26 Oct
2012
26 Oct
'12
7:07 p.m.
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:32:09 -0600
From: Kevin Reynolds <tpresence at hotmail.com>
To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: RE: Microvax II won't boot, hardware error?
Message-ID: <BLU157-W48E7D604E2D698A86B3819A27F0 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I do have multiple memory modules, there are two in the chassis. I have spare modules,
but they aren't the same, so I am not sure they will work in the system.
I did pull and replace the CPU, Memory and VCB02 modules, but the result is the same.
The system did work fine recently, so I assume that the CSR/Vectors are ok on the cards.
I don't have the manuals for everything, but maybe bitsavers does.
I don't have any spare grant continuity cards...will this cause me trouble if I just
pull a ramcard out and have nothing in its slot? I seem to remember that you couldn't
have an open slot between cards, unless you had a grant card in there...
Is there a standard VMS memory test I can run in conversational mode?
It actually runs a simple memory test during the power-up diagnostics, I
think maybe
it was 7...8 that is the memory diags. They are the ones that takes the
longest to run,
the others complete mostly in less than a second.
You have to know the layout of your backplane to know where grant contnuity
cards are required. Old uVax II backplanes have the memory bus on the CD
rows for 2 or 4 slots, and need no grant continuity there, but the AB
rows are Q-bus, and would
need either double-wide Q-bus boards there or grant continuity. Later
backplanes
didn't have the Q-bus start until after the first couple slots. So, you
really need to know what
the backplane layout is.
Jon