9 Jan
2003
9 Jan
'03
10:23 a.m.
Actually, I found the MMJ cable and a 9pin RS-232 adapter (I had been given it along with
the machine and some other random DEC stuff... I remembered last night as I was drifting
off to sleep and found it buried in my cable collection...
Got the thing to boot too! It's a KA41-B and everything looks to be in working
condition... I had to remove one of the boards (controller for the CDROM?) and reconnect
2 of the drives to the other controller to get it to see the remaining 2 drives and thus
boot off DKB0 ... It boots into OpenVMS 7.0 but alas I have no knowledge of the SYSTEM
password.
Does OpenVMS boot single user without a password? (I doubt it, from what I gather VMS is
pretty tight security wise)
I'd rather not reinstall VMS right away since I'd like to see if I can figure out
where the box originally came from, and what it was being used for... Kinda curious bout
that.
-jwb
On Thu, 9 Jan 2003 10:13:00 EST
Qstieee(a)aol.com wrote:
To find DEC MMJ cables, go to
http://catalog.blackbox.com/BlackBox/templates/blackbox/search.asp
and look for keywords DEC MMJ.
You will probably need at male-male MMJ and a female MMJ to DB9/DB25.
AS with any serial connection, verify pins (on a DB-25) 2-7 and 3-7 (i.e.,
make sure terminal/PC is transmitting on one line, DEC VAX is transmitting on
the other). I usually do this with a VOM; transmit will be a strong (5-15
VDC) signal; receive may be around 0.
Usually you will get a >>> prompt from VAX firmware. It will accept a help
command and you can do "show devices", then try "boot dua0:" or some
other
disk device that's listed (they are 99% devices beginning with "d").
Of course you may get a very first product/CPU ID, then some testing
messages. You are hoping that it progresses through the self-tests and gets
you to the >>> firmware prompt. Often >>> will take a "help"
command too.
Often you need to send "delete" and not "backspace." Try 9600/8/N/1
settings.
Also probe the Compaq, Montagar, and Process sites. With the VMS hobbyist
program you can get going pretty well these days.