On Mon, 4 Jun 2001, Chuck McManis wrote:

> 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.'
> 

There are gaps..  
I guess I really *do* need some hand holding!

> 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!

It's a BA123 (RECTANGLE ON CASTERS)

>          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.

Yep - for sure.

>          3) What kind of controller is it?

M7555 - RQDX3 MFM controller

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

Honestly, I don't know if they are all hooked up or not..

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

Module list?  No problem.. Here it is:
M7620-AA
M7621-AH
M7621-AP
M7546
M3106
M7516-YM
M7555

Ok then..  Given the module list and the fact that it's a BA123 cabinet,
can you tell me how exactly I should have these cards on the Qbus?  I know
there are gaps now and this is a new archetecture for me so any help would
be appreciated.
I know the M7620, is in slot1, and the the 7621's in the next 2
slots.  After that - I am not sure..  I think the first 4 slots are
labeled Q-CD and the rest are Q-Q.  All the cards besides the processor,
and memory are half height cards.

-Linc Fessenden

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