Subject: Re: port-alpha/36628: cdhdtape image panics with memory management trap on Jensen
To: None <tsutsui@NetBSD.org, gnats-admin@netbsd.org,>
From: Christoph Franzen <ChristophFranzen@gmx.net>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 07/23/2007 14:20:02
The following reply was made to PR port-alpha/36628; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: "Christoph Franzen" <ChristophFranzen@gmx.net>
To: Izumi Tsutsui <tsutsui@ceres.dti.ne.jp>
Cc: gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org
Subject: Re: port-alpha/36628: cdhdtape image panics with memory management trap on Jensen
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:18:04 +0200
> > There seems to be something wrong however. The ECU configuration
> > shows the SCSI adapter at IRQ 11 while Netbsd shows EISA IRQ 12.
> Hmm. According to src/sys/dev/eisa/ahb.c, the irq setting
> is stored in AHA-1742 INTDEF register so the ECU should
> set up the card properly but somehow it doesn't.
This is weird. My logs from the July 19th and previous versions of
cdhdtape show the correct IRQ 11. The next version (the one with max.
8 instead of 16 slots), however, shows IRQ 12.
*After* that I've run the ECU (V.1.10 vor SRM) again and configured
the ISA card in the 6th slot according to its jumper settings, just
to be sure that there is no conflict. The GENERIC version which I
installed afterwards also misses the IRQ.
> Does the card work on other OSes (DIGITAL UNIX or Linux)?
I did not try THIS particular card, but I've got three almost
identical Jensen machines, and I checked the host adapter "MCODE"
revisions, they are all "E". The other two machines run well with
Windows NT up to 4.0 and Linux. Linux even did not complain when the
machine's ARC consol "thought" that the ECU should be run again due
to an empty battery, it booted nonetheless.
> One concern is that the EISA config file provided by DEC
> doesn't have "CHOICE" section for IRQ levels while
> the Adaptec one for x86 has it:
> ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/archive/ecu/ntecuv111a.zip
> http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/eprom_bios/aswc174_exe.htm
If I recall correctly, the Adaptec Version needs an x86 specific
overlay and is therefore unusable on an Alpha.
Thank you for pointing me to the file "ntecuv111a.zip". This is
apparetly the most recent ECU version available (more recent than my
ones here). While this ECU should work, it is not intended for the
SRM console (OSF1/Digital Unix and VMS), but for ARC (Windows NT).
There seem to be differences according to the file I attached below
(which nowadays appears to be available from the Google cache only).
The VMS/Unix version is "ecuopenvmv111a.zip" in the same directory of
the FTP server. Generally, you *can* use both ECU versions from the
SRM as well as from the ARC console, NT and Linux did never complain.
> What "CHOICE" items are shown on the ECU menu for AHA-1742A?
> If there is no IRQ "CHOICE", what happens if you choose
> "BIOS Base Address E8000H" one?
> (it seems to set the ahb INTDEF register irq 11 LEVEL)
The ECU does not allow to choose the interrupt directly, but while
the appropriate item is highlighted, you can enter an "advanced"
window where you can change this setting. There it showed 11 when I
have run the ECU again, also in the window where you can watch all
used resources, 11 was displayed for this slot, 12 was shown as a
free resource.
I will reconfigure the box with the "new" ECU version 1.11a for
VMS/Unix and investigate further.
Perhaps I'll also swap the controllers of my Jensens just to be sure
that this one is not defective.
There are also rumours that the "MCODE revision E" is buggy, but
almost all x86 EISA machines as well as the NT Alpha machines sold in
Germany used this without a problem, and I never had any difficulties
using these with Linux or NT.
The following file has some information (I hope it "survives"):
<<< SSAG::DISK$ARCH2:[NOTES$LIBRARY.SSAG]ASK_SSAG.NOTE;7 >>>
-< Ask the Storage Architecture Group >-
======================================================================
==========
Note 5599.1 DEC 2000-500 PROBLEM
1 of 1
BLOFLY::SMITHP "Beware the knights who say "NT"..." 244 lines 30-MAY-
1996 03:00
-< information... >-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
I have attached a v.old Jensen/Culzean support note. Looks like
you
MUST disable floppy controller and MUST NOT remove the on-board
termination resistors from the 2nd 1742A.
Hope this helps.
Cheers, P.
Here are some useful snippets of poorly documented or hard-to-find
Jensen /
DECpc AXP 150 / DEC 2000-300 and Culzean / DEC 2000-500 info:
- There are some good notes file containing general Jensen/Culzean
and OS
specific info - AYJEN1::JENSEN, EVMS::JENSEN_VMS and DECWET::NTAXP
- The VMS/OSF and NT ECU (EISA Configuration Utility) are almost,
but NOT, the
same. The main difference is in how multiple SCSI adaptors are
configured.
While VMS can auto-configure the standard devices (i.e.
motherboard resident
plus one SCSI and one Ethernet adaptor) even if the ECU hasn't
been run, the
VMS specific ECU must be used if duplicate adaptors or a graphics
card is
present.
NOTE: It is usually possible to run Windows NT perfectly well
using the
VMS/OSF ECU, although not vice versa.
- Upgrading or reloading the console firmware causes all boot setup
entries
and environment variables to be lost. The customers must write
down all
the settings before up/downgrading so they can be re-entered by
hand - if
they don't, they won't be able to reboot afterwards.
Alternatively, there are a pair of DEC supplied (sometimes!)
utilities named
SAVEENV.EXE and RESTENV.EXE that can be run from a floppy using
the console
NT menu, and which will save and restore the NT environment part
of the
NVRAM to and from the file FWENV.SAV on a floppy. These utilities
can be
found on node RIPPER:: in the SYS$KITS:[AXP_FIRMWARE.JENSEN]
directory.
NOTE: Unless you do the "Set default environment variables" and
"Set default
configuration" items in the "Set up the system..." menu
before you
run RESTENV, the environment variable for drive A: won't be
defined
and you will have to run RESTENV as
eisa(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)RESTENV.EXE
instead of A:RESTENV.EXE.
- The algorithms that VMS & the Jensen/Culzean console firmware use
to assign
"controller letters" to adaptor cards when more than one of a
particular
type is present are NOT the same. Unless care is taken when
installing
cards, VMS and the >>> console will have different names for the
same
device. See EVMS::JENSEN_VMS note 55.8 for details on how to
avoid this.
- Part number PCTAZ-AB (Adaptec 1740A SCSI adapter) is no longer
valid for
ordering as an additional SCSI adapter on the Jensen / Culzean.
It never
had the correct firmware version for these systems and is now no
longer
even available - all orders for the PCTAZ-AB are currently being
fulfilled
with a PCTAZ-CB (Adaptec 2740). The PCTAZ-CB is *not* supported
by VMS,
OSF/1 or the firmware (although it can be made to work under
Windows NT
with a lot of fiddling). To obtain an additional SCSI adapter you
should
now order a PB2HA-SA (Adaptec 1742A) and disable its floppy
controller.
NOTE: The installation instructions currently tell you to remove
the
on-board SCSI terminator packs on all additional SCSI
adapters.
This is WRONG and should never be done!
- To connect an external SCSI device to the first Adaptec 1742A SCSI
adapter
(i.e. the one controlling the internal SCSI devices) in a
Jensen/Culzean
the three on-board terminator resistor packs on the SCSI adaptor
MUST be
removed. However, this should *not* be done on any additional
1740A or
1742A SCSI adapters.
Once the terminators are removed an external device or a
terminator plug
must always be plugged into the external connector on the 1742A.
- The correct external SCSI terminator for the 174xA's is the 12-
35759-01 (as
originally used on the DECpc 433W) or the 12-37791-01 (used on the
the DECpc
425ST). The electrically identical 12-33626-01 / H8578-AA used on
the
DECstation 5000-25 will NOT physically fit.
- There have been multiple revisions of the MCODE firmware on the
Adaptec
174xA SCSI controllers that are used in the Jensen and Culzean
platforms.
The following should help you know what revision you need and how
to
identify what you have:
OSF/1 V1.3B will refuse to use any 174xA that doesn't contain rev
G.2 or
higher MCODE, and VMS V1.5-1H1 will do the same unless it sees rev
G.1 or
higher. Windows NT (both Beta and SSB) will work with any rev,
but will
work more reliably with the latest MCODE.
To identify the MCODE rev on a 174xA either do a ">>> SHOW DEVICE"
in
VMS/OSF console mode, or look at the checksum on the 174xA MCODE
EPROM.
(The EPROM will be marked "MCODE xxxx", where xxxx is the
checksum.)
MCODE rev Checksum Comment
--------- -------- -------
G.2 BCE3 Minimum rev for OSF/1 V1.3B and above
G.1 C3DD Minimum rev for OpenVMS AXP V1.5-1H1 and
above
G B646 Shipped in DECpc AXP 150 "developer
specials"
F B6CF Rare, mostly seen in prototype machines
E B7D6 "Generic" 174xA's have rev E MCODE
A pre-programmed rev G.2 EPROM can be ordered as part number 23-
681E6-00.
N.B.: Revisions F, G, G.1 and G.2 were special releases of
firmware
provided to Digital by Adaptec to fix bugs found by VMS and
OSF/1
engineering, and are only found in 174xA's sold by DEC
specifically
for the Jensen/Culzean. They aren't shipping with "generic"
Adaptec
174xA's and possibly never will. The highest MCODE revision
Adaptec
has released on generic 174xA's is rev E.
There is currently no such thing as rev H MCODE - the
message
demanding rev H that the OSF/1 install process displays when
it
encounters old MCODE is in error. The correct rev for OSF/1
is G.2
(or higher). Also, the revision (usually H) reported when
booting an
Intel-based PC with the 174xA's BIOS enabled is the BIOS
revision,
not the MCODE revision. The 174xA BIOS is not used at all
on AXP PCs.
- The 174xA's are FAST-SCSI (10MB/sec) capable and if there are any
FAST-SCSI
devices (e.g. an RZ26) the maximum total effective cable length is
3 metres.
The first 1742A already has 1 metre of internal cable, so its
external max
would be 2M. As an example, the BA350 Storageworks box is
equivalent to 0.9
metres of cable so the maximum supported connecting cable length
would be
1M unless you used DWZZA repeaters. I've seen lightly loaded
BA350's with
one or two RZ26's work fine with a 2M cable off the 1742A, but I
wouldn't
want to try it with a fully populated BA350.
- The correct SCSI cable (50-pin micro Honda -> 50 pin CHAMP-
Centronics) for
connecting the 174xA to a TK50 (or similar device with the old-
style large
SCSI connectors) is a BC09D-xx (e.g. 3 foot is BC09D-03 and 6 foot
is -06).
- To temporarily enable the alternate console port (serial port 1)
just
disconnect the keyboard cable before powering up the system, or
you can
SET CONSOLE SERIAL at the >>> prompt for a more lasting effect.
(>>> SET
CONSOLE VGA goes back to the graphic console.) The default setup
is 9600
baud, 8 bits, no parity, one stop bit. The console terminal must
be set
to send 8 bit control sequences for the arrow keys to work
properly in
console mode. The correct serial port to DECconnect adapter plug
is the
H8571-J.
NOTE: When using the serial port console there is NO WAY to
prevent
CTRL-P and BREAK from halting the system - they are always
enabled!
- The only graphics card currently supported by VMS V1.5-1H1 and
OSF/1 V1.3B
is the Compaq Qvision 1024E. Windows NT also supports the #9 GXE
card, but
there are NO plans to support this card under VMS or OSF! The
next (Jensen
and Culzean) graphics support planned for VMS/OSF is for the ATI
Mach-32
Ultra Pro and for low-end standard VGA.
- When using the Qvision graphics card under VMS the SYSGEN
parameter
VIRTUALPAGECNT must be set to at least 400,000 to allow the X
server to
map the frame buffer, otherwise it fails with a %SYSTEM-F-VASFULL
error.
- VMS accesses the console, keyboard, mouse and serial ports via
console
firmware routines and they are thus all OPAx devices - the
numbering is as
follows:
OPA0: Serial port 1 when using the alternate console
OR
Graphics head operator window when using the graphics console.
OPA1: *Serial port 2
OPA2: The PC keyboard port
OPA3: The mouse
OPA4: *Serial port 1 when using the graphics console
*Note: As of console firmware V1.2, the built-in serial ports
(OPA1: and
OPA4:) still don't work when using the graphics console.
As a
work-around you can install a PC4XD-AA serial/parallel
card; see
JENSEN_VMS note 61.10
- Other Jensen & Culzean specific VMS device names are as follows:
DVA0: The RX26 2.88MB floppy drive
(HINT: Use "$ INIT/DENS=xx DVA0: <label>" to format floppies,
where xx = ED for 2.88MB, HD for 1.44MB, or DD for 720K)
LRA0: The parallel printer port
GQA0: The Compaq Qvision 1024E card
ERA0: The DE422 Ethernet card
- The V1.2 firmware for the Jensen still has the following
shortcomings when
running VMS:
> Support for the 2 serial ports (as OPA4 & OPA1) doesn't work
yet when
the graphics card is used as the console (fixed in V1.3).
> Poor mouse performance under VMS (firmware not buffering
mouse data -
fixed in V1.3). OSF and Windows NT don't use the firmware routines
for mouse access and don't have this problem.
> No boot support for the floppy from the VMS/OSF >>> prompt,
and none
is planned as far as I know. However, V1.2 does add a >>> RUNECU
command to allow the ECU utility to be run from floppy under the
VMS/OSF console.
- The V1.5-1H1 parallel port driver for the Jensen doesn't work with
some DEC
and foreign printers, e.g. the DECwriter 95 - see JENSEN_VMS note
61.10 for
details. To be fixed in a later release of the LRDRIVER.
- The Jensen / Culzean systems are currently supplied with PC7XL-AA
or
PCXAL-AA keyboards, which have the enhanced PC-AT style 101 key
layout and
keys. The key combinations required to simulate the extra keys
present on
a DEC standard keyboard are documented on pages 1-3 & 1-4 of the
OpenVMS
AXP Version 1.5-1H1 Release Notes and Update Procedures (AV-Q1CRA-
TE).
NOTE: As of V1.2 of the firmware, the console commands to set up
for
keyboards with anything other than US or UK key layouts
(e.g.,
>>> SET KEYBOARD SUISSE) don't do anything. This will be
fixed
in V1.3 of the firmware.
- The LK450 keyboard (a PC-interface keyboard with the DEC standard
LK401 key
layout and function keys which is ideal for use with VMS or OSF/1
by people
used to DEC keyboards) is not supported by the SSB version of VMS
V1.5-1H1,
but updated drivers (SYS$IKBDRIVER.EXE and SYS$INBDRIVER.EXE) can
be copied
from BULOVA::ALPHA$KITS:[V15_SSB.UPDATE.V15_1H1] and then placed
in the
SYS$LOADABLE_IMAGES: directory.
- The Jensen/Culzean console has no provision for either low- or
high-level
formatting of system disks. The Windows NT installation utility
requires
that the hard disk already have a valid PC-style partition table,
but it
doesn't tell you how to create one and the method isn't documented
anywhere!
ARCINST.EXE is the Microsoft utility which allows you to create
the
partition table and Windows NT system partition on a Jensen disk
drive, and
it can be found in the \alpha directory on the AXP Windows NT
distribution
CDROM.
To partition a disk and/or configure an NT system partition:
1. Select 'Run a Program from the Boot Menu
2. Run the ARCINST.EXE program which is contained on the
normal
Windows NT distribution CD
Program to Run : cd:\alpha\arcinst.exe
3. Select 'Configure Partitions'
NOTE: If at any stage you make a mistake you can press the
ESC key
to abort and return to the previous menu level.
4. If you know that there are no existing partitions on the
disk you
wish to configure, go to step 5. Otherwise do the
following to
display the existing partitions and, if necessary, delete
some or
all of them. Select 'Delete Partition'. If you have more
than one
disk drive highlight the drive that you wish to configure
and press
Enter. Take great care to select the correct drive as the
naming
convention that ARCINST uses differs from that used by the
firmware
console. The list of partitions on the disk will be
displayed. If
you wish to delete a partition select it and press Enter;
otherwise
press ESC. Repeat step 4 until all unwanted partitions are
removed.
NOTE: Only FAT-format partitions of 4MBytes or more may be
used as
system partitions.
5. Select 'Create Partition'. If you have more than one
drive,
highlight the one that will contain the partition and
press Enter.
Take care to select the correct drive as the naming
convention
that ARCINST uses differs from that used by the firmware
console.
Type in the size of the partition (the system partition
must be at
least 4 MBytes) and press Enter to create it, followed by
any key
to format it.
During the Windows NT installation the loader file
OSLOADER.EXE will
be installed within the system partition. If you wish, you
can use
ARCINST.EXE to create a further partition (by carrying out
steps 4
and 5 again) which will hold all of the operating system
files (this
partition should be at least 130 MBytes in size). If you
don't create
this partition now you will be able to create one during the
Windows
NT installation process, but you will have to accept the
default size
(which is all of the remaining disk space).
6. Exit the ARCINST.EXE program back to the Boot Menu.
--
Christoph