: /etc/vfstab: cannot create
		INIT: Cannot create /var/adm/utmpx
		INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:"  "
		INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:"  "
		INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
		/dev/fd/3: /dev/fd/3: cannot open
		ENTER RUN LEVEL (0-6, s or S) [2]:s
		INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
		/dev/fd/3: /dev/fd/3: cannot open
		ENTER RUN LEVEL (0-6, s or S) [2]:
The usual way of resetting date is to use the /usr/bin/date command from
Solaris[TM], since the system cannot boot up properly, this method is not possible.
Note that the Time of Day (TOD) information is stored in NVRAM, removing
the battery CR2032 if present would not help. Replacing the NVRAM might
solve the problem. However, a more cost-effective work-around is to create
an RCscript such that the system can reset the date in the init phase of
the boot process.
Below are steps to reset the date back to normal using another machine to
edit the RCscript.
1.  Put the boot disk of the problem machine into a good machine as a
NON boot drive. Do note that the harddisk interface on the SB100/SB150
is IDE (ATAPI) type.
2.  Mount the boot disk of the problem machine to a mount point.
Example:  (c0t1d0s0 is the problem machine's boot drive)
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 /<mount point>
3. Create the following RCscript in <mount point>/etc/rcS.d directory.
		--/etc/rcS.d/S99date--
		#!/sbin/sh
		date 0401202004
		--------------------------
Change the permission of the file into 744 to make it executable.
		# chmod 744 /etc/rcS.d/S99date
4.  Unmount and remove the problem machine boot disk from the good machine.
5.  Put the problem machine boot disk back into the problem machine.
*** Boot SINGLE USER mode only *** to prevent time sensitive applications
from starting up, if present. Once the machine boot up successfully,
REMEMBER to REMOVE the S99date RCscript. Finally fine-tune the date to
the accurate date/time again in Single User mode, before proceeding to
Multi-User mode.


Product
Sun Blade 100 Workstation
Sun Blade 150 Workstation

Internal Comments
Audited/updated 12/03/09 Silvana.Villamil@SUN.com, Entry Level SPARC Content Team Member

Year, 2038, TOD, NVRAM, /dev/fd/3
Previously Published As
75307

Change History
Date: 2004-04-29
User Name: 25440
Action: Approved
Comment: Great. Suggested changes made. Publishing
Version: 0
Date: 2004-04-29
User Name: 25440
Action: Accepted
Comment:
Version: 0
Date: 2004-04-28
User Name: 89705
Action: Approved
Comment: Corrected tech content to consider time critical factor. Script has been moved to rcS.d and boot -s to prevent user application from starting up.
Good point to bring up.
Version: 0
Date: 2004-04-28
User Name: 89705
Action: Accepted
Comment:
Version: 0
Product_uuid
2a071da8-0a18-11d6-906c-a8efc43ec293|Sun Blade 100 Workstation
528e68a2-65c2-404c-9499-58d4834cd4d0|Sun Blade 150 Workstation

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