SUMMARY: SunFire 280R front panel access

Hi Everyone, and Happy New Year.

Yesterday I reported problems accessing the front panel of a SunFire 280R.

After worrying that a lot of wise people would tell me I was a dope, or was
missing something obvious, it seems that many have had the same problem!

All were unanimous in stating that "brute force" was the way to go.
Some also reported similar difficulties with the 220R and 420R models.

To those who haven't successfully opened the doors yet, you need to
make sure the key on the front panel is in a "non-locked" position.
The doors overlap, so you must open the larger left door first.
The left panel is hinged on the left side, the right panel hinged
on the right.

The part of the door that won't budge is 1/3 of the way down, and
near the right edge of the big left door - that is, around 1cm to
the left of the key itself.  You need to apply some appropriate
force near here.

I grabbed a very, very large screwdriver and gently shoved the thin end
into the small gap at the base of the left door and slowly twisted until
the door popped open.

After a little investigation, I've found my own solution for the future:
If you don't want to go through this every time you need to open
the panels, you can remove the "catch" that causes the problems.
It is a small hexagonal shaped nut/knob, which is easily removed
with a pair of pliers, by turning in an anti-clockwise direction.
The doors will be lose, but you can then use the key to secure the
door in place by turning it to the "lock" position.

Other things of note in the suggestions were:

   You can pull hard on the plastic handle, but don't be surprised
   when it breaks off.

   One person reminded me that these boxes have 3 year warranties, and
   it should be up to SUN to fix this.

Thanks very much to everyone for replying so quickly, in particular
  Wallis Peter <Peter.Wallis@iclafrica.com
  Kanchan Wadhwa <kanchanw@yahoo.com>
  CTalavera@isasa.es
  Jeffrey Tay <tleebeng@dso.org.sg>
  zsentient@anosc-e.5sigcmd.army.mil
  Allan West <allan@clas.ufl.edu>
  "Jim Leppert" <JLeppert@r2-tech.com>
  "Andres Aviles" <aaviles@ngs.org>
  "Smart, Bob" <bob.smart@lmco.com>
  Hichael Morton <mh1272@yahoo.com>
  Kathy Ange <kathyange@yahoo.com>
  Christophe Dupre <duprec@scorec.rpi.edu>
  MCClark <mcclark@daewerk.net>
  "s chitta" <schitta5@hotmail.com>
  Stan.Pietkiewicz@statcan.ca
  "Thomas M. Payerle" <payerle@physics.umd.edu>
  Chris Price <cprice@ITS.TO>

and to everyone else who might have sent me a reply that I haven't
read yet.

Regards, David
--
David Beard
Computer Systems Manager, Centre for Mathematical Computing
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE SA 5005
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 8 8303 5709  Fax: +61 8 8303 3773
Email: david.beard@adelaide.edu.au

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