3B2 Floppy Key Problem

[Robert C. White Jr.]

in article <49800004 at uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>, jkj737 at uxf.cso.uiuc.edu says:
> *>/* Written  7:08 pm  Oct 14, 1988 by paulm at psu-cs.UUCP in uxf.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.att */
> *>/* ---------- "3B2 Floppy Key Problem" ---------- */
> *>I have a 3B2/300 with 2MB of RAM and an internal 30MB HD
> *>
> *>Someone in charge of the 3B2 before me changed the hardware
> *>password to something different from the default, and now
> *>no one knows what.  So, I follow the nifty manual directions
> *>and use my floppy key to reset the NVRAM.  
> *>
> *>Nothing.  It resets the date/time just fine, but does nothing
> *>to the hardware/diag password at all.
> *>
> *>Any suggestions on what I can do??
> *>/* End of text from uxf.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.att */
> 
> The way we reset it is to unplug the nicad battery pack.  It is in the right
> front corner of the machine.  Just pop the lid and unplug it....
> Beware, ALL VRAM is scrozzed, so you will have to reset date, time and nodename.
> The Firmware password will be reset to "mcp".

I had a similar experience once, I even went as far as to
remove the NV-RAM battery.  No luck. . . .

I was about to call out a very expensive serice call when it suddenly
hit me.  Some idiot (in this case me) had set the console to even
parity.

It turns out that, while the UNIX System /dev/console driver was
only seven-bit significant, the firmware is eight-bit significant.
When I set the terminal back to 9600-8-1-N the password worked fine.
(yes verginia, it will be "mcp"  [Thank you Disney Productions] ;-)

Boy was that a stumpper for about 5 hours ;-)

On a side note:  Using the floppy key is identical in function to
removing the batery (aledgedly) but you must *make* the key
durring the inital installation (or any time there-after) yourself.
The disk labeled "FLOPPY KEY" that comes with the rest of the stuff
is just a blank, formatted diskette.

This is the case because the key must have the serial number of
your system board written on it (with other information too)
for it to work in your system.  This means that you can't use
one key in another machine.  (those of you who have floppy
keys already know this, but a lot of people I used to work
with didn't.  Not fun, nor funny.  So I thought I'd take the
extra bandwidth to mention it.)

Rob.