Robert F Schaefer wrote:

> > Update - use when changing the console and boot settings and updating
> >          EEPROM
> > Halt   - shut down OS run and go into console mode
> > Auto   - automatic boot when powered on or reset. Requires you to
> >          define a default boot device (SET BOOT DEFAULT ...)
> 
> I found emperical evidence to support this.  :)  Only thing I didn't play
> with too long was `update'-- it sounded awfully permanent.

no need to worry. Turns out that you have to turn the key to
"update" if ever you want to change anything, like terminal
rate or default boot device. You can safely do this.

> > The extra indicator LEDs are simple. It's true, don't worry about
> > "FAULT", just plug in a console terminal to see what's going on.
> 
> Yup, got an honest-to-goodness VT-220 plugged in.  I can POST, but I'm
> having trouble booting VMS (all that's on the drives, AFAIK),  Keep
> getting `Not an I/O adapter' or some such.  She's not seeing all the BI
> cards, either.  The 8 port async card is missing, for one, and a few
> others.  I dunno which ones, tho.  Perhaps I twisted a cable when I was
> reassembling her.

I guess I still don't understand what "POST" means. Haven't 
encountered that term in the manual. 

So you did disassemble/reassemble? Well, there are things you can
do wrong. But it's quite likely nothing is permanently hurt. First
thing you want to do is to 

>>> SHOW ALL

among other things it will show you a list of devices found on XMI
and BI bus. The BI busses are named after the XMI slot number where
the XBI adapter is located that links to that BI bus. I guess it's 
common to have the slots D and E used for this, and so E links to
the right BI bus (looking towards the front of the VAX) and D
for the left one. It can be confusing.

Now the boot device is specified as a path, like this:

>>> BOOT /XMI:E /BI:3 CSA1

that is when your TK card is located in the third slot from the right
of the right BI bus. The DEFAULT boot path (used for autoboot) is
set as 

>>> SET BOOT DEFAULT ...

with SHOW ALL it shows you the default boot path (and other named
boot paths) as well. Find out where it points to and you may find
that you don't have a card in that slot. Or it might not have detected
that card because the cab kit is not connected right, or because the
card isn't connected well to the backplane. I have that problem in
one of my vaxen that it is very picky, likes a card in one slot but
doesn't find it in another slot. The SHOW ALL device list may
show a ???????? in the slot instead of the device type or it may
not show anything at all. Notice that the BI status lines with the
+ and - are really just an overview. You can see a + and the device
is still not detected right and will not function. 

> > You have about 10 commands to play with in terminal mode. You can
> > see what devices you have and can save and update EEPROM from
> > and to tape. Need writable tape for that (I need to do the
> > bulk erasing of TK50 tape tomorrow so I can use it with TK70
> > to write EEPROM.) It is exciting at first, but gets boring
> > after a while. Get something to boot from :-). Watching the
> > red green and yellow lights during self test is kinda fun
> > though, especially when the processors elect the boot processor.
> 
> Got one tk70 tape, with an old stand-alone backup that `never finished
> loading'.  Question: How long would it take a 6k class machine to boot VMS
> 5.whatever via tk70?

Once you have the boot path allright and you hear the tape being
accessed, you seem to be O.K. I could imagine it would take quite
a long time, the TK70 isn't particularly fast. When I tried to 
boot from tape that doesn't have a boot image, it throws an 
illegal instruction exception, so I don't think it would just
hang on a nevercomeback basis ... though, thinking of it, when
I tried a network boot without network attached, it also would 
not come back until I pressed the reset button. If te 'never
finished loading' has been reported to you from your donor, then
chances are the tape image is broken. Otherwise I would give it
an hour just to be sure.

> > You have a TU81? Lucky you. I watch out for one too. Sounds
> > like fun.
> 
> It's a purty little thing, has an RA-82 in the drawer, and came with 10
> brand-spank-me-new tapes, still in the shipping box from the supplier.  But,
> she made a bad sound when I flipped the handle to energize her.  It was a
> buzz/humm kind of sound that generally indicates a dead short, but it
> didn't trip the 20A breaker, so I have my fingers crossed... 

When something like that happens, I try to stick my nose in
as close as possible and when I don't smell anything, chances
are it's still good. EXCEPT for a leaking capacitor, which I
don't know how it will smell if at all. Speaking of the 
blind leading the blind :-)

> Hadda lay it
> down in the back of the van to get it home, perhaps something got loose.
> I'm gonna open it up Before Too Long and take a look-see.

We are recommended to always inspect old equipment before firing
it up. I hope you will recover it.

> > Question: if you put a KDB50 card set into the BI bus without
...
> 
> (wouldn't know a KDB50 if it bit me on the ass, sorry.)

well, if you have an RA81 and you do not access it via CI and HSC,
you most probably have a KDB50 pair in the BI cage. Cards are
called T1002 and T1003. 

Are you sure you have all your cards in the right slots? Did you take
out the cab kits? I hope not, 'cuz otherwise there is lots you could
have done wrong reassembling.

Ah, and another thing, my inspection of the Ultrix 4.2 source 
left an impression with me that the 6300 is not supported. May
be in a later Ultrix version. Or you have a *lot* of pressure
to get the NetBSD port going in order to get off the VMS stuff.

take care,
-Gunther

-- 
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D.                    gschadow@regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist      Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor        Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960                         http://aurora.regenstrief.org