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h3. Circumventing the PROM boot password on a Sparcstation I was given my sparcstation 5 by Durham University by way of the Durham University Computer Society (thanks!). Unfortunately, the boot PROM was passworded, making it impossible to interfere with the boot process, e.g. to boot from a CD-ROM rather than hard disk. I googled around and most advice suggested you needed to buy a new boot PROM chip. I didn't fancy that much. I found a single usenet post describing a method of clearing the boot PROM but no supporting posts saying it worked. h4. The technique
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The yellow-stickered one

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The PROM removed

* boot the machine and enter the boot PROM. Get a password prompt. * Crack open the case and remove the PROM chip whilst the machine is on. * Hit enter on the password prompt: since it can't confirm the password against the PROM, it lets you through. * Re-sit the PROM chip in the machine, whilst turned on. * You now need to clear or disable the PROM password. Either: ** @setenv security-mode none@ to disable the password, or ** @password@ to be prompted for a new one. h4. Results This technique worked fine for me. Thanks to "Karl Goetz":https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KarlGoetz for confirming it worked for him too. h3. Miscellaneous links * "kernels for woody to sarge migration":http://higgs.djpig.de/upgrade/upgrade-kernel/ * " Upgrading the Linux Kernel on Debian/Sparc":http://www.iratepublik.com/show_article.php?id=1 * "improving SSH2 performance":http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-sparc&m=101663078400634&w=2 * "improving ssh2 performance on SPARCv8/SPARCv9 systems":http://lists.debian.org/debian-sparc/2002/03/msg00189.html ** "re":http://lists.debian.org/debian-sparc/2002/03/msg00238.html * "Setting up Solaris on an Ultra Sparc machine":http://www.notpurfect.com/main/installsol.htm