first step getting VAX 6000-400 booted ...

Well, it still doesn't work. I booted again VMS from TK (takes hours) trying various combinations of hardware and no success. I have given the RA90 a device address of 1. I have tried it on both the KDB50 and the KDM70 without success. Now I am wondering whether the SDI cable crossover issue is the problem? But why can Geoff run his RA90 in the basement of his 6000? The specifications clearly say that you can do this: KDB50---->VAXbulkhead---->SA800bulkhead---->RA90 and Geoff does this KDB50---->VAXbulkhead---->RA90. So, the swapping issue seems more complicated than just an uneven number of SDI cables! But I did exactly what Geoff did! Or did he do it differently? How? May be there are two sorts of SDI cables with or without cross-over? Whether or not I have the disk drive connected, the KDB90 shows the red LEDs as B - blink o - off X - on o - off which according to the manual is what it should be. The KDB50 shows this pattern as soon as it's being initialized by VMS. However, VMS never detects any actual drive. So how could I possibly test this link between KDB50 and drive. It could be any of this: - KDB50 SDI interface damaged but in a way that is not detected by the self-test - KDB50 backplane cabling not screwed on tightly enough - SDI cabling broken - SDI cabling mismatched (crossover issue) - RA90 SDI interface damaged but in a way that is not detected by the self-test Is there any resident test that will check the drive/host interaction without requiring me to wait for another VMS boot cycle. Each attempt at rewiring and rebooting costs me about one hour for the VMS to boot from TK again so I need to keep this minimal. Is there any remote chance someone has a diagnostic tape where these things could be tested more thorroughly? I'd very keenly interested in such diagnosis tapes for KDB50/ RA90, and KLESI/TU81 (because that's not being detected by VMS either). Do we know the pinouts and signal patterns of the SDI (and BTW the KLESI) so that I oculd use my scope to detect if the wiring is O.K.? I didn't find pinouts and signals in the KDB50, RA9x user manual (or the KLESI user manual respectively). I should be moving one of my HSC90s and SA800 into the basement and connect the CI cabling star coupler and everything. Last time the HSC's run they were fine ('bout a year ago). However, my back still hurts from moving the TU81 downstairs and I wanted to give it a rest ... no such luck though :-/ thanks, -Gunther -- Gunther_Schadow-------------------------------http://aurora.rg.iupui.edu Regenstrief Institute for Health Care 1050 Wishard Blvd., Indianapolis IN 46202, Phone: (317) 630 7960 schadow(a)aurora.rg.iupui.edu------------------#include <usual/disclaimer>