At 09:57 AM 6/4/01 -0400, linc wrote:
>OK, this weekend I picked up 2 vaxen..  A Vaxstation III/GPX and a
>Vaxstation 2000.

Sounds like fun ...

>The VSIII has 3 MFM drives, a floppy,  and the controller, a TK50 and
>controller, and a DELQN? network card.  Anyhow, this vax will *not* boot
>any of the MFM drives.  A "show device" lists the controllers for the
>tk50, the disks, and the the network card.  No drives are listed under the
>controllers and a "boot" searches through everything and comes up with the
>network card as a possible boot device.  I tried booting from the tk50 and
>this might work if I had the correct media (and I cleaned the drive).  I
>do have 1 tk50 tape just not sure how to make it a NetBSD boot tape.  I
>tried booting from the network card and keep getting a 4b error (CTRLERR
>Boot Device I/O Error)..

This is a bit inconsistent so bear with me. An actual module list would be 
very helpful here but without that for the moment some immediate questions 
spring to mind:
         1) Where in the backplane are all the cards and
            are there any unintentional 'gaps.'

VAX cards in the BA123 and BA23 have to be contiguous to keep the bus grant 
chain complete. Some times when a machine is decomissioned people "borrow" 
a card from it and that causes problems. One person on the list got a VAX 
and the RQDX3 (MFM controller) was missing!

Depending on your chassis (BA123 or BA23) you will have either 4 or 3 
(respectively) slots that are quad wide (aka Q/CD) the rest are Q/Q meaning 
that dual wide cards have to so side by side in them. The bus path is 
serpentine and starts at the top of the chassis on the BA123 (left side of 
the BA23) and goes back and forth from slot to slot. If there is a card 
missing this will screw up your VAX!

         2) Is the controller actually connected to the drives?

The RQDX3 controller has a wide ribbon cable (50pin?) that connects to a 
'signal distribution board' and that board connects to the drives. You need 
to verify that everything is connected. Also the drive control panels 
(which have a run/ready and write protect switch) also connect to that panel.

         3) What kind of controller is it?

If you have 3 MFM drives _and_ a floppy then you may have some third party 
controller.

>(is mop broken on NetBSD 1.5 Pmax??)

Yes it is, Either get a copy of the 1.5.1 beta distro or use CVS to get the 
version out of -current and build that.

On the uVaxIII, could there be something wrong with the Ethernet and Drive
>controller cards even though they show up on a device list?

The ethernet probably isn't broken, it my not be hooked up or you may have 
blown the fuse in the cab kit. Those are your best bets to check, there are 
lots of network cards available for these things.

>If so, is
>there anyone on the list who could hook me up with a qbus network card for
>this beastie?

Of course :-) but again an exact module list and ordering would be a 
helpful start.

>   I am dying to get this one running as it's quick!  Any info
>on the MFM controller would be appreciated as well.  I probably have to
>clean the qbus backplane - how the heck do I do this?

Only if its really dirty, but if you have to the best way is with 99% 
isopropyl alcohol and manila card stock. Use some alcohol on the card and 
slide it in and out of the slots.

>On the VS2k, this machine has 4 megs of ram - 2 on board (I believe) which
>means there is a 2 meg card in it.  Does anyone have or know where I can
>get some more ram for this thing?

DEC Resellers carry it, I just gave away my last RAM card for a VS2K. It 
looks like a big card with two connectors sticking up from it. (bad 
description but I've got no picture :-()
Its also a PITA to put in.

>Also, can comeone on this list who has actually netbooted/net installed
>NetBSD 1.5 on a vax PLEASE write me and let me know how the heck you did
>it?  I will be booting these off of a Dec5k240 running Netbsd 1.5.  Please
>don't bother pointing me to endless websites describing the
>process.  Trust me I have been to them all already and not one of them is
>the same as any other.  I need some hand holding here.

I think you're pretty close, just update the MOPD for your PMAX. We can of 
course help and the new netbooting FAQ that was just referenced on this 
list is the one to follow.

>I can address any specific questions you have about the hardware, and
>error codes later on today - I am just not near the vaxen right now.
>Thanks to you all in advance!

Get a complete module list of the MVIII and the order. Check for gaps in 
the bus.

--Chuck