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RE: KA410 Boot Failure



> Previously:
>>>> For 3.1.1 I have been running totally diskless, as I only recently 
>>>> repaired my RD53.
>>>> 
>>>> Here's the output from the console for the NetBSD 9 bootloader:
>>>> 
>>>> >>> boot esa0
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> - ESA0
>>>> 
>>>> %VMB-F-SCBINT2, PC = FF817800, PSL = 041F0008
>>>>  85 RESTART SYS
>>>>  84 FAIL
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, with the tapes, I went all the way back to 1.x with no luck.  
>>>> But I'd have to log another session to get any good output.
>>>
>>>There is a KA410 emulator at https://github.com/simh/simh You should 
>>>be
> able to just: 
>>>
>>>$ install libpcap-dev package for your host platform $ make
>>>microvax2000
>>>
>>>As root (so pcap can access the raw Ethernet device):
>>># BIN/microvax2000
>>>sim> SET NAR MAC=MAC of your physical KA410 SHOW ETHERNET SET XS 
>>>sim> ENABLE ATTACH XS ethN <where N is one of the outputs displayed by 
>>>sim> SHOW ETHERNET BOOT
>>>...
>>>>>> BOOT ESA0
>>>
>>>The above assumes the host system you're using has a wired network
> connection.
>>>
>>> If this gets further than your above mentioned boot effort on your
> physical 
>>> hardware, then there is likely a problem with something on that
> hardware...
>>
>>The emulator didn't work so well, even with the known good 3.1.1 boot 
>>on my
> MOP server.
>>
>>That said, my boot and system diagnostics do indicate a problem with 
>>the
> interrupt 
>>controller/ethernet id rom, although the maintenance manual does not 
>>seem
> to be 
>>available online, so I can't diagnose the problem.  Even so, NetBSD 
>>3.1.1
> runs fairly 
>>well, especially since I upgraded the RAM.  However kernels above 6 
>>tend to
> complain 
>>about stray interrupts, sometimes before the kernel has even finished
> loading over the 
>>network.  Kernel 4 seems to work and kernel 5 hangs at boot after
> initializing rd0.  
>>That's all on the physical hardware.
> 
> So, I've dug into this further -- reviewed the VARM, the KA410 Technical
manual and performed additional testing and I'm unconvinced that the
hardware is at fault.  When netbooting 8 and 9 kernels, the stray interrupt
is at vector 18, indicating a reserved operand interrupt.  The VAX MACRO and
Instruction Set Reference Manual ([1]) suggests no fewer that 16 reasons why
this could occur.  I'm going to dig into the VARM and the EXAMINE command a
bit, but wanted to share this in case someone more knowlegdable goes "aha"
upon reading.
> 
> [1] -
>
http://h30266.www3.hpe.com/odl/vax/opsys/vmsos73/vmsos73/4515/4515pro_040.ht
> ml
> 

Even further digging reveals that the FC opcode (opcode reserved to
customer) is the offender, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to
disassemble the install.ram file that I booted from over NFS.  Is there a
way to load it and the symbol file into gdb?  I tried on an amd64 machine
without luck -- do I need another VAX?

--
Kind regards,
Josh/NODOMAIN.NET

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