Robert F Schaefer wrote:

> > no need to worry. Turns out that you have to turn the key to
> > "update" if ever you want to change anything, like terminal
> > rate or default boot device. You can safely do this.
> 
> Not if I don't know what I'm doing!  ^_^

now you know :-)


> > >>> SHOW ALL
> >
> > among other things it will show you a list of devices found on XMI
> > and BI bus. The BI busses are named after the XMI slot number where
> > the XBI adapter is located that links to that BI bus. I guess it's
> > common to have the slots D and E used for this, and so E links to
> > the right BI bus (looking towards the front of the VAX) and D
> > for the left one. It can be confusing.
> 
> Shows two cards at XMI:E and one at XMI:D.  I should have an ethernet
> card, tk70 controller (may be the same card IIRC), tu81+ controller, SDI
> card (have ra-82 & ra-92--two cards?), and an 8 port async card.  There
> are eight cards on the BI busses.

8 cards, let me guess:

2 x XBIB (not mentioned in SHOW all), leaves 6 cards

1 TBK70, leaves 5 cards

2 KDB50 set, leaves 2 cards (you only need one such set for both drives,
  you can attach up to two more drives to it.) (I bet only one of those
  cards will be mentioned in SHOW ALL, though I don't know for certain.)

1 KLESI-B (TU81), leaves 1 card

1 DEBNT, leaves 0 cards

right :-)

BTW: DEBNT will show up as DEBNI with SHOW ALL, I don't know why.
My machines have DEBNT but the tape is attached to its own card
too (the TBK70). I don't even know where to connect the tape on
the backplane behind the DEBNT card, nor does it seem it will
work well anyhow.

> > >>> BOOT /XMI:E /BI:3 CSA1
> 
> I don't know any of the device names, like csa1. Know where I can find a
> list?

you need the manual, I'll see if I find our bulk scanner so I 
can make some copies for you. Other possibility is: ask your
source of hardware for the manual (and by that way for other
manuals too!!!! like the KDB50 manual, the KLESI-B manual,
etc.)

> No question marks at all, but only shows three cards detected (aside from
> the XMI bus).

which? TBK70 one of them?


> > > Got one tk70 tape, with an old stand-alone backup that `never finished
> > > loading'.  Question: How long would it take a 6k class machine to boot VMS
> > > 5.whatever via tk70?
> >
> > Once you have the boot path allright and you hear the tape being
> > accessed, you seem to be O.K. I could imagine it would take quite
> > a long time, the TK70 isn't particularly fast. When I tried to
> > boot from tape that doesn't have a boot image, it throws an
> > illegal instruction exception, so I don't think it would just
> > hang on a nevercomeback basis ... though, thinking of it, when
> > I tried a network boot without network attached, it also would
> > not come back until I pressed the reset button. If te 'never
> > finished loading' has been reported to you from your donor, then
> > chances are the tape image is broken. Otherwise I would give it
> > an hour just to be sure.
> 
> I figured it was a blank tape... ;)

Hmm, sounds unlikely if it takes so long. Should drop out 
earlier. Does it actually seek on that tape? Don't TK70s 
have an END-OF-TAPE marker?

> > > It's a purty little thing, has an RA-82 in the drawer, and came with 10
> > > brand-spank-me-new tapes, still in the shipping box from the supplier.  But,
> > > she made a bad sound when I flipped the handle to energize her.  It was a
> > > buzz/humm kind of sound that generally indicates a dead short, but it
> > > didn't trip the 20A breaker, so I have my fingers crossed...
> >
> > When something like that happens, I try to stick my nose in
> > as close as possible and when I don't smell anything, chances
> > are it's still good. EXCEPT for a leaking capacitor, which I
> > don't know how it will smell if at all. Speaking of the
> > blind leading the blind :-)
> 
> No smell or anything.  It was 60 herts, tho.

Oops? 60 Hz is the normal thing, this is what you most likely have
in the U.S. That's not your problem.


> > well, if you have an RA81 and you do not access it via CI and HSC,
> > you most probably have a KDB50 pair in the BI cage. Cards are
> > called T1002 and T1003.
> 
> I'll check.  Those numbers sound familiar.  Why is it that everyone wants
> to call the cards by a number that isn't etched onto them anywhere?  :)

I'm certain. But those Txxxx numbers *are* printed on the boards,
the challenge is to find them! Sometimes I was staring for minutes
scanning the edges when the Txxxx number was printed EXTRA LARGE
more to the center of the card. Everyone wants to call them by that
number because this is short (unlike the 50-12345-67 number) and 
the names (KDB50, KA64A, etc.) are often not printed on the cards. 

> > Are you sure you have all your cards in the right slots? Did you take
> > out the cab kits? I hope not, 'cuz otherwise there is lots you could
> > have done wrong reassembling.
> 
> Pulled the cage out as an assembly with the cab kits still attached, and
> what a job it was!

Hope you have not damaged anything. It does not sound good that it
doesn't detect. I recommend checking the plugs in the back to
be sure. And may be take the cards out and in, clean the contacts
or such magic.

Good luck,
-Gunther

-- 
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D.                    gschadow@regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist      Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor        Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960                         http://aurora.regenstrief.org