RE: KA410 Boot Failure

[Mark Pizzolato <Mark%infocomm.com@localhost>]

Hi Josh,

On Saturday, June 13, 2020 at 10:30 AM, Josh Moyer wrote:
> For 3.1.1 I have been running totally diskless, as I only recently repaired my
> RD53.
> 
> Here's the output from the console for the NetBSD 9 bootloader:
> 
> >>> boot esa0
> 
> 
> - ESA0
> 
> %VMB-F-SCBINT2, PC = FF817800, PSL = 041F0008
>  85 RESTART SYS
>  84 FAIL
> 
> Yes, with the tapes, I went all the way back to 1.x with no luck.  But I'd have to
> log another session to get any good output.

There is a KA410 emulator at https://github.com/simh/simh 
You should be able to just: 

$ install libpcap-dev package for your host platform
$ make microvax2000

As root (so pcap can access the raw Ethernet device):
# BIN/microvax2000
sim> SET NAR MAC=MAC of your physical KA410
sim> SHOW ETHERNET
sim> SET XS ENABLE
sim> ATTACH XS ethN <where N is one of the outputs displayed by SHOW ETHERNET
sim> BOOT
...
>>> BOOT ESA0

The above assumes the host system you're using has a wired network connection.

If this gets further than your above mentioned boot effort on your physical hardware, then there is likely a problem with something on that hardware...

Good Luck.

- Mark



> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Johnny Billquist <bqt%update.uu.se@localhost>
> Gesendet: Samstag, 13. Juni 2020 10:18
> An: Josh Moyer <jmoyer%nodomain.net@localhost>; port-vax%netbsd.org@localhost
> Betreff: Re: KA410 Boot Failure
> 
> On 2020-06-13 17:55, Josh Moyer wrote:
> > Hi Port-VAX!
> > I have a MicroVAX 2000 (14MB and ROM rev 2.3.)  I have been running
> > NetBSD
> > 3.1.1 via NFS because I previously only had 6MB of RAM.  However, now
> > that I have upgraded my RAM and ROM I find that I am still getting
> > crashes with the current bootloader from 9.0 (via MOP.)  I had thought
> > it was because I had so little RAM, but no more.  I am anxious and
> > excited to get this machine online with NetBSD 9, but am disappointed
> > that boot is still crashing.  Can anyone provide conformation that this works
> or does not?
> >
> > Also, I took several stabs at creating bootable tapes, but ran into
> > problems there, too.
> >
> > Any input appreciated.
> 
> First of all, in which way does it crash? And where?
> 
> Second, are you running totally diskless, or is it just that you have some extra
> disk added over NFS?
> 
> If you can netboot it, doing an install over the network would be the obvious
> easy way to install. I wonder if anyone have looked at tapes in a long time...
> 
> On a sidenote, the current boot crashes for me on my 4000/90. But I'm
> keeping a slightly older version around, which works fine.
> 
>    Johnny
> 
> --
> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>                                    ||  on a psychedelic trip
> email: bqt%softjar.se@localhost             ||  Reading murder books
> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol