I am having problems booting to my external CD-ROM drive. When I try to run the command "boot cdrom" from my OK prompt I get the error "SCSI device 6,0 is not responding, Can't open boot device". Also, when I run the command "test cdrom", I get the error "SCSI device 6,0 is not responding, cdrom selftest failed. Return code = -1". Anybody have any ideas on how I can fix this problem? The OS running on this system is SunOS Release 5.6.
Thanks.

First, try running the probe-scsi-all command from the OK prompt to insure that the alias cdrom is actually pointing to where your cdrom drive is connected.

Second, make sure you have set the scsi id to 6 - should be a button to push on the back of the cdrom to change the id. Make sure you are not using that id on anything else (the probe-scsi-all command should tell you).

Third, what type of hardware are you using?

Thanks for your response. First of all, I am using a Sun Sparcstation 10 and the external cd-rom is a Sun Model 411. The SCSI ID was already set to 6. When I did the probe-scsi-all, it shows the cd-rom as being a Sony CD-ROM CDU-8012. I find it kind of strange that it is showing up as a Sony when in fact it is made by Sun, unless the drive itself inside the case is a Sony. Any help with this would really be appreciated since I am fairly new at this.

I'm not sure SUN makes any of their equipment.

Since probe-scsi can 'see' the cdrom, copy down where it believes it is (the device path). Try booting from it instead of using boot cdrom.

(you can take a look at where the cdrom alias is pointing with the devalias command)

Alright, I tried booting to the device path and now I am getting "The SCSI bus is hung. Perhaps an external device is turned off". The only external device I have is the cdrom. I switched out the SCSI cable and tried a different terminator and the same error occurs. This problem occurs on multiple systems that I have tried this cdrom on so it has got to be something to do with it.

Have you ever had this cdrom on a system where it worked?
Have you tried using another cdrom player with the same cable, system, terminator to insure all are working (the assumption is that you already know the other cdrom player is good)?

Suggest you call Sun for a replacement if it is under contract or warranty.

I found one thing on SunSolve with the error you gave in your last response:

(I just love their 'work around')