On Thu, 20 Nov 2003, BUEHL,REINER (HP-Germany,ex1) wrote:

> Since I have no access to the console or the system at all, I was thinking
> more of tests like "measure voltage at pin x of the chip". If I can not find
> a way to get to the prom prompt, I might have to replace the chip and hope.

 A dead RTC battery shouldn't prevent you from getting to a console prompt
-- I think the system should run somehow even with the RTC chip completely
removed; I can't recall whether I really tried it with any DECstation,
though.  You should probably try using the serial console and/or clearing
the contents of the RTC non-volatile RAM.  Have you seen the hardware
maintenence guide for troubleshooting.

 I have a datasheet for the DS1287 so I can check if it signals a battery
failure externally.  Unfortunately I don't have the document handy, so 
you'd have to wait a while till I dig it out.

  Maciej

-- 
+  Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland   +
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
+        e-mail: macro@ds2.pg.gda.pl, PGP key available        +