>  I have a VAXstation 3520 that I'd like to run Ultrix on (until
> NetBSD can run on it, of course)...I don't have any disk on it as of
> yet, but I've tried to boot Ultrix 4.3 (it's the newest I can find)
> from cdrom...it loads the kernel, and halts (with an LED blinking on
> the CPU board) just as the kernel starts...no messages are ever
> printed by the kernel.

If you can see LEDs blinking on the CPU moudle, you're missing some pieces.

The 3520 has covers over all the moudles. In the case of the CPU board,
the cover includes the hex digit used for the diagnostic display, the
console connector, the keyboard and mouse connector, the serial
printer connector, and the ethernet connectors. My ASCII art isn't really
up to snuff, but the system looks something like this:

	+----- backplane -------+
             |  |  |  |  |  |  |
	     Q  C  M  e  G  G  G
	     b  P  E  m  F  F  F
	     u  U  M  p  X  X  X
	     s  |  |  t  1  2  3
	     |  |  |  y  |  |  |
	     |  |  |  |  |  |  |
	    \--- #1 ---/\--#2---/

#1 and #2 aremetal covers. There are some number of QBus slots to the left 
of the Qbus adapter; the Qbus adapter is optional and may not be present. I 
foolishly omitted the I/O module, but don't want to redo the picture; the 
I/O module contains SCSI (DSSI), Ethernet, serial ports, etc. The CPU 
module contains a pair of CVAXes; if you had a 3540, you would have two CPU 
modules. The graphics module set has its own private rtVAX; nevertheless, 
under VMS it still requires more than a single CVAX to run X on the thing.

Cover #1 goes over the CPU, memory, and QBus slots. It has the connectors I 
listed above: console, ethernet, LED one 7-segment diagnostic display LED 
thingie, etc. Cover #2 goes over the graphics cards. It has some number of 
LEDs (my memory failes me; since my monitor died several years ago, I just 
yanked the graphics acards from the backplane).

The point is that the LEDs on the CPU moudle are physically covered by 
cover #1 and you can't see them. If you can see LEDs blinking on the CPU
module, you're missing cover #1.

BTW, if the halt button is pressed in, a couple of things happen: first, 
the halt button latches, which is annoying. If you reset the machine, it 
will select the serial console if the halt button is in. Finally, the halt 
button will start blinking to let you know you have to push the dagnabbed 
thing again to unlatch it.

Roger Ivie
ivie@cc.usu.edu