Not sure if this is 'classic' enough but I figured there are a few people here who might know the system much better than me.
I have a AlphaServer 4100 that reached me in slightly rough but internally clean looking condition, it's not been run in a few years. First time I powered it up it it seemed to run through the diagnostics fine on the LCD panel at the front and finished up sat at what I assume was the text that has been programmed into the panel from the SRM (it looked like a hostname or something similar). I didn't have a terminal on the machine at the time so the panel was all I had to go on. I had to leave it for a while so I switched it of and switched off the mains. The next time I fired it up it got some way through the diagnostics and stopped on a message related to testing CPU 3 (the last of 4 numbered 0-3) and seemed to stop. I left it while I grabbed a terminal figuring it needed diagnosing via the terminal read-out. I powered it down, attached the terminal and powered it up and... nothing. The LCD screen sits completely blank, the terminal doesn't display anything apart from dumping a few characters of junk when I power it off.
I have tried the following:
- Removed all PCI cards.
- Reseated all the cabling to the PCI backplane and comm's (serial/parallel) board including the LCD display connector.
- Reseated all the RAM and CPU boards
- Removed all but 1 CPU and 2 RAM boards (in slots ME0L and MEM0H)
- Added a second CPU in case it
- Checked the control panel cabling to the LCD panel
- swapped the installed CPUs around to test at least 3 in 1 and 2 CPU configs
When powered on, the diagnostic LEDs on the power management board look like this (top to bottom)
0 = on
- = off
* = scan at 1 sec intervals
0
0
-
0
0
0
0
*
*
*
*
All CPU cards have the following LEDs displayed
0
-
0
0
As far as I can see 2 LEDs are lit on the PCI bridge card (in the main) chassis (DEC's design failure means you can't actually see these directly)
0
0
I have followed through as best I can the diagnostic procedures in the User's Manual and Service Manual and neither have yielded progress or any obvious sign of fault, aside from the fact that I can't *find* the LEDs that are supposed to indicate 'POWER_FAN_OK' and 'TEMP_OK' on the PCI bridge adapter. If they are there they aren't on but I've no idea a WHERE they are.
All three main fans are operating and seem to be shifting plenty of air, as are the CPU fans on the installed CPU cards.
Other things that should be mentioned are the PSUs emit a constant 'bubbling' humming noise, but the power management board seems to thing they are fine, I'm a bit skeptical. I also had one PSU blow an input filter cap inside the mains input socket which was a straightforward fix and was replaced.
Basically, I don't know the machine well enough to know what it might be. Any help appreciated.
--
Mark Benson
http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK
Online Resource & Mailing List for DEC Enthusiasts.
I am continuing to make progress with the power supply modules for the PDP
11/04.
The previous week involved testing and replacing a few of the electrolytic
caps... a few pictures and some comment (although no great technical
insights) at http://www.quicktrip.co.nz/jaqblog.
Today I got a chance to test the modules. One of the H7441 +5V supplies
works fine (http://www.quicktrip.co.nz/jaqblog/images/BLOG_PDP11_5V_2.jpg)
... the output is a little high at 5.5v but that could be my meter
calibration. I haven't played with the adjustment pot yet until I can
confirm that my meter is reading correctly.
The other +5V supply doesn't run (
http://www.quicktrip.co.nz/jaqblog/images/BLOG_PDP11_5V_1.jpg)... goes up
to just over 1v as the AC comes up and then settles back to 0.5v.
The DC voltage after the rectifier and across the main input capacitor
looks OK on the meter.
I have the PDP11/34 technical drawings with the schematic for the H7441 so
will work though it but to get a head start, are there any common failure
modes for these supplies that I should check first?
The H745 -15V (http://www.quicktrip.co.nz/jaqblog/images/BLOG_PDP11_-15V.jpg)
supply works fine although the Power OK bulb on the back has failed. I
will replace it with an LED + resistor like the H7441.
And assuming I sort out the last H7441 are then any recommendations on
powering up the backplane?
It has the following boards installed plus grant continuity cards as
appropriate:
M7257 RK05
M7256 RK05
M7255 RK05
M7254 RK05
M7258 Printer
M7856 RS232/SLU
M7860 General Device Interface
M7856 RS232/SLU
M7847 Memory
M7847 Memory
M7859 Console Interface
M7263 Processor
M9301 Unibus Terminator
M7850 Parity Board
M9202 Unibus Connector
I assume it is good practice to draw a map of all the board locations, then
remove them all, power up the backplane and check the power... but what is
the next step.
My guess is that a minimum set of boards would be the following:
M7847 Memory
M7847 Memory
M7859 Console Interface
M7263 Processor
M9301 Unibus Terminator
M7850 Parity Board
Any suggestions?
Regards
Andrew
> Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:35:02 +0100
> From: Mark Wickens <mark at wickensonline.co.uk>
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: DEC Flat Panel circa 1987
> Message-ID: <4FF75A06.4000006 at wickensonline.co.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> In the ;
>
>
> Ken Olsen Thank You Employees
>
>
> video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vDjbTuwLqA&feature=related
> I noticed this: http://www.wickensonline.co.uk/images/flat-panel.jpg -
> the talk around this image is DEC World 1987.
>
> Of this screen grab I know: VSXXX-GA mouse, LK201-AA keyboard.
> Can anyone provide any more information please?
>
OK, that is almost certainly a Burroughs plasma panel, the orange color
is a giveaway, also
the date. The technology was partly pioneered by William Papian, who
worked with
Jay Forrester on coincident current core memory and then worked on gas
display
panels at Washington University in the 60's and 70's. One of the really
unknown
pioneers of the early computer days. As for a manufactured product from
DEC,
I don't recall such a model.
Jon
That display is a DEC VRE01 (electroluminescent flat panel) on a
VAXstation 3100
I have a new one - still in the box - I haven't tried it yet.. :-)
Phil St.Sauveur
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Zane H. Healy
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 8:18 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: DEC Flat Panel circa 1987
At 10:35 PM +0100 7/6/12, Mark Wickens wrote:
>video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vDjbTuwLqA&feature=related
>I noticed this: http://www.wickensonline.co.uk/images/flat-panel.jpg
>- the talk around this image is DEC World 1987.
>
>Of this screen grab I know: VSXXX-GA mouse, LK201-AA keyboard.
>Can anyone provide any more information please?
Unfortunately I can't remember any details, I think I heard about it
years ago.
It looks a lot like the screen provided to the US Military sometime
around 1992 as part of a 3rd party Sparc portable system though.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Photographer |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| My flickr Photostream |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ |
On 06/07/12 8:32 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. wrote:
> Toby Thain wrote:
>> Jecel,
>>
>> Then you will be aware that Apple themselves made several releases of a
>> mature Smalltalk-80 system for Macintosh. The project was led, at one
>> time, by Harvey Alcabes. I still have his business card in that role,
>> from when I met him at the Apple Developer Conference where HyperCard
>> (then codenamed Silver Surfer) was revealed.
>
> I have the 400KB floppy disks of version 0.7 of that system. ...
I think I have the floppies somewhere too :)
>
> Lots of technical details about this system are available in the "green
> book" ("Smalltalk-80, Bits of History, Words of Advice"
Yes I owned that book, and "The Language and its Implementation". I used
the Apple system for a while.
--Toby
> edited by Glen
> Krasner), which like many other classic Smalltalk books can be found for
> free at
>
> http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html
>
> -- Jecel
>
>
Hi All,
I was looking for information on the DECNIS 600 router, and found this
hilarious review, no doubt generated by a highly intelligent computer
algorithm ;-)
" DEC - DECNIS 600 B1201-MN - DNSAF-MN - - Review by Christopher
I was given DEC - DECNIS 600 B1201-MN - DNSAF-MN - item yesterday.
It has worked
exactly as advertised. Good unit. User friendly to the position
that I did not want to look
over any information to operate. Checked the distances with other
items and feels to be
very right. Beaming I made the buy. I would recommend highly this
unit to you. "
"User friendly to the position that I did not want to look over any
information to operate" is what cracked me up.
Cheers,
Camiel.
anyone have a pinout for the power connector. I don't know what I did in the past, I know at least one of my 2 work. I think I put juice on the battery terminals to get a rudimentary display. Heard a buzzing too ick.
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 13:31:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin
<cisin at xenosoft.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Smalltalk history (was: Jobs
- what's he done for us lately?) Message-ID:
<20120705132617.F34140 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN;
charset=US-ASCII
I don't have much of any details, but I can point you where to find out.
My cousin, David Ungar, was involved in it, and in "Smalltalk on a Risc",
while he was getting his PhD at berkeley. One time, when I visited him in
Evans hall, they had a Lisa (with hard disk!, and twiggy drive (with the
double set of access holes in the floppy to make it easier to put
thumbprints on the media)).
HAH! Small World! Long ago, Dave was a good friend of mine at Washington
University, haven't seen him in a few years. I used to go out to
Berkeley on
experiments, and dropped in for a chat several times while he was at Sun
in Mountain View.
One time Dave took me down the hall and introduced me to John Ousterholt.
I didn't really know who he was at the time, but I do now. Of course,
everything
they did there was WAY ahead of its time.
Jon
