a bad day for vaxen

well I've had a real bad day. My vax systems have been in storage for about a year, good storage, not too much heat or cold or humidity but, I can't get any of them to function the way I think they should. 4 vaxen (vaxstation 3100 m76, of which 2 are spx), an alpha (dec 3000 model 310), and a vxt2000. I must be doing something wrong.I'm having a very bad day. and my vs 3100 model 30 seems to have vanished :( i tried with a null modem cable and with straight through, with 3 different dec connect cables, and 3 different (1 9pin, 1 25pin female, 1 25pin male) connectors, and can't get anything on console. with switch S3 up or down made no difference. and i'm not sure I'm reading the LED status lights correctly. i'm tired. :) I'm digging out a monitor so I can connect the video directly, with a keyboard and mouse, but that's always fun. anyone in or around toronto with a working setup I could pop by one day and hook up and see what's going on? I'll double-check that after I try the video. none of the docs I've found specify if it's supposed to be null-modem or straight through. and I think I got it right by using the port with the little printer symbol on it as console. the alpha I have has 25 pin female, and the vxt has 25 pin male, and the vaxstations have what seems to be RJ12, can't they make these things standard? _________________________________________________________________