On Mon, 23 Nov 2009, gerry77 at mail.com wrote:
Do you have a working CR-ROM drive at least on the Alpha system? Have you
tried serving a real CD-ROM and not a LD device?
I *had* a working CDROM on the Alpha, but for whatever reason it is now broke. :( I have plenty of IDE drives laying around, and that is going to be my project tonight - install a new IDE CDROM, and try to serve the CD from there instead of an LD device.
Just out of my curiosity: does Wireshark dissect the LAD/LAST protocol or
just identifies it (by its Ethertype)?
It just detects the Ethertype. It doesn't claim to know anything other than that ...
If you have another system around (VAX or Alpha doesn't matter), you may
want to try to connect to the Infoserver with the LAD client to ensure that
Chicken and egg: I many two other VAXen around, but they are all in the same situation as my 4000, no OS.
Type something like the following:
[cut]
I tried this *locally* from MISER (which is serving the disk) and it works. Not sure if this is a fair test.
Tonight when I get home after getting finished with $dayjob I'm going to continue banging on this ... I had a nice conversation with Steve Davidson yesterday he's also attempting to get me straightened out. I always find it amazing on (most) mailing lists how quickly help comes when someone needs it!
I'll keep the list posted on my progress.
Fred
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:03:50 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
The VAX boots to this file fine.( "b /r5:100 eza0" ) If I make it search
for Infoserver services, it finds the 7.3 distribution service that I set
up using LDDRIVER on the Alpha. However, when I try to select it (and
hopefully make it "boot" from it) it just sits there for a long time,
eventually saying:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
Do you have a working CR-ROM drive at least on the Alpha system? Have you
tried serving a real CD-ROM and not a LD device?
Running wireshark doesn't reveal much - I see the "DEC LAST" protocol
running on the wire, but that's about it. At this point it *has* to be
something simple.
Just out of my curiosity: does Wireshark dissect the LAD/LAST protocol or
just identifies it (by its Ethertype)?
Would anyone have anything obvious I should be checking? I have a
feeling I'm *this* close ... :)
If you have another system around (VAX or Alpha doesn't matter), you may
want to try to connect to the Infoserver with the LAD client to ensure that
the service is really working and not just appearing on the network.
Type something like the following:
$ @SYS$STARTUP:ESS$STARTUP DISK
$ LADCP = "$SYS$SYSTEM:ESS$LADCP"
$ LADCP BIND <service_name>
$ MOUNT <DAD$service_name> <served_volume_label>
Then try to do some DIR and such, to see if the disk is remotely readable...
HTH,
G.
Hi Fred,
When you have selected the Infoserver service where you have the distribution, does is show up as a (LAST) connection on the Infoserver?
Have you checked that the SYSBOOT.EXE is continuous?
Regards,
Kari
Fred wrote:
Good evening everyone:
This weekend I have been trying to make my VAXStation 4000-90A come to life. It won't boot off the CD (an NEC Multispin 4X, perhaps it doesn't speak 512/2048?) so I took the next route of trying to make it boot of my Alpha's (MISER) host base Infoserver. I copied the ISL_SVAX_073.SYS file off of my 7.3 distribution from Montagar (it was in [sys0.sysexe]) to mom$load and did all the NCP statements to make MISER aware of the new soon-to-be-node, FRUGAL.
The VAX boots to this file fine.( "b /r5:100 eza0" ) If I make it search for Infoserver services, it finds the 7.3 distribution service that I set up using LDDRIVER on the Alpha. However, when I try to select it (and hopefully make it "boot" from it) it just sits there for a long time, eventually saying:
%ISL-F-BADOPEN, unable to locate SYSBOOT
Running wireshark doesn't reveal much - I see the "DEC LAST" protocol running on the wire, but that's about it. At this point it *has* to be something simple.
Would anyone have anything obvious I should be checking? I have a feeling I'm *this* close ... :)
Cheers,
Fred
----
Lets call it for what it is - "legacy" is a term that people use in a
polite but derogatory manner to imply that the future direction they
prefer is not that which they view as the current direction.
.
Fred,
Send me the MAC address of your ethernet adapter (on the VAX). I can
enable remote boot from my end. It will be slower than local, but you
will be able to do whatever you need to the system and its disks. Using
VMS phone I can walk you thru it in pseudo-real-time... :-) I will be
on STARS2::
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:52
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009, Steve Davidson wrote:
Which model are you using? I may have one here to check.
NEC Multispin 4X model CDR-601 (it's external).
Re: number of drives in the 90A. There's just one at the moment, but I
have a BA3xx shelf that I've been sacrificing drives out of. It's just
a
screwdriver away to get more (it was fully populated).
Re #2: login to MISER. If the above two ideas fail, I'll whip together
an
account for you to look around.
Fred
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009, Steve Davidson wrote:
Which model are you using? I may have one here to check.
NEC Multispin 4X model CDR-601 (it's external).
Re: number of drives in the 90A. There's just one at the moment, but I have a BA3xx shelf that I've been sacrificing drives out of. It's just a screwdriver away to get more (it was fully populated).
Re #2: login to MISER. If the above two ideas fail, I'll whip together an account for you to look around.
Fred
If you wish I could login to you alpha and take a look around. I can
either set host or come in via LAT.
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:37
To: hecnet at update.uu.se
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Sun, 2009-11-22 at 21:18 -0500, Steve Davidson wrote:
Did you by chance enable broadcasts to your system console on the
Alpha
so that you could monitor the actual requests that the Alpha
will/should
(hopefully) see? This might give a clue to what is missing/wrong...
(resent because I think I'm subscribed to the mailing list with a couple
variants of misernet.net ....)
Hi Steve,
Yes I did. In fact I see the "load request" start and succeed when it
grabs the ISL_SVAX_073 file - but other than that, there are no other
broadcasts while logged in as SYSTEM with reply/enable set.
I have found a site with jumper settings for this NEC drive, but I don't
see a reference to sector size. I think I'm going to modify the
"factory reserved" jumpers one at a time, thinking perhaps one of those
is it.
Fred
Fred,
How many disk drives do you have in the 90A? I may have another idea -
a variation on a theme as it were...
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:37
To: hecnet at update.uu.se
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Sun, 2009-11-22 at 21:18 -0500, Steve Davidson wrote:
Did you by chance enable broadcasts to your system console on the
Alpha
so that you could monitor the actual requests that the Alpha
will/should
(hopefully) see? This might give a clue to what is missing/wrong...
(resent because I think I'm subscribed to the mailing list with a couple
variants of misernet.net ....)
Hi Steve,
Yes I did. In fact I see the "load request" start and succeed when it
grabs the ISL_SVAX_073 file - but other than that, there are no other
broadcasts while logged in as SYSTEM with reply/enable set.
I have found a site with jumper settings for this NEC drive, but I don't
see a reference to sector size. I think I'm going to modify the
"factory reserved" jumpers one at a time, thinking perhaps one of those
is it.
Fred
Fred,
Which model are you using? I may have one here to check.
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Fred
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 21:37
To: hecnet at update.uu.se
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
On Sun, 2009-11-22 at 21:18 -0500, Steve Davidson wrote:
Did you by chance enable broadcasts to your system console on the
Alpha
so that you could monitor the actual requests that the Alpha
will/should
(hopefully) see? This might give a clue to what is missing/wrong...
(resent because I think I'm subscribed to the mailing list with a couple
variants of misernet.net ....)
Hi Steve,
Yes I did. In fact I see the "load request" start and succeed when it
grabs the ISL_SVAX_073 file - but other than that, there are no other
broadcasts while logged in as SYSTEM with reply/enable set.
I have found a site with jumper settings for this NEC drive, but I don't
see a reference to sector size. I think I'm going to modify the
"factory reserved" jumpers one at a time, thinking perhaps one of those
is it.
Fred
On Sun, 2009-11-22 at 21:18 -0500, Steve Davidson wrote:
Did you by chance enable broadcasts to your system console on the Alpha
so that you could monitor the actual requests that the Alpha will/should
(hopefully) see? This might give a clue to what is missing/wrong...
(resent because I think I'm subscribed to the mailing list with a couple variants of misernet.net ....)
Hi Steve,
Yes I did. In fact I see the "load request" start and succeed when it
grabs the ISL_SVAX_073 file - but other than that, there are no other
broadcasts while logged in as SYSTEM with reply/enable set.
I have found a site with jumper settings for this NEC drive, but I don't
see a reference to sector size. I think I'm going to modify the
"factory reserved" jumpers one at a time, thinking perhaps one of those
is it.
Fred
I have two of the 6-stack units (624x). They work GREAT! Some of the
VAXen see all 6 drives, some do not.
The VAXcluster boot member for the STARS2 cluster has one on it right
now (serverd to the whole cluster).
-Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Zane H. Healy
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 20:28
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: RE: [HECnet] Boot VAX from Alpha host Infoserver?
At 9:11 PM -0500 11/22/09, Steve Davidson wrote:
Oh, the NEC Multispin 4x may just work. I use these. You will have to
set one of the dip switches that changes it from 2048 bytes to 512
bytes. A search on the web should be able to give you the correct
switch.
I love the old NEC Mulitspin's, I have an 8x caddy drive in my
PDP-11. They're the only non-DEC drives I've been able to find that
works with some of my older DEC gear.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
