Rikard Johnels wrote:
Hello list. Complicated question:
I have a old SGI box with an installed IRIX 5.something, that i got for free a while back.
Problem: No root passsword. Only "Guest" account access. Linux cant read the older 5.x XFS system Thus having an unmountable filesystem. So i can't mount it and change the password manually.
I used to maintain IRIX systems and it sounds like you've got IRIX 5.2 or 5.3. The native filesystem was efs; don't think xfs appeared until IRIX 6.X. In your situation, I'd start an installation from the installation media, enter a root shell and blank out the root password. I haven't seen IRIX 5.X installation media for a *long* time. One thing you can try to is boot to single user mode, but I'm pretty sure IRIX will prompt for the root password. I can't remember. The steps to boot into single user mode depend on the version of the PROM. Turn the machine on and hit the <ESC> key multiple times to interrupt the boot cycle. You should see a menu system which allows you to "Enter the Command prompt" (or similar). This will put you in PROM mode where the prompt is ">>". At the prompt, type the word "single" and press Enter. If the PROM indicates that it is an unknown command, try the following command sequence instead:
boot sash: boot initstate=s
where ">>" and "sash:" are command prompts. If you're lucky, IRIX will drop you into a single user root shell. Otherwise, it will prompt for the root password. If you don't care about the contents of the disk, your best bet is to perform a fresh installation. I've got an SGI Indy at home with IRIX 6.5.22 installed and it works fine. Your only problem is getting a copy of the installation media. Should you need help performing the installation, take a look at the docs at techpub.sgi.com or let me know. Good luck