RE: KA410 Boot Failure

[Josh Moyer <jmoyer%nodomain.net@localhost>]

>> 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 SHOW ETHERNET SET XS ENABLE 
>sim> ATTACH XS ethN <where N is one of the outputs displayed by SHOW 
>sim> ETHERNET 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...

The emulator didn't work so well, even with the known good 3.1.1 boot on my MOP server.

That said, my boot and system diagnostics do indicate a problem with the interrupt controller/ethernet id rom, although the maintenance manual does not seem to be available online, so I can't diagnose the problem.  Even so, NetBSD 3.1.1 runs fairly well, especially since I upgraded the RAM.  However kernels above 6 tend to complain about stray interrupts, sometimes before the kernel has even finished loading over the network.  Kernel 4 seems to work and kernel 5 hangs at boot after initializing rd0.  That's all on the physical hardware.

--
Kind regards,
Josh/NODOMAIN.NET