Ive got a sun UltraSPARC workstation I got from ebay and it appears as though there is no OS. I am a total newbie with SUN. On power up, I get a screen with the SUN logo and a run down of what the machine is hardware wise.. then it says "OK".
This workstation has no CD-ROM drive.
How might I install solaris?
Is there a BIOS I can change options in?
I have solaris 9 on CD and other linux systems on the network.
Thanks!

Well assuming the seller didn't provide any usernames or passwords, at that ok prompt you can try to type boot and hit <enter> to see if it boots up at all..
If not, your going to have a hard time installing with a Solaris cd lacking a cdrom..

I did type "boot".
This is what I got...
-----------------
ok boot
Drive not ready
Can't read disk label
Cant open disk label package
Boot device: net File and args:
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
------------------------------------------
I did find something here:
http://www.sunhelpdesk.com/users/john/001.htm
This seems easy enough but it didnt work...

Yeah, that link shows you how to install with another existing install server on a network..
Probably the easiest way for you is to find a cheap compatible cdrom for the machine to do a cdrom based install..

Which system did you get? Ultra-1, Ultra-5, 10, 60, 80, ???.

Depending on which one you got, you may be able to use an IDE cd-rom, so you could grab one from another box and use it. I know Ultra-2 is SCSI based, but the Ultra-1, 5, and 10 are all IDE I think. (I know the 5 is, cause I have one).

Did you pop the cover and make sure it has a hard disk? I hope you didn't get a stripped system.

yeah like jdc2048 said you can get cd-rom and boot the OS from that asumming that you've got your Sol 9 cd.
If you've got a sparcstation, then from memory the run internally on IDE.
jdc2048: i think that ultra 5's -10's run on IDE as well...
If you've got a cdrom hanging off it already then kewl, load up the software cd 1/2 and then from the ok prompt
ok boot cdrom <this should proceed with the install process of Solaris and everything should be sweet! *hopefully*>
if you haven't got an internal cdrom - connect an external one - this will be a scsi connected cdrom drive (check to see that you have the right scsi cable to connect the cdrom to your sparc (i.e. wide/narrow scsi) also, with the EXTERNAL cdrom, set the cdrom drive to target 6 <-- important.
at the ok prompt, run a:
ok probe-scsi-all
to see whether the cdrom drive comes up, if so, load in the above mentioned cd and you follow the procedure.
Note: you dont have to open your box to see whether it has a hdd.
from the ok prompt run a
ok probe-ide
this should return a disk if anything is connected to teh controller.
Finally - check to see whether you're booting from the correct disk - your alias to the disk may be incorrect (unlikely though)

hth.
Good Luck.

- Hoa.

two possible problems here...

1. No operating system. The "ok" prompt is Sun's equivalent of a wintel box's BIOS (kinda).

2. The "auto-boot?" variable is set to "false".

Even if there was an OS on the machine, if "auto-boot?" is set to false, it will boot straight to the ok prompt anyway.

while you're at the ok prompt, type:
this lists all the system's basic environment variables (at a kinda BIOS level). on the second page (i think) the "auto-boot?" variable is set. the value on the left is what it is set to. You can change it to true by typing:
This will then attempt to boot from the hard disk every time you boot up.

Next stage... install an OS if one isn't one there already. For this you will need either a build server on your network, or the Solaris CDs.

The latest Solaris 9 CD images for SPARC are available here free-of-charge:

http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html

simply burn these images to a CD (possible with Nero, for example), put them in the CD drive of the Sun machine, and at the "ok" prompt, type:
...and then follow the instructions

as for this problem... it's cos the hard disks don't seem to be formatted correct, or maybe not at all. i had this problem when i replaced both hard disks in an Ultra 2 with a couple of disks from an old disk array we had. i had to just reformat the disks, and install the OS onto them. Formatting is part of the Solaris install i think... although i haven't done one for a while.

As for the "Boot device: net" section... this means it's trying to boot from the network, and trying to find your build server, but as you don't have one, it's timing out...

HTH...