27 Apr
2006
27 Apr
'06
9:19 p.m.
Dave Dunfield wrote:
Continuing to play with the Alpha system (I've
never used an Alpha
before - so please excuse my ignorance of some of the stuff I'm
not aware of is basic).
Shortly into the setup, it asks what kind of system I
have, none
of the options are 164LX, and I don't have a "disk provided by
the manufacturer" for the "Other" option. I tried the various
options provided, hoping one might be close enough to "limp
along", however in all cases it crashes a few steps later (while
"Loading CD-ROM filesystem") - in one case it gets a STOP/
Panic event.
Are the files needed for the 164LX available on the net somewhere?
Yup. :)
http://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/info/semiconductor/alpha/dsc-software-al…
Firmware updates, motherboard fab docs including parts list and
Gerber files, NT drivers, and NT4/NT3.51 HAL sets.
I have later firmware and HALs than that page lists, though:
http://www.docsbox.net/abLXSXv570.zip
contains both AlphaBIOS and SRM roms.
and
http://www.docsbox.net/HALrevG.zip
Let me know when you have them downloaded. I'm sure they're still
encumbered....
By the way, that box is half-flash firmware. That is, you can run
AlphaBIOS or SRM, but not both. You have to reflash the firmware or
load it from floppy to switch.
Turns out the only jumper that was "wrong"
when I got it was a jumper
which is defined as "Select failsafe boot mode" - elsewhere in the
manual it mentions this jumper as "diagnostic monitor".
When the jumper is ON (not the standard position), the board beeps
1, 2, 3 ( beep pause beep beep pause beep beep beep ) - When I
took it off, the board boots up normally ( AlphaBIOS ). - Any info on
the "failsave boot" or "diagnostic monitor" functions available?
(the
technical manual just refers you to some WinNT documentation).
I may be mistaken, but ISTR that the failsafe jumper forces the
firmware load from floppy. That's from really hazy memory, though.
Doc