Cisco: 6500 Supervisor 1 with missing CatOS

I have a spare 6500 near my desk with a Sup1 blade with no CatOS (not MSFC IOS -that is fine) or anything on bootflash.

No problem right? Well, the rommon does not show up in hyperterm…no character echo, nothing. Plug into another device, hyperterm is fine.

I put another Sup in and comes up normal.

I’ve research this online extensively but to no avail. Just wondering if any of you have ever solved this type of issue.

Another question…rommon is firmware based right?

thanks